Centro Orientamento Educativo (COE ETS)

Centro Orientamento Educativo (COE ETS) is an Italian non-profit association of lay Christian volunteers founded in Milan in 1959 by Don Francesco Pedretti. Its stated mission is to build a culture of dialogue, exchange and solidarity, working both in Italy and abroad. The organisation describes itself through three pillars — education (to form responsible citizens and promote justice), culture (to educate for encounter and develop projects) and volunteering (to share experiences and transmit the value of commitment). COE was recognised in 1974 as an NGO suitable for international cooperation and is listed in the register of Civil Society Organisations (OSC) of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. Since 19 July 2024 it has been registered in the RUNTS, Italy's Single National Register of the Third Sector. It is a member of FOCSIV (the Federation of Christian Organisations for International Voluntary Service) since 1974 and participates in Fondazione Missio. In Italy, COE ETS promotes projects in Global Citizenship Education (ECG), organises the Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina (FESCAAAL) in Milan since 1991, and since 2019 the MiWorld Young Film Festival (MiWY) for schools. It is active in promoting national and international volunteering, in asylum-seeker reception projects in collaboration with Fondazione COE and Comunità COE, and hosts young people in Italy and abroad through the Universal Civil Service (18–29 years). It has a presence in Barzio (LC), Milan and Mongrando (BI). Internationally, COE develops and supports projects in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bangladesh and Guatemala in the fields of education, training, health, culture, valorisation of local natural resources, agriculture and food security. Its network includes cultural and educational institutions such as the Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina, MiWorld Young Film Festival, Villaggio Ain Karim, Nuovo Cinema Diffuso, and, in Cameroon, LABA, IFA, Foyer du CPS, MJS, MJC, CED and the museums of Bandjoun, Baham, Babungo and Mankon. In the DRC it runs the FUSP Foyer Universitaire St Paul and CARE; in Bangladesh the DALIT and DALIT Handicraft projects in Khulna; in Guatemala Alma de Colores and Café y Comedor in San Juan La Laguna. Fondazione COE manages the Museo della Ceramica Giuseppe Gianetti and CoffeBreak.Museum in Saronno, COEmedia in Milan, Casa La Benedicta in Santa Caterina Valfurva and La Montanina in Esino Lario. The association is affiliated with the Diocese of Milan, the Italian NGO Association, CoLomba (Cooperazione Lombardia), SO.LE.VOL. (network of voluntary associations of the Province of Lecco), SIGNIS and FESTIVALL. It has its central headquarters in Barzio and offices in Milan, Rome, Lecco and Santa Caterina Valfurva, as well as field offices in Cameroon (Yaoundé, Douala, Mbalmayo, Garoua, Bafoussam), the DRC (Kinshasa, Rungu, Tshimbulu), Zambia (Kafue) and Bangladesh (Khulna).

COE — Centro Orientamento Educativo — was founded in Milan on 16 December 1959 by Don Francesco Pedretti as an association of lay Christian volunteers committed to a culture of dialogue, exchange and solidarity in Italy and abroad. Its first seat was in Milan; it later moved to Barzio in the province of Lecco, which remains its central headquarters. In the 1960s the association's activities focused on personal development, supporting integration between family, school and parish. In 1974 it was recognised as suitable for cooperation with developing countries — a recognition reconfirmed in 1988 — and in the same year it joined FOCSIV, the Federation of Christian Organisations for International Voluntary Service. Cooperation with countries of the Global South was carried out through volunteers and concentrated on cultural training and on the promotion of cinema and art as elements of expression and personal growth, alongside self-development projects in health, agriculture, commerce and habitat. Intercultural community-life centres were created in Italy and abroad, and exchanges between volunteers and local collaborators intensified. On 6 January 1981 COE began its relationship with the European Union. Activities promoting cinematography intensified, including the distribution in Italy of films by directors — particularly African — and the production and broadcasting of intercultural education programmes for adults and children on private television networks. The Artemondo art gallery was established, and in 1991 the Festival del Cinema Africano di Milano was launched, later becoming the Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina (FESCAAAL). COE has carried out cooperation activities in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, in sectors including social development and animation, education, health, traditional medicine, habitat improvement, rural development, art, culture and communication, vocational training and emergency response. It obtained legal recognition in Zambia in 1994, in Cameroon in 1995, in Ecuador in 2004, in Bangladesh in 2009 and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Cameroon, COE runs youth animation and training, education, health, art and culture activities. It established and supports the Maisons des Jeunes et de la Culture in Douala and Garoua, the Centre d'Animation Sociale et Sanitaire in Yaoundé, cultural animation at the CPS in Mbalmayo, the Nina Gianetti technical college, the l'Espoir nursery and primary school, the Saint Luc hospital in Mbalmayo and the hospital in Djamboutou (Garoua), the Mgr. Jean Zoa health centre in Yaoundé, and national projects of the Centre Sportif Camerounais, the Centre de Formation des Animateurs Socio-culturels and the Centre de Formation Agro-Pastoral (CFAP) in Garoua. It organises projects for street children in Garoua, for the integration and education of the Bagyeli and Bakola pygmies in the south, and the 'Afang' programme against HIV-AIDS in the diocese of Mbalmayo. In the arts it played a major institutional role by establishing the Institut de Formation Artistique in Mbalmayo (the only artistic training institution in Cameroon until 2010), the CPS Paul Etoga printing house in Mbalmayo, an applied arts centre, the VIDEO PRO audiovisual training and production centre in Douala, the annual visual arts competition (art plastique) organised since 1986, and four museums in the North-West and West of the country — Baham, Bandjoun, Mankon and Babungo — a project conceived and coordinated by Bianca Triaca with Jean-Paul Notue as scientific director. In Italy, COE ETS promotes Global Citizenship Education projects, organises FESCAAAL since 1991 and MiWorld Young Film Festival (MiWY) since 2019, promotes national and international volunteering, runs asylum-seeker reception projects with Fondazione COE and Comunità COE, and hosts Universal Civil Service volunteers aged 18–29 in Italy and abroad. It is present in Barzio (LC), Milan and Mongrando (BI). Since 1974 it has been a member of FOCSIV ETS and participates in Fondazione Missio. On 19 July 2024 it was registered in the RUNTS, Italy's Single National Register of the Third Sector. The association collaborates with Fondazione COE (established in 1976 to support the study of religious education issues) and with Comunità COE, a private association recognised by the Diocese of Milan.

• COE founded in Milan by Don Francesco Pedretti as an association of lay Christian volunteers.

• Recognised as an NGO suitable for international cooperation; joins FOCSIV.

• Fondazione COE established to support the study of religious education issues.

• COE begins its relationship with the European Union.

• Annual visual arts (art plastique) competition launched in Cameroon.

• NGO suitability for cooperation with developing countries reconfirmed.

• First Festival del Cinema Africano di Milano (later FESCAAAL).

• COE obtains legal recognition in Zambia.

• COE obtains legal recognition in Cameroon.

• COE obtains legal recognition in Ecuador.

• COE obtains legal recognition in Bangladesh and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; 50th anniversary book published.

• MiWorld Young Film Festival (MiWY) launched in Milan.

• COE ETS registered in the RUNTS (Single National Register of the Third Sector).

A lay-Christian volunteer association and recognised NGO combining education, culture and international cooperation, with a distinctive focus on African, Asian and Latin American cinema and on art as a tool for personal and community growth.

• Festival del Cinema Africano, d'Asia e America Latina (FESCAAAL)

  Milan film festival organised by COE since 1991.

• MiWorld Young Film Festival (MiWY)

  School-oriented film festival organised since 2019.

• Institut de Formation Artistique (IFA), Mbalmayo

  Artistic training institute in Cameroon, the only one in the country until 2010.

• Museums of Bandjoun, Baham, Babungo and Mankon

  Four museums created in the North-West and West of Cameroon.

• Foyer Universitaire St Paul (FUSP), Kinshasa

  University residence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• DALIT and DALIT Handicraft, Khulna

  Projects in Bangladesh.

• Alma de Colores and Café y Comedor, San Juan La Laguna

  Projects in Guatemala.

• Museo della Ceramica Giuseppe Gianetti and CoffeBreak.Museum, Saronno

  Cultural institutions managed by Fondazione COE.

1. 1COE ETS | Associazione Centro Orientamento Educativocoeweb.org
2. 2chi siamo | COE ETScoeweb.org
3. 3storia | COE ETScoeweb.org
4. 4in rete | COE ETScoeweb.org
5. 5Centro orientamento educativo — Wikidatawikidata.org
6. 6Centro Orientamento Educativo — Wikipedia (Italian)it.wikipedia.org