4change is a non-profit association whose focus is assisting individuals, organisations and institutions in building their capacity to face the challenges of working in crisis areas and in countries and regions in a transition phase. 4change was founded in April 2009 out of the experience, curiosity and enthusiasm of Gabriella Arcadu and Barbara Carrai. 4change is the result of an in-depth reflect
ion based on over 15 years of experience in transitional countries in Africa, Central and South East Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans. In the 1990s, Barbara, returning from Africa proposed to the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa (Italy) to host a pilot training course to enhance civilians’ competences to serve effectively in peacekeeping operations. The initiative was a success and in 1995, the International Training Programme for Conflict Management (ITPCM) of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna was founded and Barbara was appointed as Executive Director, a position she held until 2009. Gabriella returned from Africa in 1996 and and worked for the Instituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome and for the World Health Oragnisation developing projects in Sri Lanka and Indonesia exploring the health and peace nexus. In the following ten years, the ITPCM became a worldwide renown centre that offered training and technical assistance in a variety of peace related subjects (e.g. humanitarian assistance, refugees and IDPs, elections, democratization, human rights) and for a number of organizations and national and international organisations, institutions and NGOs. During their work at the ITPCM Barbara and Gabriella never stopped carrying out missions in the field. Barbara was active in the electoral sector in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, Indonesia, Serbia and several other countries, witnessing the deep transformation the world was undergoing and the emergence of new trends and tools in international crisis response . Gabriella implemented projects and training activities in, among others, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Kosovo, Jordan, developing a firsthand experience of the changing international security framework and of the challenges international and national personnel were facing in their everyday work. These experiences gave Barbara and Gabriella the opportunity to work with hundreds of people with the most diverse personal and professional backgrounds and in the most varied settings. This background encouraged them to develop their personal approach to training, and particularly to focus on Training of Trainers (ToT) as a key strategy to transfer competence and skills while guaranteeing a multiplier effect. Their training strategy has been widely tested in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East with different audiences: junior and senior civil servants, military and civilian personnel, police officers, just to name a few. Based on this extensive field practice, the 4change training approach was constantly updated and fine-tuned. It is currently used all over the world and its impact is widely recognized.
4change è un'associazione no-profit che si occupa di formazione, mediazione e leadership in aree di crisi. L'esperienza maturata a livello internazionale, ha portato allo sviluppo di modelli innovativi e trasformativi applicati con successo in contesti complessi e culturalmente diversificati. Negli ultimi anni 4change si è impegnata a riversare esperienze e competenze anche nel contesto italiano.
