The Erythros Association was born, informally, in February of 1993, under the name, “Young Eritreans Group,” and initially performed activities targeted specifically at Eritrea.

Subsequently, the group transformed into a multiethnic association with projects in services areas that run the gamut of social issues affecting the young African state of Eritrea.

Today, Erythros is a secular, volunteer-based association working to promote social and human rights, for the most vulnerable sectors of society in Italy, and in the world’s developing “South.”

Since 1998, Erythros has been applying innovative and experimental methods to carry out socially-centered projects and programs. One of these methods is the use of peer volunteers – people that were once beneficiaries themselves. Over the years, thanks in part to these member-volunteers and other groundbreaking methods, Erythros has shown a remarkable ability to reach and involve beneficiaries. Moreover, beneficiaries can rely on a group of committed professionals, including attorneys, doctors, psychologists, cultural mediators, social workers and educators who donate their time to help; volunteer work is the cornerstone of Erythros’ activities. The Association presently assists approximately 8000 individuals per year, has roughly 2000 members, and 45 active member-volunteers, divided into various working groups.

Our activities are based on the social enterprise model, thus on comprehensive projects aimed to help the individual discovery or reclaim his or her identity, and to enrich individual and social capacities. Furthermore, Erythros works to promote, protect and improve physical and mental health through cultural activities, and by supporting and facilitating the labor insertion of its beneficiaries.
 
Some of our association’s most important activities are assistance programs for human trafficking victims, and the homeless. Since 1996, we have opened shelters for these individuals under the auspices of these activities and thanks to the financial support of our volunteers and various other entities such as the Knights of Malta, the Union of Valdese Churches, and the John Paul II Community. In 2001, shelters for the homeless were created thanks to collaboration with the Municipality of Rome – Department V “Social and Health Policy.”