On the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of Dianova Italy, we had an interview with Fulvia Paggi, coordinator of Dianova’s national management and head of the financial resources department
Could you tell us about your career at Dianova?
I’ve been working at Dianova since 1990, when I started managing the admissions of applicants to our treatment facilities. After that period, I was transferred to administrative services, and more specifically, to the billing department of residents stemming from public services. Finally, I’ve been in charge of the organization’s national accounting department. Throughout the years, I’ve been working in a number of facilities. Presently, I work in a financial management position and as a coordinator of the organization’s national directorate.
Who’s in the management team?
The management team of Dianova Italy is composed of seven members: Pierangelo Puppo, the President, Mauro Luccardini, Ombretta Garavaglia, Massimo Bagnaschi, Giovanni Medi, Cristina Lizarza and Monserrat Herrero. The operative commission comprises three people: Pierangelo, responsible of quality development and intervention programs; Mauro, head of sustainability and innovation services and myself, responsible of the financial management department.
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What are the fields of action of your organization?
Our interventions focus on the addiction field, including drugs and alcohol. Our work is developed on a residential basis throughout five therapeutic communities which offer publicly funded accommodation for 167 patients. At the community level, the centres offer different types of programs (educational, therapeutic, shelter, and specialized in alcohol and poly-dependence). All programs are individualized and range from 3 to 26 months in duration. In addition, Dianova offers an ongoing support during residents’ social reintegration phase through a variety of agricultural activities.
In 2011, a pilot project for minors and adolescents has been launched. One year later, we’ve opened the ‘Social Camp‘ educational park where a proactive development experiential program is carried out for youth and minors of age. In 2013, ‘La Villa‘, a residential facility for minors has been inaugurated; this center provides accommodation for adolescents aged 14 to 21, at-risk of social exclusion.
Dianova Italy also develops addiction prevention activities for both adults and young people, which are the result of our 30-year commitment in this field. the decision to work with minors arose from the necessity to provide efficient responses to a rapidly-growing concern in our country, and was grounded on the Dianova network’s various opportunities for exchanges at a global level.
According to you, what are your greatest accomplishments since 2010?
It’s certainly been the diversification of our services. We’ve been able to increase and strengthen our services portfolio, including professional training programs, family workshops, prevention activities in schools, specific laboratories, etc. Moreover, we’ve implemented a variety of new services with the opening of our juvenile center. In addition we’ve been successful in diversifying our funding resources through the development of fundraising activities and project participation.
Secondly, we have in recent years boosted the professionalization of our operations and raised the bar on service quality. At the internal level, we’ve modernized our organizational structure and we have developed and implemented a model of competences intended for the organization’s national management, centers managers, educational personnel and the centers’ drug counselors and other staff. As regards human resources, we’ve implemented a management model and provided the staff with training related to the generational change within the organization.
We’ve successfully established a quality control department to achieve excellence in the therapeutic, and organizational fields and provide standards for basic infrastructure. When it comes to communication, we’ve published an educational book based on the prevention of addiction. At the internal level, we’ve implemented a plan to modernize our therapeutic intervention project towards a greater respect for the environment. Another aspect is that we’ve put a great emphasis in our human resources management department.
Thirdly, one of the aspects we’re especially proud of is the beginning of a procedure to achieve the organization’s legal recognition. This implies to work on a management manual and to set external supervision. Lastly, we have been able to sustain ourselves economically. In the situation of economic crisis that we are undergoing in our country, we have been able to strengthen institutional incomes through investments in new projects and by improving the quality of services. As a result, we’ve ensured budget balance since year 2010
Thanks to all these changes, our external image have been dramatically improved and our objectives have been achieved. This has been made possible by a competent management team in whom we have full confidence.
What difficulties did you encounter since year 2010?
At the internal level of the organization, we have struggled in a number of issues: maintaining budget balance, achieving efficient internal communication, the generational shift and the transmission of Dianova´s culture and values. Lastly we have faced difficulties to diversify our incomes (basically by means of fundraising and projects) due to Dianova’s limited visibility in the public at large.
At the external level, we have witnessed the rapid evolution of the drug problem and how it now affects generations that are confronted to different problems and needs.
What are your projects in the near future?
On the one hand, we will try to maintain and strengthen all the assets and incomes coming from the institutions to the residential centers. We want to transform the current experimental projects (minors program) into consolidated and sustainable projects. We would like to increase the percentage of incomes that are coming from fundraising and project participation.
On the other hand, we will develop external communication activities for added credibility and visibility. At the same time, we would like to improve internal communications towards more functionality. Last but not least, we’d like to develop efficient instruments to ensure the transmission of Dianova´s culture and values and we aim to improve the internal promotion process to better identify those among our co-workers who may become the organization’s future leaders.
Dianova Italy
Opening year: 1984
Staff members: 108
Addiction Area:
5 residential treatment centers, 167 places
“Nautilus” Daycare facility
Youth Area
“La Villa” residential program for minors: 8 places
“Social Camp” educational park: 160 people admitted in 2013
Users Profile (2013)
386 people admitted in programs
Average age: 38 years
More information: http://www.dianova.it and Dianova Italy is on Facebook
