Cestas

CESTAS

CESTAS (Center of Health Education and Appropriate Health Technologies) was founded March 30, 1979 in Bologna, Italy. In accordance with articles 14, 36 and 39 of the Civil Code, it is a non-profit organization that does not discriminate against ethnicity, sex, nationality or religion. CESTAS defines itself by the characteristics stated by ONLUS (Non-Profit Organizations for Social Utility), as recited in article 1 of its statute.
CESTAS is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) as defined by the Law 49/87 (later modified). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognizes CESTAS with the eligibility to manage international cooperation projects, job training courses with the citizens of developing countries, and educational activities to aid with the development of those countries.
CESTAS has been qualified to manage projects financed by the European Union and other international agencies which stem from the United Nations, encouraging initiatives of education development by raising awareness of the problems taking place in the southern countries of the world, and by conducting job training activities for a sustainable development.

In collaboration with local agencies, research institutes, Universities, and other associations, particularly in the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, CESTAS promotes and organizes local initiatives on socio-economic development.
The intense activities of raising awareness, providing information, and fund-raising at a regional level, all coincide with the cooperative programs of development within the countries in which CESTAS operates.
In 2004 the operative headquarter of CESTAS in Jesi (Ancona) was opened to handle cooperation, education, and professional job training.
Since 2005, the association has also been present in the region of Abruzzo with its new operative headquarter, with the intentions of reinforcing activities of territorial development and the collaboration with other such local organizations.
In that same year, CESTAS inaugurated its Biblioteca Ecosostensibile CESTAS (CESTAS Eco-sustainable Library) in Bologna, made available to the public and offering seminars and courses on sustainable development.
CESTAS is among the associate founders of COONGER (Coordination of the NGO’s of Emilia Romagna), collaborating fundamentally with the other regional associations concerned with international and cooperative solidarity. Its goal is to unite these associations in collaboration and participation for the same public initiatives, and furthermore to stabilize a shared headquarters for both public and private regional institutes.
With these same objectives, at a national level CESTAS is a member of COCIS (Coordination of Non-government Organizations for the International Cooperation of Development), promoting and representing the associate NGO’s.