Italy: Project to train migrants amid waiter shortage in Abruzzo region

With the arrival of the summer season, training activities have kicked off in the Italian Abruzzo region for migrants interested in working in the restaurant business, which is suffering from a personnel shortage.

An experimental project in Abruzzo has been organized to address a personnel crisis in the restaurant sector.

A few days after the beginning of the summer season, a course kicked off in Manoppello Scalo, near Pescara. This initiative is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between the retailers’ confederation Confesercenti, the training agency Cescot Abruzzo — recognized by the regional government — and the community ‘Figlie dell’amore di Gesù e Maria’, which welcomes migrants in the village of Brecciarola through the social cooperative Fagem.

Course for 10 migrants aged 20 to 38
Ten of the center’s guests are attending the course, which will enable them to obtain a regional diploma qualifying them to work for restaurants, bars and catering businesses.

The students are aged 20 to 38 and hail from Cameroon, Bangladesh, Benin, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Tunisia.

Once the 123-hour-long course is completed, the migrants can be employed for tasks ranging from cleaning, maintenance, to serve on tables or at bars.

Confesercenti said the project is a “test of strong symbolic and operational value, which can provide an interesting response to the expectations of several operators.”

The double aim of the project HospItaly
“The project is called HospItaly because it has a double aim: welcoming migrants through training, which can promote inclusion, and responding to businesses that need to find personnel in the restaurant and food production sectors”, explained Confesercenti.

The project, promoted by Confesercenti Abruzzo, is supported by Gal Terre Pescaresi, which offered its school rooms for free.

It has also been staunchly promoted by the cooperative Fagem, led by Sister Vera D’Agostino, and by local businesses, particularly Caffetteria Anna, owned by entrepreneur Loriano Iezzi. This leading company in the restaurant and banqueting business in Manoppello paid for the course materials and food. The project also received support from the teachers and the commission appointed by the region for the final exam.