Nove Onlus

The African proverb goes “If you want to go quickly go alone, if you want to go far go together”. We want to join hands with idealists, innovators and change-makers like us. The Elevate Prize represents the chance to use our interconnected society as a force for good. The aim is to multiply opportunities for the people we serve and strengthen our contribution to solve primary problems through innovative, concrete, and sustainable actions, in the pursuit of social justice. Through the years, we set up structures and processes that allowed us to preserve the team and continue our work even in challenging circumstances (such as the pandemic consequences and the escalating violence in Afghanistan). However, we can’t ‘go far’ alone.  We need to consolidate relationships with likeminded leaders and receive professional mentorship on business communication and marketing/visibility guidance. The Elevate Prize would allow NOVE to boost its diverse human capital, strengthen leadership and contribute to drive a meaningful and lasting change. 

At 26 I started to work in Africa and Asia with the conviction I could change the world. As a young development worker, I found myself dealing with vulnerable people, in particular children and women. They were the reason why I became interested in gender justice as a mean to achieving a more humane society. In 2005 I embarked on a military plane heading to Kabul. In my suitcase, a few warm cloths, and my sense of justice. In one of the worst countries in the world, where human life means a little more than nothing, I understood that my purpose in life is to help people living a dignified life. In Afghanistan I met the man I married, a caring human with whom I adopted our four Ethiopian daughters. We moved to Georgia, Sri Lanka, Albania, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. I learnt that I cannot change the world on my own. To contribute to make the world a better place I need an army of caring humans, NOVE was born for that.

NOVE means nine, the symbolic number of universal love, which translates into social responsibility: doing good for and through humanity, by conceiving values-led projects. 

40 years of war devastated Afghanistan, the deadliest place for civilians (UN 2020). 54,5% of the population is below the poverty line (Index Mundi, 2021). The country is considered the worst place in the world to be a woman (Times, 2018). Literacy rate in women (15+) stands at 30% (World Bank, 2018). Female employment is 10.4%, only 2.2% of enterprises include female partners (World Bank, 2018). Women are increasingly targeted (+37% deaths compared to 2020, Afghan Rights Commission, 2021) and fear that the Taliban will deny again their fundamental rights. In Afghanistan, NOVE creates opportunities for the most vulnerable. It supports thousands of women to reach socio-economic independence. Marina, widow, mother of five, swept streets to barely feed her kids; trained by NOVE, she is now the only woman driver of Afghan National Security and can grant quality education to her children. NOVE fosters the well-being of traumatized children, including victims of war and orphans. Together with the International Committee of the Red Cross, it promotes the reintegration of disabled persons through sport activities. NOVE focuses on sustainable and generative development of future groundbreakers, in Afghanistan and Italy. It also deals with humanitarian emergencies (Afghanistan, Italy, Greece, Syria, and Ethiopia).

NOVE creates ground-breaking patterns that elevate women’s value in the Afghan patriarchal society. Its revolutionary projects demonstrate women’ unstoppable potential and capabilities, turning them into role models and community leaders paving the way to change and freedom.

For those who are still forbidden to drive and to use public vehicles with men on board, NOVE created in Kabul the “Pink Shuttle”: the first all-female transportation service (driven by women professional drivers, trained by NOVE). The service offers female workers and students the possibility to commute freely and safely. It is currently being developed into a commercial service participated by the drivers. It also comprises of a social branch offering free transport to women with special needs, such as disabled athletes. NOVE also started a unique driving school for women, who were forbidden to drive under the Taliban regime. Despite the raising Taliban threat, it has recently launched the “Women in Business Hub” (WiBH), a pioneering multidisciplinary centre where women can enroll in their customized learning path and have free access to literacy courses, vocational training, career coaching and/or business mentoring and start up development services. All students are offered seminars on Human Rights and Environment Protection. 

NOVE is trusted by people due to its growth mindset, professionality, courage to innovate, consistency with its values and capacity to achieve the expected results. The number of supporters has constantly increased, and its annual budget (relying mainly on private contributions) grew of about 30 times. NOVE could thus multiply the number and scale of its projects, hence the overall impact on humanity. Up to now, it has been providing direct support through free-of-charge basic education and vocational trainings, work opportunities, social inclusion, emergency aid and need-oriented assistance to over 10.000 persons (including 3.900 Afghan women and children; in Italy and Greece 1.350 migrants, destitute people and students involved in awareness campaigns; over 5.000 victims of the economic crisis caused by Covid pandemic in Italy and Afghanistan). Indirectly, the organization reached some 40.000 people (family members of the direct beneficiaries). The “Pink Shuttle” offers 1.900 free rides every month and it is expected to reach 6.600 by the end of 2021. Every action NOVE plans and implements is effective because it is assessable, measurable, contributes to the attainment of the SDGs and elevates opportunities for and understanding between human beings.