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ProgettoMondo is the product of 40 years of activity by the Latin America Lay Movement (Movimento Laici America Latina – MLAL), founded in 1966 in Rome as an offshoot of what was then CEIAL (now CUM – Centro Unitario Missionario). The objective at that time was to provide a support network for lay volunteers already working on an individual basis in Latin America, and to foster solidarity in Italy with the Peoples of Latin America.
From the start, Mlal was characterized by its non party- political nature, which makes optimum use of the differing ideological positions of its members. The Promoter and Founding Presidente of Mlal, appointed directly by the Italian Conference of Bishops (CEI), was Armando Oberti. He worked hard to organize a series of services for the 100 or so operators working in various Latin American countries who would otherwise have been isolated. In its constantly growing role as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), i.e. a body truly involved in international cooperation, Mlal also became increasingly autonomous in developing projects.
In 1972 Mlal got its own Constitution, albeit a provisional one, which officially gave a specific role in the intervention to voluntary workers, as recognized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Between 1977 and 1979, under the Presidency of Mario Rencricca, and thanks to the new law on Cooperation, the organization was given a proper formal structure, and was able to have more regular access to public contributions.
In the 1980s Mlal, headed by Amedeo Piva, had up to 150 volunteers present simultaneously in Latin America and 56 employees and consultants working full time at the headquaters in Roma and Verona.
The economic crisis of the early 1990s led to rationalization and cost containment for Mlal, which , under its President Annalisa Bertolazzi, concentrated all its efforts on Latin America, closed its Rome office and transferred its organizational team to the Veneto region.
From 1995 to 2000, Anna Rosa Fioretta boosted the organization’s operational capability by exploiting the experience and skills acquired in Latin America to open up to Africa, starting with Mozambique and moving on subsequently to Burkina Faso, Angola, Congo and Morocco.
Leadership of Mlal then passed to Veronese sociologist Enzo Melegari, an indefatigable “ideas man”, who died tragically young in July 2002. He was responsible for the key concept of “cointeressenza” (literally “profit-sharing”) and for relaunching the proposal for “North-South” and “South-South” exchanges.
The baton was then passed to another sociologist, Massimo Campedelli from Mantua, who expanded the latter idea to that of “territorial partnership”.
Then, in March 2005, Emilia Ceolan from Trento, one of our long-serving volunteers and a former manager in the Organization, was elected. She opened up an internal debate on the future of Mlal and on the new “associative pact”. Since the 1st June 2008 ProgettoMondo Mlal has been headed by Mario Lonardi from Verona.
ProgettoMondo Mlal
info@mlal.org
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