Educating on Relationships with Paridee
Paridee is the co-design journey of a Community of Practice among third sector organizations in Trentino. The goal: to develop cultural tools capable of promoting gender equality and relationship education in secondary schools, generating new connections and transformative practices.
Challenge
How can high schools in Trento and its province become agents of cultural change, capable of fostering relationship education and reducing social, economic, and gender disparities?
Strategy
The heart of this project is the creation of a Community of Practice (CoP*) and the co-design of experimental formats and change-making tools. To address a complex issue rooted in cultural, social, and educational dynamics, we adopted a methodological approach inspired by systemic design. This allowed us to observe an ecosystem through its relationships, challenge biases and preconceptions, identify leverage points—small interventions that can generate significant change within a system—and envision shared solutions.
Process
The project unfolded through three workshops. During the laboratory activities, the participating organizations shared experiences, skills, and challenges, highlighting deep critical issues such as gender and cultural stereotypes, fragmentation within the third sector, lack of emotional and relational education, absence of neutral and safe spaces for young people, and the limited involvement of adults in school pathways. This mapping process allowed us to paint a realistic picture of the context and to begin defining a shared glossary – the first step toward speaking a common language.
By identifying leverage points, the groups then began to design a series of formats, collectively validating proposals and strengthening their identity as a Community of Practice. In parallel, we developed a set of working and convivial rituals that the Community of Practice can adopt and nurture over time.
From this co-design process, which also involved secondary school teachers directly, two main tools emerged. The first is a cooperative, multimodal card game designed to reframe words and relationships, explore the language of emotions, deconstruct stereotypes, and foster intergenerational dialogue. The second is the Atlas of Diversity: a platform to map and highlight existing initiatives, making them accessible to schools and educational communities across the territory.
*CoP stands for Community of Practice.
Paridee laid the foundations for a Community of Practice with the aim of ensuring continuity and systematic action in educational work on gender equality, through the design of cultural tools intended to foster new forms of collaboration: on the one hand by enhancing the resources already present in the area, and on the other by welcoming the contribution of new actors.
The Community of Practice is currently working on the definition of a community pact to establish roles, responsibilities, and levels of engagement. Next, the process will lead to the development of the initiatives that emerged during the workshops and to their dissemination in schools, further strengthening and expanding the network and consolidating the Community of Practice as an agent of cultural change.
Credits
Client
Fondazione Caritro
Partners
Feltrinelli Education
Centro di Studi Interdisciplinari di Genere (CSG) Università di Trento
Confindustria Trento
Commissione provinciale per le pari opportunità tra donna e uomo della Provincia Autonoma di Trento