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UNICEF Emergency Response in Italy

Italy supporting refugee and migrant families and children

A young man bump fists with a local Italian man.

UNICEF/UN020030/Gilbertson VII Photo

For many years, the central Mediterranean route, which connects the southern shores countries with Italy, Malta, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, has been the main route of migration to Europe. Facing this dangerous route are often adolescents and young people travelling alone. It is estimated that more than 100,000 unaccompanied and separated children have arrived in Italy by sea since 2014. The Western Balkans Route represents another equally dangerous migration route reaching Italy. Moreover, with the war in Ukraine, more than 170,000 refugees have arrived in Italy from the northern-eastern border, among them over 50,000 children.

Deprivation and violence in the countries of origin, dangerous and life-risking journeys, combined with the risky conditions of living in transit countries and uncertainty and difficulties of prolonged transit, reduce the resilience and undermine the safety, physical and mental health of people on the move. Even once arrived, children, boys, girls, women remain among the groups most at risk of abuse, exploitation, trafficking, violence - including gender-based violence – and discrimination.

This is why since 2016 UNICEF is operational in Italy through a programme supporting migrant and refugee children and families, through coordination and technical support to the Italian Government and relevant national stakeholders, aimed at ensuring migrant and refugee children and families protection and social inclusion. UNICEF’s programme aims at ensuring a timely, qualitative and child-centred humanitarian response.

Since the beginning of 2023, with the launch of the project “PROTECT”, UNICEF and the European Commission's Department for Migration and Home Affairs (HOME) are working towards strengthening the protection, access to information, skills building and inclusion interventions in favour of migrant and refugee children, young people transitioning into adulthood, women and families in Italy, from arrival to all phases of reception. Target geographical areas for the emergency response are: Sicily (including Lampedusa), Calabria, Apulia, Latium and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The programme will have a two-year implementation period.

Child protection

Data situation

Children and young people in migration contexts are children at risk of violence, discrimination, exploitation and lack of opportunities for personal and social growth. Deprivation and violence in the countries of origin, arduous journeys, combined with the uncertainty and difficulties of prolonged transit, reduce the resilience and undermine the safety, physical and mental health of people on the move. The Child Protection Programme supports national systems to ensure a safe and secure environment that accompanies the child or young person and strengthens their resilience and multiple potential.

Solution

UNICEF provides support to children in particularly vulnerable circumstances through legal and psycho-social support and through alternative care, through the foster care, guardianship and mentorship programmes. Among the key interventions:

Strengthen the protective environment at arrival, quarantine and transit points and increase the capacity of the reception system to respond to the specific needs of children, those transitioning to adulthood and women.

Strengthening of the guardianship system. Since 2017, UNICEF has supported the establishment of a system of volunteer guardians, individual citizens who decide to support unaccompanied and separated children in Italy in accessing legal support, psycho-social services and key opportunities.

Mentoring programme. Other figures called upon to support young refugees and migrants in Italy include mentors. The mentor guarantees continuity of care for young migrants and refugees who turned 18 but still need support in their legal, economic and social inclusion path. The mentor listens, orientates, encourages, creates new connections, shares knowledge and skills, activates resources and opportunities, dedicates time, lends a hand in solving everyday problems.

Foster care - The most natural environment for a child's growth and development is the family environment. In 2017, UNICEF launched a foster care programme involving unaccompanied and separated children and families, promoting awareness-raising activities at local level, trainings of potential foster families, identification and support to unaccompanied and separated children, ensuring ongoing support and monitoring of foster care projects.

Legal and psychosocial support. There is an urgent need to address the acute psychosocial distress and mental health disorders young refugees and migrants face due to pre-existing conditions. The Guidelines for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Contexts of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASCC) are the main reference point for UNICEF programme in Italy.

Here4U, is an online mental health and psychosocial support service for young refugees and migrants integrated into U-Report On The Move platform. Thanks to qualified implementing partners and a network of strategic partners (including other UN Agencies), the service grants U-Reporters reliable information about legal pathways and mental and psychosocial well-being. It does so in a youth friendly way that is sensitive to gender, age, and culture. It also offers access to one-to-one remote support. Here4U was developed as a response to the increasing need for MHPSS support among refugees and migrants living in Italy.

Gender-based violence prevention, mitigation and response

Data situation

Migrant and refugee women and girls face a high incidence and risks of gender-based violence (GBV) before, during and after migration. Almost two thirds of women interviewed in Italy during an IOM investigation reported having left their country of origin due to personal violence. All migration routes are dangerous, but on the Central Mediterranean route the risks of GBV are particularly high, especially for girls and young women travelling alone. At landing points in Italy, the identification of, and unstructured referral mechanisms for GBV survivors is often limited, which increases GBV risks for migrant and refugee women and girls. Inside reception facilities, problems include lack of security and privacy, mixed-gender reception facilities, and poor access to critical services – all of which create additional GBV risks and exacerbate their consequences. Once settled in Italy, migrant and refugee women and girls continue to be trapped in paths of GBV, due to the intersectionality of multiple vulnerabilities related to their gender, ethnicity and legal status, among other factors. In general, migrant and refugee women and girls face multiple challenges to accessing GBV as well as sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services.

Solution

Following UNICEF’s GBViE theory of change the program is grounded in three outcomes:

GBV Response. UNICEF continues to strengthen the availability and accessibility of GBV response services for refugee and migrant women and girls through the direct support to services providing mental health and psycho-social support, to Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), to SRH services, as well as through the enhancement of adequate cultural and linguistic mediation and the support to caregivers’ capacity to provide support to children who have survived GBV. Since 2020 UNICEF Italy has successfully piloted and disseminated the WGSS model as a critical alternative pathway for building migrant and refugee women and girls’ agency, participation, empowerment and security.

It is important to keep in mind that UNICEF’s GBV programming in Italy entails a limited component of direct service delivery taking into account the national context combined with a much more significant investment in supporting gender mainstreaming across the sectors and a GBV risk mitigation approach within the humanitarian response.

GBV Risk Mitigation. UNICEF ensures GBV risks mitigation strategies and approaches are fully integrated in the reception system (formal and community-based), providing other sectors and relevant authorities with knowledge and tools for monitoring GBV risks and supporting women and girls’ safety and resilience, through GBV info dissemination aimed at strengthening help-seeking behaviours, via in-person initiatives and the online platform U-Report on the Move. A key element of these activities is promoting and amplifying the voices of women and girls. UNICEF system strengthening approach includes also the enhancement of frontline workers skills and ability to provide a first support to GBV survivors. Among the key activities, in collaboration with IOM and UNHCR, UNICEF adapted and published a pocket guide for practitioners on how to provide initial psychological support to GBV survivors.

GBV Prevention. UNICEF provides technical assistance to key ministries and authorities with the aim to integrate specific considerations on migrant and refugee GBV survivors within institutional laws, policies, regulations, plans and practices. Furthermore, UNICEF generates knowledge on key GBV issues affecting migrant and refugee women and girls to advocate with key stakeholders in order to advance their rights, and rolls out campaigns to promote positive social norms and to prevent GBV.

Adolescent Development and Participation

Data situation

Linguistic and cultural barriers, obstacles in the recognition of qualifications and professional skills obtained in the country of origin as well as limited window of time to build knowledge and skills needed to access the job market, constitute the main challenges for young migrants and refugees’ transition to adulthood, undermining their socio-economic inclusion. These factors, added to the lack of participation opportunities, may cause frustration and affect self-motivation and self-esteem.

Solution

With the adolescence and participation programme, UNICEF promotes skills development and empowerment, social and cultural inclusion, listening and active participation of migrant and refugee children in processes affecting them.

Among education and skills development interventions:

Akelius. In collaboration with the Akelius Foundation, UNICEF is promoting a language learning digital platform in-school and out-of-school through a blended learning approach, which alternates face-to-face lessons with content that can be used online on tablets, independently or in small groups. The platform thus supports students with migration background recently arrived in Italy in learning Italian, but also Italian students in learning English. By facilitating language learning through innovative methods that are also easily adapted to the needs of children with Special Educational Needs (BES), Akelius increases their levels of attendance, motivation and active participation, improving their learning outcomes and thus contributing to the process of social inclusion.

With UPSHIFT, UNICEF promotes 21st century skills building of adolescents and youth in disadvantaged situations, including students with a migrant background. By combining teacher training and support from young mentors from the private sector, universities, and business start-ups, adolescents work in teams with the goal of analyzing social challenges and create innovative solution with social impact. Through a learning-by-doing approach, UPSHIFT contributes to support the development of key life skills and entrepreneurship skills useful for their education orientation and school-to-work transition.

SKILLS4YOUTH. Through Skills4YOUth, UNICEF promotes basic skills building and job orientation for unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) and young migrants and refugees in reception facilities and catch-up schools across Italy. Through interactive workshops run by two mobile teams, the young participants have the chance to discover and reflect on their their hard and soft skills, talents and professional inclinations, sharing with the group their emotions, personal interests and job aspirations. The programme includes the access to the UNICEF Handbook for Job Orientation in 9 different languages, with adolescent-friendly information on documents and requirements needed to work, training courses, skills self-assessment, definition of professional goals, the rights of workers and the risks of irregular work, as well as tips on how to write a CV and prepare for a job interview. In parallel to activities implementation, UNICEF aims at adapting and translating the workshop and handbook materials into e-learning modules, for dissemination for UASC and their social workers, educators and cultural mediators.

Among Youth and Adolescent Participation interventions:

U-Report On The Move. U-Report is a user-friendly, cost-effective, anonymous social messaging tool designed to empower youth. Those who have registered on U-Report, known as U-Reporters, have access to information, can speak out on issues that affect them and their communities, encourage citizen-led development and create positive behaviour changes. In 2016, UNICEF Refugee and Migrant Response in Italy launched U-Report On The Move, dedicating the platform entirely to young refugees and migrants living in Italy. The U-Report platform addresses the specific needs and aspirations of young migrants and refugees, either along their journey or where they currently live. By signing up, U-Reporters are provided with a wide range of services and activities. This ranges from access to life saving and life protecting information to one-to-one psychosocial support and legal counselling (Here4U). This offers users a real opportunity to voice their concerns on their living conditions and become active citizens in the society they live in.

The “OPS!" campaign (Your Opinion, beyond all Prejudice, against Stereotypes), was launched by UNICEF in June 2021 to engage young people in countering unconscious racial prejudice and changing the narrative on migration. The acronym 'OPS!' stands for 'Your Opinion, Beyond Prejudice, Against Stereotypes'. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the campaign consisted of four actions: youth empowerment through a skills-building course for young activists (OPS! Academy); training of teachers and students through the dissemination of the 'OPS!' web app; social communication by young people for young people; and advocacy with institutions, also pursued through youth participation bodies.

The Activate Talks are UNICEF's format designed to bring young change-makers to the stage both to share their experience and ideas with decision-makers, civil society organizations and private sector and to inspire young people to take action by highlighting good practices or actions implemented to respond to specific needs. Many themes have been addressed over the years, including: civic engagement and social inclusion, stories of social innovation, antidotes to hate-speech and discrimination, women's empowerment, mental health.