LA CITTA POSSIBILE, ACTIONS FOR THE ROMA POPULATION
Nevo Parudimos Association in partnership with Cooperativa Sociala Stranaidea, a consortium formed by Cooperative at Valdocco, Cooperative Libertutti, Associazione Terra del Fuoco and Red Cross Italy, are implementing the project “La Citta Possibile, actions for the Roma population”, funded by the City of Torino with support from Italy’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The project aims to support Roma families who lived in the illegal camps built around the city of Torino in Lungo Stura Lazio in a process of social integration in Italy or Romania, for those who want return.
The project started in 2013 and will continue until 2016 with extension posibilities.
The project activities are implemented both in Italy and Romania as following:
In Italy:
– at first a census was taken of the Roma citizens living in the illegaly placed huts throughout different areas of the city, especially those in Lungo Stura Lazio;
– the second phase was to set criteria on wich the families involved in the program were chosen;
– the program that consisted of initial counseling of beneficiaries was started, followed by the decision related to the program that could include it:
- language course;
- vocational training course;
- support for renting housing, the rent being subsidized or not by the project;
- relocation in a subsidized housing with the family and inclusion in other programs;
- vocational guidance and counseling for the members of the beneficiary families;
- search of employment opportunities for the members of the beneficiary families;
- the possibiliy of relocating families in small farms near Torino where they could start farming;
- one of the actions involving Roma families in Lungo Stura Lazio is being able to repatriate voluntarily and to be assisted in Romania in the process of social reintegration upon their return home for a period of up to six months.
- the possibility of voluntary repatriate the families in Romania and providing a support to start a family business.
In Romania:
– guidance and counseling in finding a job;
– offering the possibility to take training courses;
– employment for a six month period in order to achieve the necessary experience for easier acces to a job;
– support in order to socially reintegrate the beneficiary families ( school, family doctor,…);
– providing support to start a family business;
– providing support form a local Romanian team for the returnees that lead to financial idependence and a decent living in Romania.
Aspects worth mentioning about the project activities are:
– voluntary choice of the type of intervention that will benefit him by the person receiving it;
– the possibility to support the integration process taking place in Romania by an initial contribution of goods or services;
– building alongside/in Romania a network of associations assigned to various territories available to create with us interventions for social inclusion;
– collaboration between l’RTI responsible of aiding and the organization host of the repatriation project that takes into account the beneficiaries capabilities and expectations, and sustaining this project in Romania;
– acknowledgement of the economic part of the Romanian organizations involved in creating and monitoring the repatriation.
Working with the beneficiaries has several stages:
- the observation stage consisting of discussions with the family members, obtaining informations about their qualifications, the status in Romania, workforce experiece, children and extended family status;
- the step of identifying solutions and appointing the family in one of the beneficiary categories: when it’s being decided if they will continue a reinsertion proces/program in Italy or they will return home.
- the contracting phase: the one in wich a contract is being drawn between pe person representing the beneficiary family, the social worker representing the City of Torino (in charge of the case) and the social worker of Nevo Parudimos Association, in the case of the families voluntarily repatriated, in wich the rights and obligations of each part involved is specified;
- the stage of contract implementation lasting 6 months starting the time of repatriation for the families going home or 24 months for the families who chose to stay in Italy;
- evaluation phase in wich we assess the impact of the activities.
In the case of the families that decide to return to Romania, before the process a voluntray repatriation contract is being signed containing general and specific clauses, depending on the distinctive intervention for each family:
– for beneficiaries: having no criminal offenses during this project;
– collaboarting with the local partenr in Romania, Nevo Parudimos Association, on various activities necessary to achieve the objective of social inclusion;
– consulting with the project manager about the basic necessities for his family in order to spend the autonomy allowance of 300 euros per month;
– to communicate any change in the family status that can end the autonomy contract;
– it’s also being stated that Nevo Parudimos Association social worker is required to monitor the activities needed to achieve the objective of social inclusion;
– to hand over to the beneficiary the monthly sum of 300 euros, transferred by the project coordinators and, in cese there aren’t any employment opportunities, to hand the beneficiary the subsidy amount for employment as allowance for autonomy;
– to partake in the evaluation of the autonomy process (once a month) with all the project representatives, to evaluate and implement with those repatriated the possible changes in the autonomy contract, in case the new family status requires it;
– the project coordinators in Italy are obligated to transfer through Cooperative “Stranaidea” each month the sum destined for the autonomy allowance, as was established in the economic agreements between the parter associations;
– to provide the local Romanian Nevo Parudimos Association all the necessary infromations for the activities undertaken by them;
– to participate in periodic evaluations of the beneficiary families;
– to announce any change in the contract of autonomy to the Nevo Parudimos Association and the beneficiaries.
The Nevo Parudimos Association handles the support for social reinsertion for the families in the Western Romania, particulary those in Caras-Severin County.
We are currently sustaining the social reintegration program of 18 families from various areas of the county.
Up until now we finished the repatriation process of four families.
Following this project, good results came through, for example, some beneficiaries got employed in various companies, thus rending the reinsertion program a positive result, other families rehabilitated their contry homes with the money from the monthly allowance and another family purchased several cattle and pigs and will start up a family farm and planning to acces European funds for it’s development.
For more information about this project you can contact mr. Max Ferua, the general manager of the initiative at the email adress ….. or mrs. Bitea Adelina, the project representative for the Nevo Parudimos at email: adelina251285@yahoo.com.
