The UMN Italian Final Conference took place in Milan on the 9th of November, hosted by Confcommercio Milano, in the authoritative site of Palazzo Castiglioni in Corso Venezia.
During the meeting the Italian partners showed, to an audience of about one hundred guests, the results of the Italian Pilot Action developed under the UMN project, in Milan and Friuli Venezia Giulia (Pordenone and Trieste).
In Milan, the cooperation among CELAV- the Center for labour inclusion of the the Municipality of Milan, ANOLF Milano, Fisascat Cisl and Cisl Milano Metropoli with the support of the local bilateral bodies EBITER and EBTPE was essential to develop the Italian Pilot Action.
The work of this network allowed 21 refugees and asylum seekers, from 7 different countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Ghana, Libya, Nigeria and Pakistan) to start six weeks of language and training professional courses and, after it, for the most of the participants a training on the job of three months in six different companies (Dorrego Group, Gran Cafè & Tre Marie, McDonald’s Company, McDonald’s – De Gasperi, McDonald’s – Fantamondo, McDonald’s – Passoni & Di Mauro) operating in the city, in catering and in fast food.
The Final Conference was divided in three panel and the debate was lively thanks to the moderation of the journalist Lorella Beretta.
After the welcome greetings of Roberto Barbieri – General Secretary of Confcommercio, Ivan Notarnicola – General Secretary of Fisascat Milano, Isa Tonoli – Filcams Milano and Umberto Bellini – President of EBITER Milano, a political panel composed by Lamberto Bertolè – Councilor for Welfare and Health of the Municipality of Milan, Morena Cristofori – Councilor for European Policies of the Municipality of Pordenone, Maria Ilena Rocha – President of National Anolf and Marco Cilento – Head of Institutional Policies ETUC started a round table about the potential of integration in migration, discussing issues and challenges for the future.
Thanks to the first panel was given space to the voices of the protagonists: toghether with Virginia Cobelli – Italian Teacher for Foreigners and Nicol Pucci – Chef of the course, three of the refugees and asylum seekers involved – Elohor, Shawon and Zamzama – told their story and shared their successful experience. As others of the participants, they completed their internship and keep working with an extension of it or with a regular contract paid by the companies.
In the second panel, some rapresentatives of the companies (Fabio Acampora, Dorrego Group, Giuliano Niedda, HR of McDonald’s Company and Ornella Gueitamacchi – Gran Cafè & Tre Marie) gave their point of view about the market needs and discussed togheter with rapresentatives of local trade unions (Maurizio Bove, President of Anof Milano| Fisascat Milano Secretary and Ahmed Faghi Elmi, President of Anolf FVG) and municipalities (Stefano Vitaloni – Municipality of Milano and Tiziana Perin – Municipality of Pordenone) about potential of networking in the construction of good practices for inclusion in labour market.
In the last panel partners from Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece and Slovenia shared their opinions, describing the key points of their actions under the UMN project. The conference was ended by Roberta Vaia, Cisl Milano Metropoli Secretary that focused on conclusions and next steps.
The event was posible thanks a fruitful cooperation among international and local partners, including also civil society organisations.
The Italian Final Conference got an interesting local media coverage and contributed to show the topical theme of the immigration form an other perspective, underline the importance of programmes able to support the formation and integration of TCNs.
The Conference has been reported by Italian Media (TV, journalists), check this out: