Train of Integration: For the integration of refugees in Italy selected by the Alstom Foundation

Among the 25 selected projects for the 2019 cycle, there is also an Italian one, which will take place in Rome and will be deployed by the Centro Astalli Association. Train of Integration provides an integration path for refugees through language learning, vocational training and job placement over a period of one year.

The first phase of this project, which will start in January 2020 and is aimed primarily at women and young people, includes the attendance of a language course for the achievement of the A2 level in Italian. Later, people will be helped to develop language skills and other skills that are necessary for finding a job, such as writing a CV or computer skills for using the Internet for work purposes. They will also be offered support from the legal and bureaucratic point of view and ad hoc training on the rights and duties of workers in Italy. Finally, eight people will be given the opportunity to start a training internship, and also to visit the Alstom sites and tell their experience to the people of the company.

The project will be carried out by the Centro Astalli Association, active since 1981, which carries out functions of social, cultural and welfare service for forced migrants and their families.

"The integration of forced migrants can never be understood in a unidirectional sense, it requires gradual and complex paths that are built together. The daily experience at their side has taught us that it is necessary to immediately implement integrated paths that above all bridge social inequalities, taking into account the richness of the different cultural backgrounds. In this way, social cohesion increases and communities are made. All this can and must be done to be able to imagine a future together. The various social actors must commit themselves to developing new paths by feeling responsibly involved and contributing their part for the good of all. The synergies in the field in this specific project are a small example of a new fantasy and creativity in the social sphere ," said Fr. Camillo Ripamonti, President of Centro Astalli.