SAAMA

In the Mandinka language SAAMA means “Tomorrow”. And in order that tomorrow and the future of our societies be bright and founded on the sharing and protection of rights for every human being, it is essential that we take care, now and here, of those boys and girls who have come to Italy as unaccompanied migrant children, and that we give value to their talents and skills, by supporting them in making their desires and expectations come true. With this objective, the Project, which is the result of the alliance of 13 public and private entities, operates both in the metropolitan areas and in the small urban centres of the district of the Juvenile Court of Palermo, which includes the provinces of Agrigento and Trapani, for the best practices diffusion and the promotion of communication lines that may give value to the social models based on sharing, exchange, and mutual enrichment. In particular, SAAMA is based on two pillars:

• The consolidation of an educating community able to activate a social change through the sharing with others of information, methods and work tools in view of building strong relationships of proximity, participation, and contrast against all forms of discrimination.

• The definition of individual pathways that may give value to the young migrants talents and skills, and strengthen their social, human and psychological assets, while encouraging their entry and permanence in the labour market as a strategy of guidance to autonomy.

The project includes three areas of intervention:

Development of the social assets and local network systems, through the sharing of the results of a research focused on the analysis of the unaccompanied children’ social assets, with a particular attention on the environmental, legal and family factors that affect its achievement; the diffusion of the social folder already implemented in the Municipality of Palermo for the definition of the individualized plan that accompanies the minor during his stay in Italy; the creation of a network of friendly companies that through an awareness-raising process, may take on an active role in the minors young adults’ learning inclusion and job placement, as a tool for the construction of an inclusive culture.

Active policy for employment specifically for those boys and girls who have come to Italy as unaccompanied children, through: young talents support; individual and group data profiling and orientation; facilitation of the meeting between job demand and offer in the industries where the students have done their apprenticeships and acquired their skills; the traineeships, some of them are curricular, that in the territory of Agrigento, include the diffusion of the work-related learning experience already run at the CPIA in Palermo where the migrant kids have obtained their middle school license. Constant feedback and validation by the participants will improve the performance of the system and services.

Training courses and approaches to citizenship for both the educating community and the young people, through: training workshops for the educating community; the promotion of the youth’s awareness-raising activities through scheduled school interventions; the start of cycles of workshops, in Palermo and Marsala, aimed at promoting the development of non-formal learning models through moments of socialization that may strengthen the local connections, and bring out, enhance and increase the children’ skills, also thanks to the development for each participant of a skills portfolio, an important tool to promote self-awareness and inclusion into the social and productive network, by recording the experience gained and enabling a translation in terms of knowing how to do.