Who we are

Established in Rimini in 1999,Cittadinanza is an Italian nonprofit organization promoting and supporting projects of psychiatric rehabilitation and psyco-social intervention in low-income countries.

Stigma, prejudice, shame and exclusion affect millions of patients and their families in almost all societies, especially in the developing countries, where mental disorders are often not considered as a real medical condition, but as a weakness, a punishment for immoral behavior or an effect caused by evil spirits. Even when recognized as a disease, the treatment is often inadequate if not inhuman.

Therefore isolation and abandon.

Mental disorders in poor countries are about twice as much than in rich countries and they rank very low on the list of health priorities, which are more linked to death-causing diseases.

Cittadinanza has therefore decided to operate in the field of mental health in low-income countries, working on both health and social level.

Besides treatment and rehabilitation, our projects include reintegration of people with mental disabilities into their community.

The Mission

Cittadinanza has been established to take care of people with severe mental disorders who live in poverty in low-income countries.
Cittadinanza aims to remove from mentally ill persons the mask of shame and give them back the face of citizens.
In our actions, we implement a series of principles we consider as fundamental part of our way of being:

  1. We recognize that discrimination against any person with a disability is a violation of the dignity and value of human beings;
  2. We recognize the importance for people with disabilities to enjoy autonomy and independence, including the freedom to make their own choices;
  3. We fight for the de-institutionalization of mental asylums according to a public health model;
  4. We favor a community approach, which requires the involvement of all local actors (schools, social services, families, local authorities, etc.)
  5. We train local staff as we believe that the growth of human resources of the country, in which we operate, is the real guarantee of the success of projects;
  6. We consider the beneficiaries to be part of the project as equals;
  1. We respect the local culture and traditions, while acknowledging the universality of fundamental rights;
  2. We ensure that our projects are not used as a political or religious instruments, and we act in the utmost impartiality, whilst guaranteeing full respect for the opinions and beliefs of local and international staff;
  3. We are committed to ensure that our communication is never detrimental to the dignity of the subject, even where the purpose is to highlight the violations committed against mentally disabled people;
  4. We hold ourselves responsible towards the donors, our partners and project stakeholders, and for this reason, we are committed to ensure the utmost transparency in all our activities.

Annual Report

As a tool for communication and transparency, the aim of the annual report of Cittadinanza is to show the activities and the results achieved during the year, to all its stakeholders.