Walking together

Social integration project aimed at women seeking asylum (or already holders of humanitarian or subsidiary protection) residing in the Casentino Valley (AR), which sees them actively participate in the role of tourist guides to promote the territory in which they are hosted.

The project aims to develop in the Casentino Valley, in the province of Arezzo. For the purposes of this project, it is essential to take into consideration two aspects of the Casentino context: on the one hand the female population of migrants seeking asylum, mainly from Nigeria, and at the same time the resource that these women can constitute due to the high tourist value of the territory. in which they are hosted: the Casentino.

Tahomà wants to give young women seeking asylum / protection holders the opportunity to truly integrate into the host territory, through its deep discovery and knowledge, in order to develop in women a strong sense of belonging to the Casentino area. This sense of belonging and the consequent awareness of having a significant role within the place where they live, will not only prevent women from embarking on dangerous paths, but will raise their self-esteem and make them truly involved and integrated.

The project also aims to break down stereotypes and build a relationship of mutual trust between the beneficiaries and the host community. In Italy, women asylum seekers / holders of international protection are configured as a vulnerable category, because they are often victims of trafficking and potentially involved in illegal paths and certainly degrading for their dignity and protection of basic rights. In fact, it often happens that all those women who do not receive the necessary support in the reception circuit end up in the prostitution and crime circuit (even those who receive all the required support do not always respond positively to stimuli, especially for reasons of distance. cultural, distrust of professionals such as psychologist, psychiatrist, educator and staff of the host association). For the necessary support, we do not refer to extraordinary hospitality in itself, but to all those services that must be recognized and provided to such a vulnerable category: psychological support, social orientation, recognition and enhancement of their skills, accompaniment to professional training. Many of the women involved in this situation come from Nigeria, a complex, populous and dangerous country. It happens that, if they are not given the opportunity to carry out real integration in the territory in which they are hosted, they will feel excluded, not belonging to that reality.

The objectives of the initiative are: to make the girls actively participate in the Casentino area through an effective discovery of the same; the creation of a safe and rewarding employment opportunity, with a view to discouraging any fall into illegality; give women all the necessary tools in order to build the profession of competent tourist guides of the Valley, who will accompany groups of tourists to symbolic places: La Verna, Hermitage of Camaldoli, Casentino Mountains, paths of the Vecchie Vie, Lanificio di Stia etc; return to the host territory a precious resource for the purpose of its enhancement and promotion in

all over the world: the training of tourist guides able to communicate with Anglophone and Francophone users.

The project involves the creation of a network between public and private entities that actively deal with mountain tourism and promotion of the Casentino and the subsequent dissemination of the initiative in the local media. It will be the cooperatives and local associations of the tourism sector that will take care of the training of future guides, also simulating excursions and visits to places of interest and to issue professional qualifications. Tahomà will specifically take care of selecting the beneficiaries, who will take part in the initial training and who will then accompany the tourists. The selection will proceed by contacting the representatives of all the CAS and SPRAR in the area and will take into account the following requirements: good command of written and spoken Italian, willingness to take part in the project. (Anyone interested in taking part, but not in possession of a good knowledge of Italian, can attend a language course organized by Tahomà). The selected women will then be summoned by Tahomà for a series of introductory and cognitive meetings to the project, in which the commitment they make to the initiative is signed and confirmed. The association also provides the means of transport for transfers to places of interest.

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