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MILIMAT: a journey towards the integration of migrants in the agricultural sector and rural communities

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MILIMAT: a journey towards the integration of migrants in the agricultural sector and rural communities

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The last meeting of the MILIMAT project was held in Perugia on 8 October 2024 with the participation of all project partners. The purpose of the meeting was to analyze and evaluate the results achieved and verify their adherence to what the approved project had proposed, and the quality of the products created. All partners expressed satisfaction with what was achieved and the quality of the outputs. The training tools, i) a transnational report and 5 national reports on the labor integration of migrants in the agricultural sector,  ii) a manual of good practices of multicultural teams in agriculture selected in the participating countries and iii) a course for farmers, migrants and stakeholders in the sector of integration in agriculture, made of three modules each consisting of various chapters, are all available online in English, the working language, and in the 5 languages ​​of the participating countries, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and German. Short videos present the contents in a concise and clear manner. In addition to the training platform, a collaborative platform is available online for the matching between the labor needs of the farms with the demand for jobs from migrants and local workers, with the participation of agricultural associations, trade unions, NGOs, public and private bodies, employment offices and migrant hosting centres at various levels.

During the same day, the seminar “Migrants: from travel to integration in the agricultural sector and in rural communities” was held at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, included in the program of the Perugia Social Festival, with the participation, as well as of the project partners, representatives of institutions such as the Municipality of Perugia, and associations involved in the topic, farmers, migrants and NGOs. The debate that opened on the topic of what the project achieved highlighted the opportunities represented by tools such as the training platform, in order to create synergies to create multicultural working groups in agricultural businesses, and collaborative platform, with the aim of creating a network of subjects involved in the integration effort that work in the countryside and coexistence in rural communities can represent. At the end of the seminar, Matteo Garrone’s film “Io Capitano” was screened, about the irrepressible desire of two young Senegalese men to reach Europe, the harsh reality of the hardships and dangers of the travel, and the stories of death and hope, of brutality and solidarity of this journey.

The results of the project, which ends on 31 October 2024, will be brought to the attention of those involved as target groups and the public within the exhibition “Fa’ la cosa giusta (Do the right thing)”, which will take place at the UmbriaFiere Center from 15 to 17 November, dedicated to possible solutions and opportunities in the social world.

The MILIMAT project also demonstrates in this that it has become a point of reference for associations and people who are committed to the world of integration at work and in communities. As coordinator of the project, if I think about the path we have taken, starting from the difficulty of understanding the realities of our European countries, in their similarities and diversity, and then following the logic of building training tools that could be useful and used by the target subjects, making use of different skills and experiences of the partners, I believe I feel satisfied and motivated to expand the potential of our project outputs and the relationships that the project has led us to create and strengthen with our interlocutors in the real world. Multicultural teams in agriculture can become a safeguard for integration and the matching between the needs of farm owners and the request of migrants to work and be integrated into society. This can give us the chance to give answers to the dreams and legitimate desires of those who see Europe as the destination of their human journey.

Massimo Canalicchio

CIA Umbria