“SottoSopra: Abitare Collaborativo” is a project, supported by Fondazione CON IL SUD, aiming to fight housing poverty, proposing an innovative housing model which is based on the inhabitants’ participation as citymakers of their own place where they live.
The project takes place in San Berillo neighbourhood in the town centre of Catania affected by several problem linked to the huge amount of abandoned buildings (60% of buildings are empty), informal housing squatted by emarginated people and social-
cultural poverty.

Project’s approach moved from a deep reflection on the concept of “housing/living” a place, as a collective and participative process aiming to transform spaces by people. Our model tries to respond to the complexity and multifactorial dimension of poverty. By restoring part of the ancient De Gaetani palace, project will start –up new place based services and a social cafeteria, a new social spot where to meet and exchange services and information. Project aims to improve the housing condition of San Berillo by triggering widespread effects on the inhabitant everyday life, promoting physical revitalization, carried out by the beneficiaries and fostering relationship between local community’s
member.

Project will target to a total of 18 former homeless, who will be hosted in the De Gaetani Palace and there they will be followed –up by professional in order to access to services and to receive career counselling and housing opportunities.
Cafeteria is one of the main project’s activities, and it will represent the social and meeting point between inhabitants and people coming from the rest of the city.

Oxfam Italia Intercultura is leading the project in partnership with Trame di Quartiere, Diaconia Valdese, Sunia Catania, Impact Hub e Municipality of Catania.

PROGRAM: Ministry of the Interior – European Refugee Fund

 

PARTNERSHIP

Leader: International Training Center of the ILO

Partner: Microfinance and Development Association (Trento, www.microfinanza.it), Micro Progress Onlus (Rome, www.microprogress.org), Italian Council for Refugees Onlus (Rome, www.cir‐onlus.org), Municipality of Venice

 

 

MACRO-INTERVENTION AREA:
Social inclusion

The project aims to guide, train and support entrepreneurship (individual or in cooperative form) the International Protection Holders (TPI) belonging to the ordinary categories, including their skills and useful tools for the activity of autonomous entrepreneurial activities (new or taken over). The specific objectives are the following:

  • Encourage the acquisition of skills and tools useful for the start-up of an independent entrepreneurial activity, by at least ninety (90) TPIs belonging to the ordinary categories, through an orientation and training course.
  • Facilitate the information and the creation of at least six (6) entrepreneurial initiatives (6 new businesses or economic activities already existing and detected, also in the form of a cooperative) purchased by TPI participating in the training course.
  • Provide tools to support and complete the start-up process of the business initiatives identified through the granting of a punctual and personalized accompaniment service.
  • Establishment of a territorial network of public and private entities of stakeholders linked to micro-enterprises and micro-credit that supports the beneficiary of the project to ensure future sustainability of the business strategies developed during the training course.

ROLE IN THE PROJECT:
Training, dissemination and events, coaching, BP editing up to microcredit disbursement

PROGRAM: MIUR – NOTICE START UP – Presentation of projects to support Start-ups – Social Innovation Cluster Line
leader

 

PARTNERSHIP

Leader:CS Lab Srl (Caltanissetta)

Partner: Tree Srl (Catania), E-Direct srl (Salerno), Challenges srl (Salerno), University of Salento – Department of Cultural Heritage (Lecce),The Hub Sicilia Soc. Coop. (Syracuse)

 

 

MACRO-INTERVENTION AREA: Social inclusion

The project aims at enhancing and guiding immigrants in Italy who follow a university education pathway and at attracting international talent to encourage and support the social and economic development of the country, generating a positive impact at a national level and towards the world of work. international. The proposal responds, in fact, to the need of the national productive system to favor the internationalization of knowledge and markets, through the employment of immigrant students who, by virtue of the profound knowledge of the territories themselves of internationalization, but also of Italy having trained in our country, they can act as mediators and collectors of an industrial process that, increasingly, tends to create local business branches located outside the Italian borders. More in detail, the project idea envisages the creation of an integrated web system dedicated to supporting the entry into the workforce of undergraduate and graduate immigrants, in order to enhance their knowledge, attitudes and potential through the involvement of Italian and international universities, of national and multinational companies and the population of highly qualified immigrants. PLAFF intends to create a virtual hub that acts as a point of reference for all the realities, first and foremost Italian companies seeking internationalization, interested in creating a dialogue with foreign students working for an Italian university

ROLE IN THE PROJECT:

Impact Hub oversaw the research phase together with UniSalento and the creation of a relational system between universities and companies, nationally and internationally, to support the study-work transition and foster the dissemination of good practices