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Women and girls arriving in Italy face significant risks and challenges, including gender-based violence, trafficking, sexual exploitation, discrimination based on origin and legal status, poor living conditions in reception centres, social isolation, and limited access to resources and employment.

Women and children participating in a Women and Girls' Safe Spaces (WGSS) workshop in Italy.

Since 2019, the ̽����ѡ has partnered with local organisations to establish Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS) in Rome, Palermo, Milan, Turin, and Trieste. These safe spaces use an evidence-based approach where migrant women and girls can participate in creative activities, access psychological and case management services, build social networks, and empower themselves in a secure environment for both them and their children.

The ̽����ѡ also builds the capacity of local actors to support clients using trauma-informed, transcultural approaches. With teams of caseworkers and cultural mediators, we conduct vulnerability assessments and offer holistic case management to ensure clients' safety and facilitate their integration.

Since January 2023, the ̽����ѡ has led a mental health and psychosocial support project for women and children fleeing Ukraine, housed in emergency reception hotels in Rome.

Rates of human trafficking are high in Italy and primarily impact vulnerable groups, such as women and unaccompanied children.

Since 2021, ̽����ѡ has been working with several partners in Italy and across Europe to identify victims, and potential victims, of trafficking survivors and assist survivors through trauma-informed care and ‘do no harm’ practices.

In 2023, ̽����ѡ will continue to offer direct support to unaccompanied children and women at risk of trafficking and labour exploitation, as well as empower migrant-led organisations and equipping them with the skills and knowledge required to better support vulnerable groups.

Safe Hut

is an EU-funded project focused on empowering and supporting the social and labour integration of third-country national women and girls exposed to trafficking, with a special focus on those affected by the Ukraine crisis. The project involves 7 partners from 6 EU countries—Italy, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria—many of which have been central to Ukrainian migration.

DIRECT

Under the EU-funded, 2-year project, DIRECT, the ̽����ѡ continues to provide direct support to unaccompanied children and women who are survivors or at risk of trafficking. The project also enhances the skills of migrant-led organisations and first responders in identifying and assisting survivors, while strengthening efforts to prevent human trafficking through collaborative work with these organisations.

Education is a fundamental right and key to a bright future, yet displaced children often face difficulty accessing and integrating into schools. The ̽����ѡ partners with local education systems to enhance educators’ capacity to create environments that foster children's well-being and holistic development in safe, welcoming and child-friendly settings. A special focus is given to children who have experienced, or are at risk of, adverse childhood experiences, particularly migrant and refugee children.Education is a right and key to a bright future, and displaced children often face difficulty in accessing and integrating into schools. The ̽����ѡ partners with local education systems to enhance educators’ capacity to create environments that foster children's well-being and holistic development in safe, welcoming, and child-friendly settings. A particular focus is devoted to children experiencing or at risk of adverse childhood experiences, such as migrant and refugee children - by developing educational contexts where it is possible to identify and effectively respond to their needs and challenges.

The ̽����ѡ’s Holistic Educational Approach equips educators with tools and strategies to foster cognitive and social-emotional growth, using a transcultural perspective to meet the needs of diverse children.

Since 2021, the ̽����ѡ has trained over 900 educators, primary school teachers and school managers in partnership with the Municipality of Milan.

An ̽����ѡ Holistic Educational Approach session for teachers taking place outside.

Theory of Change

Through the EU-funded  project, the ̽����ѡ collaborates with partners in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Sweden to support educators, adolescents (ages 11-19) and migrant families in overcoming challenges related to education and community integration. The project equips education professionals with tools and resources to promote language learning and inclusion through a holistic approach and inclusive teaching methods in both formal and non-formal settings.

Economic empowerment is key to integration, helping individuals rebuild their lives and thrive in new communities. Since 2020, ̽����ѡ Italy has worked with refugees, migrants and vulnerable populations to overcome barriers to unfamiliar job markets while ensuring that local communities recognize the value newcomers bring to the economy. We focus on disadvantaged groups, including unaccompanied children and women, and support them in achieving self-sufficiency and long-term economic mobility.

We deliver economic assistance through one-to-one support, social-emotional support, as well as basic and advanced digital skills for labour inclusion.

We provide economic assistance through one-on-one support, social-emotional guidance and digital skills training for job inclusion. Leveraging our global expertise, we assist municipal job centres and public employment services to improve access to labour market opportunities. This includes capacity-building, cultural and language competency training, trauma-informed service training and outreach initiatives targeting both clients and employers.

​Access to information is critical for displaced communities to make informed decisions and stay safe. Since 2018, ̽����ѡ’s digital information service  (RI), part of Signpost, has provided refugees and migrants with multilingual, accessible, actionable and accurate information nationwide.

Through instant messaging apps, social media, a website and a peer-to-peer approach, we address clients’ information needs concerning their rights, documents, safety, support services and integration into new communities.

The service is currently available in English, French, Dari/Farsi, Pashto, Arabic and Ukrainian.

̽����ѡ’s digital information service Refugee.Info provides refugees and migrants with multilingual, accessible, actionable and accurate information nationwide.

Photo: Daphne Tolis / Refugee.Info

Trieste

Since 2021, the ̽����ѡ has been working in Trieste to support asylum seekers and people on the move arriving from the Balkans.

We provide non-food items, legal orientation and facilitate access to crucial services such as food, medical care, overnight shelter and a legal helpdesk.  The ̽����ѡ also facilitates access to the asylum procedure and reception.

In Trieste, the ̽����ѡ has been monitoring the information and protection needs of refugees and people in transit and works to improve protection programming and advocate for their rights with local and national institutions. The ̽����ѡ has also helped establish a coordination mechanism allowing local and national NGOs to optimise resource use, create common operational procedures, monitor trends and respond effectively.

̽����ѡ staff provide information to young people in front of Trieste Central Station.

Milan

In Milan, a mobile ̽����ѡ team continues to support newly arrived and transiting migrants, addressing their immediate needs. The team provides information regarding their rights and status in the territory, identifies specific vulnerabilities and protection needs, facilitates safe referrals, and supports access to local services. It also ensures that unaccompanied foreign minors are taken in by the appropriate authorities and distributes essential supplies.

Southern Italy

Under the technical coordination and operational supervision of UNHCR, ̽����ѡ Italy provides cross-sectoral protection services in selected key disembarkation points and transit areas through 4 roving teams to identify, advise and refer persons with specific needs to available services in the territory. 

̽����ѡ Italy produces quarterly protection monitoring reports, underscoring our commitment to strengthening our protection activities. These reports regularly assess the protection situation of those we assist, capturing client profiles, vulnerabilities, protection risks across Italy. They also include significant migration-related updates nationwide, insights on clients using ̽����ѡ's digital information service, , and individuals arriving via the Balkan route.

For more reports, visit our ̽����ѡ Italy reports page.

GROWTH is an EU-funded project coordinated by Consorzio Communitas, aimed at expanding community sponsorship schemes in Italy, Ireland, Germany and across European Union Member States.  The project will develop evidence-based strategies for recruiting and retaining sponsors to increase both their number and diversity. It will implement tailored communication campaigns, explore innovations such as alternative housing solutions and support the scaling of Community Sponsorship Programs. The ̽����ѡ is responsible for quality monitoring and evaluation and supporting the implementation of activities in Italy.

̽����ѡ Italy is actively working to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees’ rights are respected and upheld. We monitor the obstacles that individuals seeking international protection face in formalising their application and facilitate access to the asylum procedure and reception. 

Data and information collected at the field level is used to inform our evidence-based advocacy priorities. In particular, the ̽����ѡ has contributed to discussions with institutional representatives to strengthen the reception and integration system for asylum seekers and refugees, both at local and national level. 

The ̽����ѡ works with institutional representatives at both local and national levels to strengthen the reception and integration system for asylum seekers and refugees. We participate in joint advocacy initiatives through national and local networks, advocating on issues including changes to national protection laws, externalisation policies and immigration detention. The ̽����ѡ is also part of the  (GrIS), the Integrated Reception Network (Tavolo RAI) in Rome and the UNHCR-led working group in Milan.

INNOVATE

is an EU-funded project coordinated by the European University Institute, aimed at promoting policy-making based on facts and evidence rather than on beliefs and ideologies. Within INNOVATE, the ̽����ѡ advocates for the rights of migrant children in Greece, Italy and Serbia, using research and the participation of those most affected by migration policies.

ParticipACTION 

ParticipACTION is an EU-funded project coordinated by ̽����ѡ Italy, aimed at increasing youth involvement in decision-making. Over two years, the project will create transnational partnerships and engage young people (ages 16–23) through research, roundtables, workshops, conferences, training, advocacy and debates. Focused on young migrants, particularly women and girls, in Italy, France, Lithuania and Cyprus, the project seeks to promote mutual understanding of shared experiences and barriers to democratic participation, fostering solidarity.

Susanna Zanfrini, Director, ̽����ѡ Italy
[email protected]