Revitalising Democracy Where It’s Needed Most

At Commonground Initiatives, we believe that democracy is strongest at its roots, in the everyday lives of people, in the towns and cities that don’t make headlines, and in the communities that are too often overlooked.

Our mission begins here: in spaces where civic engagement is shrinking, where participation has been sidelined, and where communities, especially youth and migrant populations, are treated as problems to manage rather than partners in building the future.

We commit to doing the work where democracy is most at risk, yet most essential: in small municipalities, in rural towns, and in areas systemically excluded from decision-making. In these community-desertified contexts, we aim to re-centre participation and co-create new forms of civic life.

Why We Started in Monfalcone

Our pilot project is based in Monfalcone, a small city near Italy’s northeastern border. It’s a place shaped by migration, ageing demographics, social tension, and economic precarity, yet also by resilience, memory, and the possibility of a different future.

We chose Monfalcone not only because many of us are from there, but because it embodies the contradictions we must address if we want a more democratic and inclusive society. The city faces growing hostility toward its Bangladeshi community, a steady depopulation of youth, and public policies that increasingly restrict civic space and diversity. Yet despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, it became the perfect place to start. We knew that if we could begin to imagine new forms of civic life here, we could do it anywhere.

What’s happening in Monfalcone is not unique. Across Italy, particularly in small cities and peripheral areas, civic spaces are shrinking and democratic practices are deteriorating. Under the current government, systemic backsliding has taken hold, especially where support for inclusion, participation, and social cohesion is weakest.

At the heart of our work in Monfalcone is Collettivo Onda.

“Onda” — the Italian word for “wave” — captures the spirit of the initiative: a quiet but powerful force for change, built from the ground up.

Collettivo Onda is a space for experimentation with new civic formats, a collective of residents committed to imagining and enacting alternatives, and a network that connects the lived experience of locals with tools for structural change.

Through Onda, we are building intergenerational and intercultural bridges, hosting creative gatherings that nurture reflection and solidarity, offering support for emerging community projects, and amplifying local voices often silenced in public discourse.

This pilot is not just about Monfalcone,  it’s about learning how to seed civic renewal in other towns and territories like it. Collettivo Onda is our prototype for imagining what democracy can become when rooted in care, trust, and co-creation.

This is why our work matters. We go where democracy is being abandoned, geographically and politically, and work to bring it back to life.

In Monfalcone, we’re building more than a project, we’re co-creating a community process that invites residents to reclaim civic life, imagine new possibilities, and act collectively.

We aim to create safe, accessible, and inclusive spaces where dialogue can flourish, where young people and migrants are not only heard but empowered to lead, and where difference becomes a strength rather than a source of division.

This means reconnecting people across generational and cultural lines, supporting grassroots initiatives that spark collective imagination, facilitating participatory workshops, assemblies, and cultural events, and developing locally grounded narratives that counter exclusion and polarisation.

We want civic participation to become part of daily life again, lived, visible, and grounded in mutual care. In Monfalcone, we are beginning to test how this can look and feel.

We don’t bring solutions, we co-create them. We believe in a model of radical localisation: rooted in trust, built from lived experience, and guided by those who live the challenges every day.

In a time when many are abandoning the idea of public good, we’re doubling down, on collective care, on youth leadership, on the wisdom of migrant communities, and on the belief that democracy is not only worth saving, but worth rebuilding.

Monfalcone is just the beginning.