TAHOMÀ

In January 2021, the Ministry of the Interior approved the project “INCONTRO – Strengthening the network system in Tuscany for the prevention and contrast of violence against foreign minors” under the “FAMI 2014-2020 – OS2 – ON3 Capacity Building – letter j) Governance of services – System interventions to strengthen prevention and contrast of violence against foreign minors.” The project was presented in collaboration with several local organizations: Oxfam Italia Intercultura, Cooperativa Alice, Progetto 5 Cooperativa Sociale, Società della Salute Area Pratese, Azienda USL Toscana Nord Ovest/Società della Salute Valli Etrusche, Azienda USL Toscana Sud Est, Comune di Cecina, and Comune di Bibbiena. Its goals include:

1. Collaboration and Best Practices: Strengthen collaboration and exchange of best practices among Tuscan stakeholders involved in the care of foreign minors who are victims or potential victims of violence, along with their families and support networks. This includes defining a pilot model for identification, orientation, and care in three areas: the plain between Florence and Prato, the Arezzo area, and the Etruscan Valleys.
2. Operational Protocols: Define common operational protocols for the care of foreign minors who are victims, for all involved actors (Social Services, schools, ASL health authorities, Third Sector entities such as reception centers, anti-violence services, and educational services).
3. Training and Skills: Improve the knowledge and skills of operators engaged in protecting minors (social workers, healthcare personnel, teachers, reception workers, cultural mediators, etc.) through an intercultural and ethno-anthropological perspective to adequately meet the needs of the target group.
4. Strengthen Local Services: Enhance territorial services for the care of foreign minors who are victims of violence by qualifying existing services and introducing experimental models for early identification, service orientation, and comprehensive protection of minors at risk.
5. Dissemination of the Integrated Model and Awareness: Promote, at the institutional level, an integrated model for the prevention and contrast of violence against foreign minors (both within families and unaccompanied), to encourage good social inclusion practices at local, regional, and national levels, as well as raise awareness in the community.

Activities carried out:

• Strengthening territorial networks and defining operational protocols for the detection and care of minors who are victims or potential victims of violence and their families.
• Cross-sectoral and psycho-ethno-anthropological training for operators involved in child protection.
• Implementation of a pilot model to improve support services for foreign minors who are victims or at risk of violence.
• Awareness and communication on the phenomenon of violence against foreign minors.

Services offered:

The project provided foreign minors and their families with a range of services, including civic orientation, educational interventions both individual and group-based, psychological support, and parenting support.

‍

In 2020, the Ministry of the Interior approved the project “P.A.C.A. – Autonomous People, Welcoming Communities” under the “FAMI 2014-2020 program, strengthening the first and second reception system – development of individual pathways for socio-economic autonomy.” The project was submitted in partnership with other local organizations, including Oxfam Intercultura, with the aim of promoting integration and social cohesion initiatives. The core of the project focused on empowerment pathways designed to promote housing and employment autonomy, as well as foster integration and social engagement activities.

These initiatives were carried out in synergy with local communities, actively involving the territories of Arezzo, Casentino, and much of the Arezzo province, in order to support the social and cultural inclusion of individuals within their local contexts.

The project was aimed at holders of international protection, both individuals and families. Participants were required to have exited the reception circuits—such as Extraordinary Reception Centers (CAS), the Reception and Integration System (SAI, formerly SPRAR), Humanitarian Corridors, and Government First Reception Centers—no more than 18 months prior. Importantly, participation in the project’s activities was always completely free of charge.

The project offered a range of services to support housing autonomy, including guidance and support in the search for housing or alternative living solutions, such as housing/cohousing paths and family hosting. It also provided tools for managing household finances and assistance in accessing housing subsidies.

Regarding employment, the project offered support in active job searching, orientation activities, and specific workshops, such as Italian for work, digital skills for employment, and skills assessment. Training opportunities and business consulting were also available for those interested in starting their own ventures.

Lastly, to encourage social inclusion within the community, the project included intercultural workshops, local area exploration activities, neighborhood events, school inclusion initiatives, and recreational activities. In this way, the project aimed to foster the active and positive integration of participants into society.

‍

Adama's house is a project dedicated to supporting the social and professional inclusion of individuals holding humanitarian protection or special cases status, in response to the Italian Law Decree of October 4, 2018, No. 113. Located in Bibbiena, this facility offered, for years, concrete support to those who, due to the legislative changes introduced by Decree 113/18 (known as the Security Decree), no longer had access to the second phase of the reception system.

The decree abolished one of the three forms of protection for asylum seekers—humanitarian protection—replacing it with special protection. As a result, Casa di Adama was aimed at individuals who held humanitarian protection or the new special protection status, who, starting from October 5, 2018, were excluded from access to the SPRAR system (now SAI), unlike refugees and subsidiary protection holders, who retained this right.

Through safe housing and legal, healthcare, and employment support, Casa di Adama offered an immediate point of reference for those in difficulty. This initiative also aimed to prevent the negative consequences of the regulatory change, such as public security issues and increased costs for local administrations due to the indigent condition of humanitarian protection holders residing in the municipality.

Tahomà selected project beneficiaries based on the integration path they had begun during the first reception phase, believing that support opportunities should be given to those who had shown genuine commitment to integrating into the local community. However, Casa di Adama remained open to anyone facing this specific hardship, with no exclusions.

‍

The Mother-Child facility was a shelter service dedicated to supporting vulnerable mother-child families, created with the aim of assisting mothers and their children facing social and family difficulties. Tahoma’s intervention, in collaboration with Social Services, aimed to understand and address the challenges experienced by the residents, providing a supportive environment that fostered the recovery of parenting skills and the development of autonomy for both mothers and their children.

The facility’s approach involved the application of specific strategies that supported the residents from the moment of admission throughout their stay, with a focus on daily life and interpersonal relationships. Mothers received guidance aimed at personal growth and the enhancement of their parenting abilities, with progress carefully monitored to ensure continuous improvement.

Assessment focused particularly on the quality of the mother-child relationship, taking into account the various factors that define this bond. Specific objectives included providing support, assistance, and care to help residents achieve renewed autonomy and well-being, enabling them to face and overcome the difficulties they had experienced.

‍

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.

‍

The idea stems from the characteristic of the widespread reception model whereby on the one hand it manages to make asylum seekers independent in the area, avoiding ghettoisation and indeed, promoting direct contact with the local community. What remains excluded from the principles of widespread hospitality, however, is the importance of knowledge of the territory and traditions through multiple experiences; In fact, Tahomà has identified the sharing of flavors and knowledge of cooking as the most significant for the purposes of sensible social inclusion. This would allow asylum seekers to get closer to the land that hosts them and would lead to the use of raw materials that they did not know how to cook. Belonging to a place is also conquered through aromas, flavors and raw materials. Asylum seekers come from distant countries, where they not only grow different vegetables and fruits, but also with different seasons. Adapting to a new country also means understanding how the cycle of the seasons works and what can be found during each of them. The economic factor is inextricably linked to this; in fact, foreigners use raw materials in their cooking that are often out of season and therefore considerably more expensive, or they only look for raw materials imported from their countries and even in that case necessarily more expensive.

The aim of the project concerns active participation and integration also from the point of view of that part of the local community that would be most involved: the elderly population of the Casentino. In this case, the local elderly women could not only exploit their culinary skills and knowledge to transfer to young foreigners (becoming themselves the vital part of the project), but also take an active part in a completely new aggregative experience, in able to unhinge false stereotypes and build new solidarity relationships.

Through cooking classes held by the ladies, asylum seekers could learn about the raw materials, their use, the benefits that a healthy and ancient cuisine could bring. They would learn new recipes and therefore how to make the most of the seasons, they could learn the history behind the typical local dishes, which are the result of a geopolitical knowledge of the place in question. The elderly ladies will once again be protagonists, handing down the traditions of the Casentino culinary culture, partly regaining possession of that important role of reference that they have had for all past generations, and in another, leaving behind ancient and secret recipes for an infallible enhancement. of every ingredient present in the kitchen.

Specifically, the project aims to promote food education among asylum seekers, and therefore to develop a sensitivity to food recycling and economic savings. It also aims to achieve an adequate development of the sense of belonging to the host territory, an authentic knowledge of traditions and the development of interpersonal relationships capable of strengthening two vulnerable social groups.

The participants are four guests of the Tahomà association who will follow the cooking lessons held by the cooks invited for the project. The selection of participants will follow specific criteria: knowledge of the Italian language, desire to integrate and learn new realities, passion for cooking.

‍

The Social Garden is an initiative that arises from the need to strengthen contact between migrants seeking asylum and the land that gives them hospitality. A strengthening that passes through the most authentic activity of relationship with the earth: agriculture and the cultivation of edible plants.

The project starts from the consideration that migrants come to look for a country where not only food, but legality is the basis of social peace and sharing. To add to this is also the passion that many of the children hosted show for agriculture: most of them claim to have been farmers or to have worked in the cultivated fields.

Tahomà offers a plot of land located in Bibbiena, where everyone can come to plant, cultivate native or exotic specialties and above all share experiences and skills. The garden is easily accessible, so everyone is given the opportunity to go there at any time, and is managed by a small number of managers, identified precisely thanks to their inclination and passion for looking after the land.

But what is grown in the social garden? various species of tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, lettuce, courgettes, potatoes, karkadé, peanuts and aromatic herbs.

Tahomà A.P.S. was born in 2016 to respond to one of the major needs expressed by the Casentino context in recent years: the reception and integration of the growing community of asylum seekers from West Africa. In fact, the host community does not initially find adequate tools to address the meeting with newcomers. Tahomà started working by mediating between the uncertainties of the local community and the directives of the institutions, becoming a bridge of connection and sharing between the Casentino population and asylum seekers. Likewise, asylum seekers need to be followed step by step along their path undertaken in Italy, to let them know their position and their rights. (Residence permit, legal training, Police Headquarters and Prefecture, regulations to follow, perspectives)

The migrant reception project was launched in March 2016, when the Association won the announcement launched by the Prefecture of Arezzo to welcome migrants seeking asylum in the Casentino area. The model adopted by Tahomà is the regional one of widespread hospitality, whereby guests are immediately placed in apartments with a maximum capacity of eight people, distributed throughout the Casentino area. To date, the guests reside in Bibbiena, Soci and Partina.

Not only widespread acceptance, but also integrated: that is, that is not limited to the emergence of the phenomenon, but which looks beyond, even to the lasting aspects and future potential. In fact, Tahomà promotes in-depth Italian courses for asylum seekers within its headquarters and numerous complementary volunteer activities. To date, among the many successes achieved, we mention the achievement for some guests of the middle school license and the professional title of Basic Assistant.

The project aims to create an extracurricular space to support study aimed at all students who have difficulties with the Italian language, mainly because they are the children of immigrants whose mother tongue is different from that of the host context.

The idea stems from the observation of the difficulty encountered by children and adolescents, especially foreigners or children of immigrants, to integrate effectively into society and in perspective, in the world of university and work. Indirect beneficiaries of the after-school service will also be the parents of the pupils, because they will see their load of support to be provided to their children lightened and will be able to enjoy a free service, but also the classmates of foreign pupils, who will see a progressive equalization of the general level: the tangible progress achieved during the Afterschool project would in fact lead to a general improvement in the academic performance of foreign students and therefore to a homogenization of the level of each class involved. The Tahomà Association provides both the place where the after-school program is set up, i.e. two classrooms at its offices, and the human resources as volunteers and operators in possession of the appropriate training in order to achieve the best outcome of the project. The project will take place over three years and Tahomà is currently carrying out the first phase in which a first class of Afterschool students from different countries has already been trained.

The lessons, held by the staff of the association, take place every Tuesday and Thursday from 4.15 pm to 6.15 pm.

project supported with 8x1000 funds from the Waldensian Church

Project realized thanks to the contribution of the Tuscany Region - Socio-health orientation project aimed at foreign women residing in Casentino

The project aims to ensure that foreign women residing in Casentino (AR) can have access to hospital health services in a customary manner; the precise objective of this project is the reduction of the costs of emergency medicine and the possibility of carrying out continuous monitoring of diseases thanks to specific, active and conscious prevention.

The aim of the project is to achieve a general improvement in the health conditions of foreign women thanks to an increased awareness of diseases, prevention and treatment.The idea arises from the observation that improper access occurs at local and provincial level. to emergency health services (such as first aid) and above all there is a lack of information on hygiene and the prevention of diseases, especially infectious ones. The tendency to inadequate use of the health care proposal mainly affects the foreign female population, in particular as regards the sphere of maternal, reproductive and children's health and, last but not least, domestic violence. Specifically, the condition of foreign women residing in the area turns out to be critical, not only socially, but also and above all at the level of health indicators: it is in fact foreigners who suffer most from problems such as premature birth and low birth weight, and to resorting to voluntary termination of pregnancy in a higher percentage. This discomfort should be dealt with immediately through very specific methods, which invest skills and time in training the women themselves and in bringing them to the knowledge of prevention.

Tahomà wants: To be a physical meeting place between women belonging to foreign communities in the Casentino area. Offer foreign women training that will make them more aware and able to achieve their own autonomy in accessing health services. To create, with and for the local ASL, a valid point of reference for linguistic and cultural mediation problems in the doctor-patient relationship. To train cultural mediators previously identified during the ifocus group. Repeat the cycles of training meetings to allow a comparison also with the new foreign users who have recently established themselves in the area.

During the whole cycle of focus groups, the participating women will be informed that the operators will be available for additional help. At the beginning of the training, an official presentation of the Listening Desk will be made and the services it offers will be illustrated: accompaniment to health facilities, help in booking exams, mediation, free legal advice. The purpose of the help desk is to allow women to go beyond distrust of the doctor and beyond their own interpretation of the pathology (often influenced by beliefs and traditions).

The project aims to reach, as an indirect beneficiary, also the ASLs. In fact, due to the recent and significant migratory phenomenon, the medical staff of the local health authorities found themselves facing problematic situations due to linguistic and cultural barriers and mistrust due to completely distant approaches to medicine. The operators of the Tahomà association, during the accompaniment of asylum seekers hosted at their CAS to medical examinations, encountered difficulties in communicating with the staff of the ASL. The difficulty lies, first of all, in meeting visions of the body, health and the sense of care that are very distant from the Western medical approach. In this regard, Tahomà identifies a possible help to the ASL in the figure of the cultural mediator who will be female and who will facilitate the understanding of the health system for foreign patients and will strengthen their trust in medical personnel (who, to date, encounter enormous difficulties in dialogue with foreign patients).

A walk with Tahomà is a support project in favor of elderly people who want to unhinge false stereotypes about migrants by offering a free service: voluntary accompaniment in shopping at the supermarket, in which asylum seekers concretely help before, during and after shopping .

More concretely, Tahomà provides a free service in which asylum seekers housed in the structures voluntarily accompany local people to do their shopping at the supermarket or market. The operators of the Association take care of driving the vehicle that will transport everyone to their destination and which, above all, will accompany them home. The volunteers are chosen because they have a good spoken Italian, sensitive and above all interested in lending a hand to those in need.

The involvement of asylum seekers is not only voluntary, but it is also not limited to the work of carrying the trolley and heavy bags: their presence also wants to be a company for the person, a moral support, a new knowledge with which to share thoughts and interact , all during one of the most common activities of the routine: shopping.

Both the operators and the young volunteers wear a recognizable uniform, and are provided with badges with the name. Tahomà strongly believes in the visibility of this project, above all to transmit trust and security towards those who take part in it.