Italia Nostra Arcipelago Toscano (AT) is an Italian nonprofit whose mission is to protect and valorize the Italian environment and its cultural heritage. There is increasing urgency to protect and revitalize specific Italian areas, which is crucial for the Italian and Mediterranean environment, like the AT. Increasing threats have emerged, driven by increasing globalization, unsustainable consumption, and the global energy crisis. My project aimed at analyzing the AT's current situation and threats, and identifying solutions for the creation of a more sustainable future.

I leveraged three main skillsets developed throughout my MBA experience:

1. Team collaboration: Working together with Paolo, as well as numerous stakeholders of Italia Nostra and on the Tuscan Arcipelago, it was important to coordinate schedules, ensure objective alignment, and work with deadlines. This is something that at CBS we are constantly practicing when doing group projects. It is fundamental to ensure that we are all working towards a common goal, but also that we commit to certain deadlines.
2. Data analysis: The data we collected for our paper came from different sources and in different formats, some qualitative and some quantitative. We had to ensure its quality and insight by building out a skeleton of the data needed to generate a 360 degree view of the current sustainability situation of the Tuscan Arcipelago. Additionally, we had to drill down to primary sources and consolidate data sets. The CBS Managerial Statistics and Business Analytics course allowed us to better understand and make sense of the data, as well as perform a more effective analysis.
3. Working-backwards: With a clear objective, set together with Italia Nostra of identifying practices to make the Tuscan Arcipelago transition to a more sustainable ecosystem, we worked backwards starting from the status quo to map out the gaps to be filled. I learned similar approaches in the Think Bigger course, where we started by solving a pain point and then worked towards designing a solution.

   A key challenge faced was finding the necessary data points. Since our focus was limited to a small area of Italy, the publicly available data was not that rich. We had to move through regional and national agencies that collect regional and local data to gain access to some information. Initially, we faced a lack of response, but we managed to circumvent this by collaborating with Italia Nostra and asking for their support. In some cases where data was not available, we decided with Italia Nostra that it would be possible to build rough bottom-up estimates that could help give a sense of the magnitude. A further challenge was determining how to keep a neutral and objective tone in the analysis conducted. Italia Nostra wants to generate awareness and sensibility around this topic, stimulating action. Some work has been done already by other associations in the space, with different levels of detail and execution. It was hence fundamental to keep a tone of narrative that guaranteed us to be as much diplomatic as possible in order to preserve Italia Nostra's relationship with other operating players in the area.

   It was incredibly enriching working with a group of people that share my same values and want to protect the beautiful country of Italy by preserving its history, culture, nature, and livelihood. I realized how difficult it is for nonprofits to drive effective change, due to challenges in lack of capital, governance expertise, and/or visibility. Unfortunately, I also realized that some nonprofits (not Italia Nostra) have objectives that go beyond what they claim, e.g., political relevance, decisional power, favoritism, etc. I realize how important it is to see both sides, and as a critical thinker to recognize how to stay true to a mission. Overall, I also recognized that designing a vision and making a plan to reach sustainability goals is only a fraction of the way that one needs to go. Executing the vision is the most crucial part, for which there is the need of buy-in and volunteers, budget, and of course expertise.