6 Months Into Our Pilot in Monfalcone: Collettivo Onda Keeps Evolving

Six months ago, Collettivo Onda began as a small experiment, a pilot to see if young people in Monfalcone could come together to imagine and shape the future of their city. Today, it’s becoming a movement: a growing wave of civic energy, collective imagination, and community participation that’s reanimating Monfalcone’s social life and putting youth at the center of local development.A year ago, Laura and I received an email with the confirmation that our nonprofit, Commonground Initiatives, had been formally registered. We stared at each other and knew: it’s real!

From Conversations to Collective Action

Since our official launch in April, Collettivo Onda has steadily planted seed to grow into a vibrant local movement for civic participation and youth empowerment in Monfalcone. Through three collective gatherings — two in person and one online — we brought together around 25 young people to discuss the most pressing challenges faced by youth in our city. The conversations highlighted two urgent needs: accessible physical spaces for associations and informal groups to meet and organise, and more opportunities for meaningful civic engagement and local development. These insights are now shaping our agenda and inspiring concrete initiatives to strengthen youth civil society in Monfalcone.

In September, we joined forces with Lista Civica e Solidale Monfalcone, particularly its youth division, which is spearheading the creation of the Consulta dei Giovani — a new institutional body for participatory democracy that will allow young citizens to deliberate and consult with the local administration on youth-related topics. During an introductory session, Collettivo Onda actively contributed to data collection and experience sharing. Our initiative was recognised as one of the local sparks driving this new momentum for youth participation in Monfalcone.

Shortly after, we took part in Tracciare Futuri Monfalcone, a local festival dedicated to community participation and future-oriented dialogue. The festival offered an invaluable opportunity to present Collettivo Onda to a broad audience of local stakeholders — including civic leaders, representatives of local political movements, and young councillors from Monfalcone and neighbouring towns. Through open street discussions, we shared our vision for an inclusive and participatory Monfalcone and deepened our connections with other community groups and civic actors who share our commitment to building a more democratic and cohesive city.

Our growing presence was further acknowledged through a feature in Il Monfalconese, a local newspaper that spotlighted our work and mission to foster a community-led democracy movement. The article helped us reach a wider audience and further validate our role as an emerging actor in Monfalcone’s civic ecosystem.

We have been contacted by another prominent national newspaper, Domani, to be spotlighted in an upcoming article about the revitalisation of rural, small centers in Italy. We have received attention from one of their journalists and are glad to share our experience with such a great audience. 

Taking Monfalcone to the Global Stage 

This momentum has now gained international recognition: Our Pilot program for democracy strengthening and innovation, Collettivo Onda, was selected to join the Democracy Innovation Accelerator powered by the New York-based organisation, People Powered. This opportunity connects us with a global community of mentors and practitioners in participatory democracy and civic innovation, who will support us in developing and scaling our local revitalisation project. Bringing Monfalcone’s case to this international stage is both a milestone and a springboard for the next phase of our work.

In parallel, we launched our autumn workshop series, MICRO*ONDE, a cycle of micro-laboratori designed to “warm up creativity and incubate transformation” in our community. Each lab explores key themes such as identity and belonging, participation and representation, equality and care, and imagination for the future. Through these gatherings — hosted in informal, creative local settings — we are nurturing civic dialogue, artistic expression, and a renewed sense of collective agency among Monfalcone’s youth. (More on our Instagram: @collettivo.onda.monfalcone).

Launching this first community program was a great goal for Collettivo Onda. We have turned a vision for public and participatory sessions of exchange, dialogue and creative brainstorming into reality, testing formats and topics and building trust with the local community to signal that we are here to work towards collective transformations and the needs of our community.

The MICRO*ONDE will serve as a way to test, experiment and gather more insights about the response to such an initiative in Monfalcone, allowing us to get valuable feedback and opportunities to fine-tune our vision for participatory community revitalisation in the next steps.

From September through November, we will host 4 micro-laboratori under the Micro*Onde program, and 2 AperiOnda, our signature community gathering events where we call the community in to meet, exchange and organise.

Our autumn program is a way to set a path for trust, creativity and engagement within Monfalcone, and to gather important learnings around what works and what can be improved.

Building on this foundation, we are now working to strengthen alliances across Monfalcone’s social fabric — connecting local actors active in youth empowerment, inclusion, and community revitalisation. Together, we aim to co-design a shared platform for dialogue and collaboration, placing young people, women, and residents with migration backgrounds at the center of shaping Monfalcone’s evolving identity — not only in response to local challenges, but as an opportunity to co-create a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Shaping the Next Chapter of Collettivo Onda

Finally, we are in the process of formalising our structure by establishing Collettivo Onda ETS, a recognised Ente del Terzo Settore (Third Sector Entity). This step will strengthen our institutional capacity, enabling us to enter partnerships, access national and European funding, and consolidate our long-term commitment to civic participation and community-led transformation in Monfalcone.

As we look back on these first six months, Collettivo Onda has become more than just a pilot project, it’s a living, growing movement driven by young people who believe in the power of participation and imagination to shape their city’s future. What started as a series of conversations has evolved into a dynamic collective, bridging communities, inspiring civic action, and amplifying Monfalcone’s voice on both national and international stages.