Created by Foundation Child and ICACAPAP (International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions), the group firstly met in Berlin (Italian Embassy) in 2004. The Congress goal was to define the first joint projects among Israeli and Palestinian professionals. To this end, the Program foresaw moments of reflection on theoretical and intervention models and experience and background sharing moments: everything with the purpose of supporting an exchange and confrontation atmosphere not only on professional level.
The second meeting took place at Erice (Sicily, Italy) in 2005 and the group took its name after the place but more importantly as acronyms of its core objective (Empowerment and Resilience in Children Everywhere), To this end, ERICE aims at promoting the rights of children and bring them back to a normal
life through the necessary cares, everywhere they live and apart from their citizenship.
In 2006 the group had a new meeting in Rome to discuss the first results came out from researches. The picture of the situation was really worrying: researches underlined that children exposed to conflict – Israeli, Palestinian or Arabic-Israeli – presented a severe compromising of their psychological well- being.
In 2007 the group met again in Florence (Italy) during the XIII European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) congress. On that occasion the results of the research done by ERICE group presented to the international public of child psychiatrists through a big symposium.
The group made part of the launch of the Early Childhood Peace Consortium on August 2013 at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy. After the launch of the Early Childhood Consortium, ERICE breakout session was planned as well on September 2013. Central to both the expanded ERICE meeting and the Early Peace Consortium held is the hypothesis that early parent
child training programs that embrace love and forgiveness can lead to greater peace home, in the local community, in national societies and in the world.
ERICE held its a scientific conference on the 3rd of June 2015, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The conference consisted of three main parts. The first part of the conference addressed the theoretical and ideological aspects, and concentrated on fostering cooperation between Jewish, Arab and Palestinian mental health professionals. The second part focused on the need to promote epidemiological studies and the third section of the conference was dedicated to Early Childhood Based research and interventions.
At the moment, ERICE group is working on an emergency project aimed at an intervention to help children and families affected by the last conflict in Gaza. Since its foundation, ERICE has organized several International and Regional Meetings that have promoted a profitable exchange and dialogue, unique in its type. This has allowed participants to share reflections and good practices through presentations and workshops. At present, six pilot projects have been funded:
Each of these projects shows promise, but none are fully funded. With additional donations, several of the ERICE projects can be expanded to have a dramatic impact on the lives of a large number of Israeli and Palestinian children. The work of ERICE has been facilitated by two external advisors: James F. Leckman, M.D., Child Study Center Yale University; and Ernesto Caffo, M.D., current President of Foundation Child. These advisors, are responsible for the external review of all project proposals based on the following criteria: (1) the likelihood of a positive impact for Palestinian and Israeli children; (2) a joint effort involving both Israeli and Palestinian professionals; (3) feasibility; (4) evidence of capacity building; (5) a commitment to continuity of care; (6) evidence of loving kindness and good intentions; and (7) the likelihood that no harm will occur.
Empowerment and Resilience for Children Everywhere (ERICE), NGO: ERICE (Empowerment and Resilience in Child Everywhere) is devoted to the promotion of children’s rights and the protection of the right to health. ERICE group represents a think tank for the research and the intervention aimed at protecting children and adolescents affected by the devastating effects of war, out from the “logic of competition”. The attention is all focused-on children and adolescents who are living in conflicts areas, promoting a preventive and supportive action that protects their mental health, as fundamental element to build a future of peace. The Association intends to establish intervention
Projects for the improvement of the mental-physical The Project aims at developing new systems of child mental health care and enhances existing approaches for training professionals such as general practitioners, nurses, teachers, psychologists and psychiatrists. The Association operates primarily in the socio-medical, psychological, social and pedagogical fields, as well as any other form of assistance and relief to children who are living in disadvantaged and/or emergency conditions. The association carries out activities that are useful in the pursuit of its mission and in particular:
ERICE has been supported by partner organisations and institutions such as Fondazione Child, Yale University and UNICEF.
The Association operates primarily in the socio-medical, psychological, social and pedagogical fields, as well as any other form of assistance and relief to children who are living in disadvantaged and/or emergency conditions. From September 2015, ERICE was formally recognised as Onlus (not for-profit organisation).
ERICE held its scientific conference on the 3rd of June 2015, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
For the past ten years, ERICE has facilitated succesful meetings between leading Israeli and Palestinian mental health pratictionners and academics in Italy in cooperation with ERICE’s partner organizations and institutions: Foundation Child, Yale University, International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), Unicef, the Fetzer Institute and local NGOs. We berlieve it is imperative to continue this cross-border professional exchange. By encouraging professionals not only to participate in our cross-border seminars and trainings, but also to spread infomation and knowledge to outside constituencies or decision-makers, we hope to create a cadre of leaders that will help transform the attitudes and behaviour of the broader communities, thereby contributing to the mitigation of the conflict and increasing the probability of a sustainable peace.
The conference consisted of three main parts. The first part of the conference addressed the theoretical and ideological aspects, and concentrated on fostering cooperation between Jewish, Arab and Plestinian mental helath professionals. The second part focused on the need to promote epidemiological studies and the third section of the conference was dediacated to Early Childhood Based research and interventions. This section included lectures by Prof. Ernesto Caffo, “Child trauma and epigenetics: how research and training may have an impact on political decisions and change children’s lives”, and by Prof. James Leckman who introduced the transformative power of Early Childhood Development in peace building and presented the important work of ACEV in Turkey and the Early Childhood Peace Consortium in partnership with Unicef.