In the last three years, we have been working to support the development of cooperation mechanisms between social economy actors and public administration for more effective welfare services and initiatives to enhance the social and employment inclusion of vulnerable groups.

We organized moments of encountering and training during which these actors had the opportunity to share strengths and weaknesses of their collaboration experiences in order to identify the success factors that should be taken into consideration when thinking about how to restructure local welfare services and initiatives.

The results of this phase of the project were brought in the open call for sub-grants to fund local initiatives to encourage the development of bottom-up initiatives for new services fostering the employment opportunities in the addressed territories and facilitating the access to available services through the public-private collaboration.

We met in Palermo (Italy) to share the activities carried out as part of these initiatives and the results achieved in the different countries. But also to plan the very next steps of our project and the activities that will be realized in the next weeks.

Getting to know the two local initiatives: how they have contributed to reach our goals

We had also the opportunity to discover more about the local initiatives sub-granted by MoreThanAJob in Italy that have strengthened the project’s commitment in encouraging new synergies among local actors and stronger welfare services and initiatives. These initiatives allowed to support in a more incisive way these actors in reaching citizens and communities through welfare initiatives and services that promote their employability and social inclusion.

Representatives of the sub-grantee organisations shared with us the results achieved and the impact of the carried activities on the participants and their communities.

Increasing the levels of social and labour inclusion of people with migratory background: the visit to Per Esmepio

We visited Per Esempio, the organisation coordinating The Game – Orientation to the Future, where we get to know about the counselling desk and the training activities carried out. The counselling desk has been open to people, in particular the ones with a migrant background, who wanted to know more about the labour market in Palermo, but also the services available for them and how to access those. Moussa and Karidjia, the two peer-to-peer counsellors, guided their fellow citizens in accessing a variety of services and supported them in different aspects related to employability.

In this interview, Moussa tells us about his experience at the desk and the support provided as part of it.

Along with the counselling service, The Game realised workshops on Italian language and informatics: this allowed participants acquire knowledge and competences both in Italian and informatics.

Moreover, Per Esempio organised a career day during which participants discovered more about the labour market in Palermo and had the opportunity to receive vouchers for an interview with local organisations and companies. The interview will allow participants to test their capacities in carrying out a job interview and, at the same time, to get to know local realities.

Listen to the voices of participants to the The Game activities.

Developing a sustainable, ethical and legal business model for street sellers: the visit to NoZ

The following day, we visited NoZ – Nuove Officine Zisa, a space created by CRESM, the organisation coordinating Artigianato Interculturale. The workshops at NoZ are the place where the project activities took place.

Indeed, as part of the project, street sellers in Palermo had the opportunity to take part to training activities fostering their knowledge of digital tools for craft. As part of it, they had the opportunity to discover how to mix traditional and digital craft and, at the same time, how to use biomaterials for the creation of handmade products that could be sold as part of their job.

Listen to what participants told us about their experience.

Luca, who coordinated the project, told us also about the counselling desk for the start-up of social enterprises and ethical business management. The desk has allowed to support and guide street sellers on the available training and employment opportunities as well as in facing the bureaucratic machine that they have to face for accessing some services.

Listen to the interview where he tells us something more about the project and the impact of the desk.

Discovering the cultural heritage of Palermo and its multicultural influences

At the end of the meeting, we had the opportunity to do a guided tour around the city centre of Palermo coming across the influences that the culture and architecture have received from the different populations that have inhabited the city. We discovered how the flows of Mediterranean people over the centuries have influenced the habits and traditions of Palermo.

The MoreThanAJob partner meeting took place in Palermo (Italy) from the 20^th to the 22^st of July.

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