Today, a Protocol of Understanding was presented, signed by the Municipality of Naples, by the General Directorate of the Dgt of the South of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, by the UNHCR UN Agency for Refugees and by the trade associations Unasca and Confarca, through which it is intended to combine the concept of solidarity with that of inclusion.
The new project promoted by the Territorial General Directorate of the South, in fact, aims to train, for the achievement of a category A1 or B license, 100 women drivers with refugee status, or asylum seekers, in possession of a residence permit or residence permit for humanitarian reasons.
The initiative intends to give continuity to the various projects that the Territorial General Directorate of the South of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has already implemented in the Municipality of Naples concerning, in particular, disadvantaged contexts with the aim of spreading the culture of road safety to recover and develop the rules of citizenship and solidarity.
The aim of the initiative - emphasized Umberto Volpe, General Director of the Dgt of the South of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport - is to provide a contribution to the reception in Italy of women forced to flee from their countries. A license for more effective integration, through learning the rules of behavior on the road and deepening the Italian language, through the acquisition of a new terminology related to the world of road traffic. A driving license to be obtained for a category of road users who are often denied this possibility, for various reasons, and which, instead, with the realization of this project, can become reality and also a tool for possible insertion into the world of work. With this project, in short, the right to mobility of these women is also guaranteed, in order to promote their full integration into the social life of our country.
The aim of the UNHCR is to leverage the skills and aspirations of refugee women and girls by helping them fully realize their potential. This project is a concrete example of the advancement of this goal and we are grateful to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Municipality of Naples and all the realities involved for the teamwork in promoting the inclusion of refugee women in Italy, affirmed Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino.
This project offers an important contribution to the system of reception and integration of migrants. The Municipality of Naples works on this in synergy with institutional actors, third sector entities and civil society to offer services and new opportunities to the most vulnerable people. It adds to the path started in the previous months by offering people, in this case migrant women, concrete tools for social inclusion. I am very pleased with the first results and I hope it can continue in this direction and with increasing attention to the needs and lives of those who are welcomed in our territories especially considering the delicate period at the international level, so the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi.
This is a great opportunity, an additional piece that adds to the many initiatives we are implementing for the integration of people with a migratory background in our city, in a strategy that overcomes the welfare approach in favor of accompanying autonomy thanks to training tools and integrated services, particularly aimed at the most fragile, minors and women. This protocol, which is added to the one already signed with UNHCR for the opening of 'Common Space' in Via Vespucci, is the result of a network work between local, national and international institutions, and with the Third Sector, on concrete projects and in favor of all citizens, without distinctions and discriminations, explained the councilor for Social Policies Luca Fella Trapanese.
The Protocol of Understanding offers a hundred refugee women the opportunity to learn road behavior rules and, at the same time, deepen their knowledge of the Italian language. Therefore, it promotes insertion into the world of work, in line with the fundamental principles of solidarity and inclusion. The role of Unasca, as an involved trade association, is crucial to ensure that training is adequate and responds to their particular and specific needs, said the National Secretary of Driving Schools Alfredo Boenzi.
In our work we very often associate the possession of a license with greater emancipation. And people - in this case women with refugee status - who are more autonomous and emancipated, can think of making choices different from those that have been imposed on them and build a freer future, in terms of work, social and family. This project for us has two fundamental aspects: we can contribute to give freedom to 100 women and favor their correct insertion in our society, concluded Paolo Colangelo of Confarca.