Italy: Ancona asylum project deemed one of the best

Rome: A project for asylum seekers near Ancona in the Marche region was deemed one of the best nationwide in terms of organizational quality by officials from Italy’s shelter and integration system (SAI).

The “Ancona Province of Asylum” project, organized by the city of Jesi near Ancona through the ASP Agency of Services for the Person and involving 34 municipalities in the hosting of migrants, has been judged by officials of the central SAI service (shelter and integration system) to be one of the best in Italy in terms of organizational quality.

The initiative is a project of excellence within the national scenario, SAI officials said.

The recognition followed two-week-long inspections during which a team dispatched from Rome verified the implementation of the project, the quality of lodgings and activities and the financial situation.

Gianfranca Schiavoni, president of ASP Ambito 9, which organizes the project, said the recognition confirms that “the approach adopted is effective and coherent with the purposes of integration.”

The “tailor-made” approach, which is “personalized depending on the migrant’s characteristics and which involves a multidisciplinary team of operators and the community” in which the migrant is hosted, “represents a pathway towards real socio-economic integration,” she added.

The SAI project “Ancona Province of Asylum” involves approximately 800 migrants, including 42 unaccompanied minors. It is the first in Italy in terms of the number of local authorities involved and the third in the number of people it hosts.

Migrants are hosted in 145 private lodgings, six communities for minors, and one facility for the autonomy of young migrants who have just turned 18 and are enrolled in education, job training, job placement, as well as social activities.

They are supported in the achievement of socio-economic independence by operators from the social cooperatives Vivere Verde Onlus, Cooss Marche, Polo9, Casa della Gioventù, Nuova Agenzia RES, Lella 2001, and the associations Associazioni Anolf Marche and Oikos.

The project has a budget of 6.7 million euros funded by the State and involves 209 professional figures, including 146 women. In 2022, 393 job contracts were issued to beneficiaries, up from 340 the previous year.