The National Agency for Active Labor Policies (ANPAL), during the three years period from 2018 to 2020, implemented a project that aimed at promoting the social and working inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees hosted in Extraordinary Reception Centres (CASs) of the Piedmont Region and in reception facilities in Albania. In particular, Employment Centres developed a model of taking charge of migrants through an individual integrated action plan. The project was funded by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, within the EASI – PROGRESS program.
The project implemented in Italy established a personalized work integration path for asylum seekers in about 90 CASs of the Piedmont Region, for a total of about 600 beneficiaries. Specifically, the program included:
- prior assessment of linguistic and professional skills of potential beneficiaries and elaboration of an Individualized Action Plan;
- monitoring and mentoring activities carried out by a job mentor;
- support from cultural mediators;
- introduction to regional emplyment services;
- identification and development of formal and informal skills ;
- language and professional training courses;
- individualized placement services
Prof. Paolo Pinotti presented the FORWORK project at the following occasions:
- invited session "Refugees Integration" of the EEA-ESEM in Milan on August 25, 2022
- keynote speech at the CReAM Workshop "Economics of Migration" in Essen, Germany on September 5, 2022.
A qualifying element of the FORWORK project was the counterfactual design method adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions, a method that guaranteed the highest standards of scientific quality.
To this end, the project involved the collection of individual information relative to the 600 beneficiaries of the FORWORK activities and another 600 asylum seekers as a "comparison group". This information was collected through two fact-finding surveys, which took place respectively at the beginning and at the end of the project. The surveys was carried out by the Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti, partner of the project as the evaluating body. The surveys involved a total of 1,200 asylum seekers. All asylum seekers were interviewed in the reception facility where they were hosted.
Finally, in parallel with the survey, all the 1,200 asylum seekers started the procedures to enroll (or update the date) within the SILP (Piedmont Labor Information System). As a consequence, the partners of the project were able to use the administrative data for evaluation purposes.
The FORWORK consortium combines a multilevel governance (national and regional) and a mixed partnership (including the public, private and third sector), thus guaranteeing the participation of a plurality of subjects with different but complementary competences. The project implemented in Piedmont was coordinated by Piemonte Lavoro Agency (APL), in collaboration with Anpal (National Agency for Active Labor Policies) - Division V and Anpal Servizi, and involved two non-profit organizations that provided job-coaching, placement and intercultural mediation services (KAIROS and Inforcoop). With regard to the implementation in Albania, the National Agency for Vocational Training and Adriapol were involved. The Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti was in charge of monitoring and evaluating the impact of the project in terms of the work placement of the beneficiaries, using counterfactual assessment methods. ITC ILO were mainly involved in the conveyance of results and the exchange of good practices. Finally, the four associated organizations (Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, Ministry of the Interior, Piedmont Region and Prefecture of Turin) played a key role in building a strong collaboration between all the players in the field of reception policies and integration of asylum seekers and refugees in Italy and Piedmont, as well as in the spread of the project results at regional, national and international levels.
FORWORK consortium
On this page we provide materials useful to the interviewers involved in the first FORWORK survey, which takes place between May and June 2019.
- LINK to test the ON-LINE QUESTIONNAIRE (just for practice!)
- Paper questionnaires and training slides can be dowloaded below.
For any enquiry please refer to the dedicated email address forwork@frdb.org and/or telephone number 02.5836.5183
The researchers involved in the FORWORK project:
Paolo Pinotti
Paola Monti
Giovanni Abbiati
Ivan Lagrosa
