Guarantee an inclusive education for everyone: this is the goal Oxfam is setting out to achieve together with Mondadori Store through the new Christmas project “Wrap up a book, gift a future”.

The initiative marks the start of a partnership that will continue over the coming years, with Mondadori Store and Oxfam joining up for the first time on activities intended to help the most vulnerable members of society.

A concrete commitment from Italy’s leading bookstore network to contribute to the education of children and adolescents living in difficult social environments. Oxfam has been engaged in programs to combat education poverty for more than 20 years in Italy and around the world.

This Christmas, Oxfam’s work to help the weaker members of society can be supported with the “Wrap up a book, gift a future” project: until 24 December it will be possible to have Christmas presents wrapped by one of the more than 100 Oxfam volunteers at the 73 Mondadori bookstores taking part in the initiative in the main Italian cities.

With a small donation, a contribution can be made to the Oxfam and Mondadori Store program to guarantee equality and equal opportunities for scholastic success for students in difficulties, so helping children and adolescents currently at risk of exclusion from education in Italy.

Donations to the project may also be made online, through the special Oxfam page on oxfam.it/mondadorif.

Since the pandemic began, Oxfam has intensified its work in favour of thousands of students and teachers, to fight scholastic dispersion and poor education by improving access to socio-educational services for families in financial difficulties. An inclusive intervention – implemented together with junior and senior high schools, local authorities, universities, foundations and organisations in the voluntary sector – which has generated training initiatives and support for teachers and parents; laboratories and remedial courses to help students who have fallen behind in the last very difficult academic year; educational and play activities in parks in Italian suburbs hardest hit by the social unease generated by the pandemic.

“The pandemic has affected everyone, but in different ways. Kids who were already experiencing difficulties have suffered the most, falling behind and lacking the means to react to the severe impact of the emergency. We’re thinking about children who don’t have the tools to follow online lessons, above all about a generation we don’t want to lose and need to put back on an equal footing as soon as possible,” said Roberto Barbieri, general manager of Oxfam Italia. “In Italy, even before the pandemic, 10 million people lacked the resources to resist the emergency. So we need to make every possible effort, starting with schools and students, to prevent kids from leaving school early, which is the first step towards definitive social exclusion. Thanks to the work of the Community Centres we have already reached thousands of people since the pandemic began, but there is still a great deal to do and we have to do it together. With Mondadori Store we shall be even more effective in helping kids not to give up on their future.”

“Every day through our bookstores across the country we work to promote and spread cultural values, which are the bedrock for the growth of the individual and community cohesion,” said Mondadori Retail CEO Carmine Perna. “With the launch of this important cooperation agreement with Oxfam, we shall be at the side of people who risk exclusion, bringing our commitment to support education: thanks to the work of the volunteers and the awareness of our customers, we can certainly make a difference in creating new prospects and a more inclusive future for children and adolescents.”

About Oxfam
Oxfam is a global movement of people who fight inequality to overcome poverty in more than 60 countries. It saves and rebuilds lives in emergencies, promotes sustainable development and works to build a future without inequality where essential rights are guaranteed for everyone, everywhere, and no one is left behind.

About Mondadori Store
Mondadori Store is the largest network of bookstores in Italy: a cultural organisation active across the country through more than 500 stores in large cities and small towns alike, and online through the e-commerce website Mondadoristore.it and the bookclub formula. In addition to books, its core offer, it organises entertainment experiences, events and multi-channel services, reaching more than 20 million customers every year.