The project in brief

Implemented by

APS Cambalache

Country

Italy

Duration

Since 2015

Description

Bee My Job tackles inequalities in accessing wage earning employment for refugees in Italy. This is by providing professional training and facilitating access to dignified job opportunities in the beekeeping and agricultural field. It also builds capacities of social workers in the design of innovative projects and services which address refugees’ social and job inclusion needs.

It is supported by UNHCR and Ashoka and a wide range of public and private partners, such as local schools, universities, municipalities, agricultural bodies and consortiums, companies, NGOs.

Since 2015, Bee My Job has trained 170 refugees and promoted over 106 internships, all over Italy. It has been awarded important prizes at the national and European level, been the object of University research and media coverage.

Scaling up the project is ongoing and is currently active in Piedmont, Calabria, and Emilia-Romagna, and will soon be running in Toscana and Lazio.

Partners

• UNHCR Italia
• Ashoka Italia
• Beekeeping and agricultural representative bodies
• NGOs involved in the assistance to refugees and public institutions, including Universities and schools.

Main activities of the Good Practice

• Organisation of professional training courses in beekeeping and agriculture, in different training centres (i.e. Alessandria, Rosarno, Catanzaro, Firenze, Bologna, Roma). Training is enriched with Italian classes, a course on safety at work and course on citizenship, labour legislation and job search.
• Activation and monitoring of internships in selected and assessed "ethical" companies, in combination with housing solutions in mobility on a national scale and against any logic of exploitation.
• Capacity building of social workers through the organization of workshops and publication of educational materials.
• Educational and urban agriculture activities, to raise awareness among young people and citizens on environmental sustainability and the inclusion of refugees.

Results of the Good Practice

Since 2015, Bee My Job has received several acknowledgements and has given to 170 asylum seekers and refugees, residents in the Regions of Piemonte, Lombardia, Calabria and Emilia Romagna, the possibility to achieve professional skills in beekeeping and agriculture. More than 100 internships have been activated all over Italy.

Dignified labour is promoted through the implementation of an ethics chart and code of conduct for companies, and the access to safe living places when needed. During 2019, almost 100 social workers from six different Italian Regions will be trained in how to design innovative projects which promote refugees’ social and job inclusion.

An urban apiary and garden have been established in a public park in Alessandria, involving refugees in the production, marketing of products and organization of awareness raising events and educational activities for school students. A photo exhibition has been created and toured, and a documentary made and presented at international Film Festivals.

Thanks to the support of UNHCR and Ashoka, the scaling up of Bee My Job project has been extended to the regions of Emilia Romagna and Calabria and a new strategy to involve a major and diversified target audience is ready to be applied.