Yes, finally, we made it: on February 2nd, four participants of the project Lavoro di squadra (Teamwork), Adrian, Davide, Marco and Vlad, started working in a large company in Turin. With a six-month internship, with grit and great hopes. As with the whole history of the project, this victory, small and great at the same time, also comes from teamwork: the valuable assist came from Balon Mundial, partner of the project, who had a close relationship with the company; the case manager of the project held the direction of the game; she followed each phase, in a perfect double with the responsible person within the company, always attentive and available. I’m pleased. I’ve heard the guys several times these days to find out how it was going. For some of them, the biggest obstacle is commuting, especially for the first round, so you have to get up for five. But inside the factory, they put grit in it and try to learn.
Yet, it is wrong to focus only on this job placement. The results of the project are more significant and not always easily tangible. For example, having entered the dance team in the spring, two girls have matured during training the idea of resuming studying. One of them is sweating on the benches of an evening technical institute: the road is long and hard, but it is essential to continue and get the diploma; another project partner, ASAI, is helping her with the after-school service. Another guy attempted to enter university in the autumn (three-year nursing course); he didn’t make it, but he’ll try again. In addition to those I mentioned earlier, six young people have acquired new tools to find a job; in one case, the research has borne fruit: Dieter worked as a social health worker in a facility between December and January, and now, with this “fresh” experience of work, he expects to be able to find new opportunities; Soufiane will go to work in a friend’s bakery; Valentina, who fortunately saw her contract as a waitress become more stable thanks to a chance found by another partner, Synergie, come to begin an internship as receptionist and administrative back office at the training institution Manager Srl of Turin, thus approaching a little more her dreams in professional terms.
That said, it seems a little too self-celebratory. There have been difficulties: in involving young people, especially girls; in keeping them in a team; in offering suitable job opportunities to participants. We found that there were too many months of training, that we could start immediately with “training at work”, that a closer alliance with the world of vocational training is fundamental and much more.
All lessons that we will put to good use in the new editions of the project have started in recent months: in Milan with Fondazione Milan, in Alba (CN) with Cooperativa ORSO and the support of Fondazione CRC.
“Winning – said Tommaso (Balon Mundial) last September – for them will be to understand in a few years that this project has taught them something… if they arrive in December to find a job or undertake a training path will be very important, but, since we are in a complex world, you can find a job and then lose it, even more, important is to continue and try again with a method and constancy; this is the challenge that they have to overcome and that we hope to be able to take on with these workouts”.
We won a game, the championship continues.
This post appeared in Italian on the ActionAid Italy website.