Migrant care workers in Italy

STATE OF THE ART REPORT - ITALY INTRODUCTION Over the last few years, European States elaborated integration policies and the EU carried out an important role for their endorsement through concrete actions. Nevertheless, in terms of employment, education, and social inclusion, those with a migrant background are still in a disadvantaged position compared to European citizens. MICARE project aims to improve the matching between the competence and the needs of the EU labour market, developing an intensive training course for people with migrant background who wish to work as caregivers for elders and those with special exigencies. In order to do so, the current state of art report aims to enquire on the actual situation in Italy by combining a literature, policy and procedure review on the following topics: migrants and refugees’ employment & unemployment rates, as well as their educational status, theoretical and methodological approaches of migrants and refugees’ integration into the labour market; together with a field research analysis conducted through the delivery of questionnaires and focus groups among migrants, refugees and stakeholders in Sicily. In details migrants and refugees were asked about personal information, language and workplace culture, their level of integration in the local community, their past (if any) experience in the field of caregiving, and which kind of support would they need for a role as a caregiver; and finally their reactions to Covid pandemic in terms of coping skills and level of their resilience, as well as whether they would need more information with regard to self-protection and working safety rules and procedures at the time of Covid-19 pandemic. Simultaneously another questionnaire was carried out with several organisations that train, employ or support migrants and/or refugees, among which social partners, education / training institutions, employers, etc. which provide services like job internships, vocational training, volunteer work, job placements, counselling, mentoring, and/or networking, language classes and so on. They were asked which barriers and/or challenges face migrants and refugees on their pathway to the labour market, and if they know their obligations towards this category of workers and whether they need more information with regard to that. Finally how the organizations continued to provide their services during Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to MICARE project, migrants and refugees will be provided with new competences through an innovative blended training package, whereas relevant stakeholders (chambers of commerce, trade unions, training institutions, etc.) will be more aware about the need to integrate migrants and refugees in the labour market; both subjects will have the possibility to connect and further network through the MICARE project platform. OBJECTIVES The main objective of this research is to give a wide picture of the current state of the art with regard to the field of caregiving in Italy, in particular concerning the employment rates and educational status of migrants and refugees in Italy, together with an analysis of the successful theoretical and methodological approaches for their integration into the labour market; including concrete examples of policies and procedures in the field of caregiving, and finally it identificates previous and ongoing similar initiatives to MICARE project in Italy. In the final part, the current report provides migrants, refugees and stakeholders’ level of experience and knowledge in the field of caregiving at regional level by doing an accurate need analysis with the ultimate aim to develop a tailored training package which will include an Italian language course, a caregiving course and personal/interpersonal skills empowerment for migrants and refugees. Overall the current report higlights the necessity of the enhancement of migrant and refugees’ skills in the caregiving sector in order to find a job and be fully integrated in our society. METHODOLOGY The methodology that has been followed is a systematic review of the existing bibliography related to the main subject of the research, by looking for the following keywords: “caregiving”, “caregivers”, “elderly”, “migrants”, “refugees”, “badanti”, “Italy”, and so on. A search of the literature was conducted on the following electronic database: JSTOR thanks to a private account that gave access to several high-level articles usually not available for free on the internet. Inclusion criteria were articles in English published in the last couples of years (2010-2020), therefore recent ones, which included the above-mentioned keywords. The exclusion criteria was failure to mention the keywords and the very old articles i.e. before the 2000s, as well as duplicated articles or those which had different topic focus. Many articles were found and several abstracts with above-mentioned keywords were reviewed. FINDINGS – DISCUSSION Migrants and refugees’ employment/unemployment rates, plus educational status In Italy population ageing (as a result of low fertility and life expectancy growth), the lack of public home care services and the high cost of private ones, have increased the request of staff in the field of caregiving (Degiuli, 2007). In addition, there is a consistently insufficient number of care workers. In 2015, nearly 70% of the major caregivers for the elderly were their family members, in particular females aged 60 and over. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan; Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 Overall Italy faces a lack of specialized personnel in the caregiving sector, and migrant/refugees caregivers have become a very important component of the informal home care system (Degiuli, 2016). Economic deprivation and the relatively large difference in salaries are the main drivers of mobility of caregivers, moreover working as a co-habiting family assistant means to have free meals and accommodation along with the opportunity to have savings to send home (Caritas, 2008). Migrant care workers in Italy - a case study; Patrizia Di Santo | Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) In 1991, immigration was mainly from Morocco, Tunisia and the Philippines; ten years after, Albanians, Romanians and Chinese grew to the top of the list; nowadays Romania is the first country of origin and Ukraine entered the top five. Blurred Rights, Local Practices: Social Work and Immigration in Italy; Eduardo Barberis and Paolo Boccagni - June 2014 Looking more in detail, around half of the officially registered domestic workers come from three eastern European countries namely Romania, Ukraine and Moldova which provided respectively 26.3%, 16.1% and 7.1% of the total workforce in the domestic sector in 2008. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 According to the 2013 – 2020 National Employment Strategy, Romanians’ main destinations for work in the EU is Italy with 890.000 people (Eurofound, 2014). According to the Italian Statistical Institute, there are officially over 1.1 million Romanians in the country, more than 650.000 of whom are women and 80% are employed as care workers. Impacts and Particularities of Care Migration Directed towards Long-term Care: Zooming in on Slovakia and Romania, Martina Sekulová and Mădălina Rogoz, Internarional Centre for Migration Policy Department (ICMPD), March 2018 Italian institutions registered an increase of workers in this sector also from non-EU countries such as Ecuador and Perú. Migrant women from Cape Verde, the Philippines or Ethiopia employed as domestic workers have been among the forerunners of labour immigration flows to Italy since the 1960s and 70s (Andall, 2000; Einaudi, 2007). A minority of migrant domestic workers come from the African continent (4.8% from North Africa and 3.1% from sub-Saharan Africa). Until 2011 Asia and the Middle East represented the second area of origin of the migrant workforce in this sector, providing 19.6% of the overall workforce followed by Latin America (12.4% in 2011). International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 In 2013 the number of foreign nationals in Italy exceeded 4.4 million and the country has become one of the largest host countries for migrant workers in Europe. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan; Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 The recourse to such workers is now widespread also among low-middle class where salaried caregivers are employed as live-in. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 According to official estimates, in 2014, 77.1% of the total registered labour force in domestic work were migrants. Most of these workers, engaged in elderly care, were women from Eastern European countries, Asia and Latin America (Palumbo, 2016). With regard to the profiles of care workers with a migrant background in Italy, they are interested in part-time and hourly employment rather than in live-in care arrangements (Di Santo and Ceruzzi, 2009). Impacts and Particularities of Care Migration Directed towards Long-term Care: Zooming in on Slovakia and Romania, Martina Sekulová and Mădălina Rogoz, Internarional Centre for Migration Policy Department (ICMPD), March 2018. The Filipinos are the third most represented national group with around 55.550 workers. Other Asian countries of origin are Sri Lanka (19.252), India (5.619), China (5.357) and Bangladesh (4.611). The most represented Latin American countries are Peru with 22.863 domestic workers, Ecuador with 20.958 and the Dominican Republic with 4.079; while the main African countries are Morocco (15.307), Ghana (3.891), Nigeria (2.556) and Ethiopia (2.431). International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 In a sample of foreign domestic workers interviewed by Istituto di Ricerche Educative e Formative (IREF) in 2005, 29.5% of them were employed as a family assistant to a single elderly person, whereas 19.7% taking care of couples of older people (IREF, 2007). Family assistants who arrived in Italy between 2006 and 2008 were on average 37 years old, 27.6% single and 62% with children (57% of the female workers living far from their children), 28% wished to stay in Italy and about 73% of the interviewees were interested in a training course to acquire more skills in the field of personal care. They have middle to high levels of education, 25% of the women having a degree and 46% a high-school diploma, 12% even had a post-degree qualification. A substantial number are also at an advanced age: 13.6% are over 50, 29.1% are between 41-50 years of age, 18% being under 30 years of age and 39.3% between 30 and 40. Migrant care workers in Italy - a case study; Patrizia Di Santo | Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010). Family assistants and domestic workers in Italy count for more than a fifth (21.9%) of all people enrolled in the national social security register (INPS). Many of them could or would be able to work in different areas since they have a university degree. According to the Institute of Social Research, a change in the numbers was observed as a consequence of the regularization law of 2009. Foreign women, of non-European origin, who worked in Italy experience indeed “employment segregation”. According to data from the National Institute of Social Security (INPS), the number of domestic workers registered in the INPS was 886.125 and 87.8% of them were women in 2015. The drastic increase in immigrant domestic workers has occurred since 2002 when regularization together with the annual quota system have triggered the high share of migrant workers. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan; Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 Italian migrant policy has been characterized by a rigid migration control system for the entry of economic migrants, and passive controls for foreign stayers in Italy (Einaudi 2007; Triandafyllidou and Ambrosini 2011). In 2002, through the Bossi-Fini Law, more than 60% of foreign residents in Italy had regular legal status as a result of past regularizations. Italian immigration policies have allowed the growth of domestic workers and the development of a welfare where migrant women had a primary role. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 The Italian policy for care and domestic workers with a migrant background may be called an “ex post facto” approval system for the stay and working permit of workers. Additionally, with the combination of the in-cash-based care system and the direct employment of migrant workers by families, the Italian care model may be called “family-based” and partially regularized migrant care in the market. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan, Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 Most of them come from foreign countries, only 22.3% (less than a quarter) are Italian. Women make up 87% of all foreign care workers and 96% amongst Italian care workers. Ibid Comparing Italian and migrant domestic workers, the latter clearly shows a highly multi-tasking professional profile. Being employed more often than Italians as family assistants, they are more extensively involved in multiple activities such as night-time care (26.9% against 6.1% of Italians), assistance to an elderly person (49.5% against 21.4%), or to autonomous (36.6% against 16.8%) and dependent persons (32.4% against 15.4%). International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 The European comparative analysis of Saraceno and Keck in 2010 classified Italy with the strongest care/welfare model nevertheless highlighting the uncompensated care for family members provided exclusively by women not in the labour force. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan; Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 The Italian case has been identified as the private employment “migrant-in-the-family model” (Pasquinelli and Rusmini 2008; Van Hooren 2012; Da Roit et al. 2013). Bettio have described the radical transformation from a “family” to a “migrant-in-the-family” model of care in Italy. Although that implicated a considerable saving of public resources and an effective solution for the assistance of elderly people, nevertheless this has been achieved at the expenses of migrant domestic workers in terms of their poor working conditions, low salaries, social isolation, psychological distress and burn-out. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI), Geneva 2013 The live-in assistance to elderly or disabled people is the most labour-intensive, lowest paid and worst working conditions segment of the domestic work sector. Half of family assistants (54.8%) work for longer than 12 hours a day in the house where they are employed. The daily and weekly rest periods set in the national collective agreement (respectively 2 hours per day and 36 hours per week) are actually seldom granted. In some cases, the caregivers have to look after for more than one person in the same family as well as they have to perform several other tasks (ironing, cooking, shopping, etc.). Ibid Young, irregular and more segregated: these are the characteristics of the “new” caregivers. Their national contracts foresee an average wage of €1.350, and those without contract can earn about €850-1.000 per month if they live in the house with the elderly. If they work four or five times a week the salary can be slightly above 50% of this amount. Migrant care workers in Italy, a case study- Patrizia Di Santo & Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) These women are not seeking a lifelong job in the field of caregiving, on the contrary for them care work in Italy is restricted to a limited period to gain a certain economic stability in order to find another stable job. Ibid Existing approaches with regard to the integration in the labour market The ‘migrant in the family’ model of care has been facilitated by work permits and multiple regularizations which have been the opportunity for non-EU nationals to obtain a legal status as privately employed care workers (van Hooren et al, 2019). Based on the Italian migration law, stay permits for employment are linked to the duration of the job contract therefore care workers with a migrant background are in a vulnerable position since the loss of their job may come also with the loss of their stay permit, and as a consequence they accept poor working conditions in order to maintain their legal status. Moreover according to the Law 94/2009, entered into effect in March 2012, all new third country nationals applying for a residence permit are requested to acquire an adequate knowledge of the Italian language and of the basic norms pertaining to social and civic life in Italy, as well as to respect the Charter of citizenship values and integration and to educate their children accordingly. The socio-economic integration of migrants and refugees in Italy is assessed also through a point-based system: a certain amount of credits has to be reached at the moment of renewal of the stay permit otherwise, in case of failure, the residence permit is revoked and the worker receives an expulsion order. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi -International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI) Geneva 2013 The general rule imposed by the law Turco-Napolitano is an employer-driven mechanism where extra-EU workers are allowed to entry only upon an individual request advanced by a national or regularly resident employer. Admissions for employment purposes are subject to quotas, and special ones are reserved for care services: 30% in 2005, reaching 70% in 2008. No quota decree for non-seasonal employment was adopted in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 the quotas for the domestic sector dropped down to 36% of the total due to the 2009 regularization of irregular workers. Ibid. The annual quota system is recognized as a de-facto regularization as private families prefer to use such system to re-employ the irregularly ones before (Castagnone 2013; Fasani 2013). Regularization has been equivalent to effective labour migration policies in the last ten years (Salis, 2012). The “great regularization” of 2002 (Bossi-Fini law No. 198/2002) addressed care workers already working irregularly in Italy: namely 330.000 appplications of which 190.000 for domestic workers and 140.000 for family assistants (Zucchetti, 2005). In general, the regularization of the Bossi-Fini Law is considered the greatest event in the shift from the family model to the migrant-in-the-family model due to the unprecedented regularization of 316.000 irregular domestic and care workers with a migrant background. Migrant care workers and care-migration policies: a comparison between Italy and Japan, Rie Miyazaki, Sept. 2018 In early 2004 more than 90% of the applications were accepted, and the “home-made” welfare provided by domestic workers with a migrant background became a publicly recognized mass phenomenon (Sciortino, 2004). International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi -International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI) Geneva 2013 The number of regularized cases in Italy between 1980 and 2004 has been higher than in other European countries (Barbagli et al. 2004). By 30 September 2009 the legal regularization of family assistants and housekeeping personnel was concluded, and according to the Italian Home Office only 295.000 had applied: mainly Ukrainian (42.000), Moroccan (38.000), Moldovan (29.000) and Chinese (22.000) workers. A lot of employees, indeed, decided to keep working in the black economy either for financial reasons or fear. Migrant care workers in Italy A case study Patrizia Di Santo | Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) The majority of them, working for different families at the same time, could not take advantage of the law due to the payment of 500 Euros of social insurance contribution, the lack of suitability of the worker’s accommodation, a minimum income (20.000 Euros a year) to be guaranteed for the employer, and finally for the absence of the minimum of 20 hours per week regularly paid in the contract. The National Association of Domestic workers (ACLI-Colf) estimated that between 30-40% of families interested in the regularization procedures abandoned their intents even though, according to the Association of Consumers, before the regularization decree 60% of households would have regularized the position of caregivers with a migrant background. Ibid Italy became the first country in Europe to ratify ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Work in January 2013. Besides it can be observed a 'micro-regulation' made of several local practices, national measures, reception of EU anti-discrimination directives and court judgements. Unfortunately the lack of a proper institutional management underlies a 'molecular' integration process where the local authorities have been left alone facing migration and so they acquired a relevant role. Blurred Rights, Local Practices: Social Work and Immigration in Italy in The British Journal of Social Work, June 2014, Vol. 44; Eduardo Barberis and Paolo Boccagni A number of measures have been developed at local level since the early 2000s to address the demand by the elderly and their families and the supply provided by migrant women workers. The objective was to support families through financial schemes, information and legal counselling services, as well as to improve working conditions of domestic workers by stimulating their regularization, enhancing their qualifications and skills or orienting them in the job search. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi -International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI) Geneva 2013 Several measures implemented by regions and municipalities can be synthesized Ibid into four main types of intervention: Cash-for-care schemes which were introduced in the 1980s with a monetary benefit supplied by the Central State to people in need of care. Nowadays all regions foresee the distribution of care allowances (assegni di cura) as key part of social policies, and 9 regions introduced also a registered employment contract between families and caregivers to turn irregular into regular employment. Impacts and Particularities of Care Migration Directed towards Long-term Care: Zooming in on Slovakia and Romania, Martina Sekulová and Mădălina Rogoz, Internarional Centre for Migration Policy Department (ICMPD), March 2018 In 2008, about 1.131,710 people above 75 years were entitled to this cash benefit for a total amount of € 6.3 billion. Ibid Professional training courses: the enhancement of qualifications and skills of family assistants has been identified as key priority in public policies. In 2009, 9 regions regulated that together with a wide number of courses given by training institutes, NGOs or other voluntary organizations. Service desks which aims at matching supply and demand in the private care. Official registers of qualified family assistants have been introduced at regional/community level to provide additional source of information and reduce informality in the job-matching. In many cases, the integration into the labour market takes place through co-national networks who look for temporary replacements, channelling people before the departure to Italy. An additional factor is the enhancement of these social networks of migrant workers which across time and experience managed to develop “specialized relations”. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi -International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI) Geneva 2013 Third-sector organizations have been playing also a crucial role in the support of domestic workers with a migrant background by providing them with legal assistance, language courses and professional training, helping in the search for accommodation, access to general information, psychological and job-matching services. The helpdesks, promoted by the municipality and managed by social services, offer information to both families and migrant workers, by supporting them when start working, offering tutorship, helping to find substitutions and offering hospital admission when necessary. Social Care Help desks provide mediation and counselling on the procedure to get a residence permit, rights of migrant workers, guidance on the training system and self-employment promotion for those aiming at the self-employment. The job help desks carry out counselling also on competence and skills assessment, guidance on training systems, information on employment and the work relationship with the host family, intercultural mediation, free courses for family assistants and inclusion into a specific register. Finally group meetings to elaborate shared strategies on the local job market as well as individual paths to get expertise. Municipalities’ support includes information on how to employ family assistants, and trade union offices where get information on the contracts and calculate the socio-economic situation. Additional information is provided by professional associations (Api-colf and Acli-colf) who support migrant workers and families with regard to procedures for the employment, and how to make regular contracts, and comply with welfare contributions. Migrant care workers in Italy, a case study- Patrizia Di Santo & Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) Another approach for effective labour integration of migrant care workers is the ‘home tutoring’ as service carried out by professional health workers/caregivers to support the family assistant at the onset of the work in the family, for example in the arrangement and management of the care work that needs to be accomplished. What is needed is further coordination between local authorities, health authorities and foundations, as well as the definition of common methods and coordination of economic resources to enable less fragmentation in actions, monitor the evolution of issues and finally support awareness-raising campaign targeted at residents and migrant workers. Ibid The recording of the caregiving status: policies and procedures through the investigation of the current situation and needs in the caregiving domain The Italian Minister of Interns provides annual vocational training courses to become Operatore Socio Sanitario (OSS), the Italian professional figure required to deliver home care services. Domestic workers are now classified into eight different categories: A, B, C and D (according to the tasks performed and the degree of autonomy), each one sub-divided into “normal” or “super”, where the latter identify care workers assisting autonomous or dependent people. This reflects the reality of the sector, with a growing presence of specialized care workers to be distinguished from workers taking care of cleaning and other home related activities. International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’ in International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI); Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis Viviana Premazzi - Geneva 2013 OSS are mostly employed in residential care structures and less frequently in home based elder care services, they are generally recruited by cooperatives and employed in public funded elder care services managed by municipalities (Villosio and Bizzotto, 2011). An important news, guaranteed in the national system from October 2020 until December 2022, https://tg24.sky.it/economia/approfondimenti/contratto-colf-badanti-2020?fbclid=IwAR3wQFuCAZJNfxy2ylUj6ApKr-i5lE23ab9MlwJ84G0zWxpca2OYT55BnjA is the introduction of a new professional as “family assistant and educator” (instead of “badanti” and “colf”) Nb: With regard to the migrant caregivers, the term “badanti” is not neutral and has provoked some debate among experts since the verb “badare” [to look after] is considered diminishing. that will concern almost among 860.000 workers up to 2 million people in Italy considering the irregulars. A consistent improvement of their salary and welfare conditions has been foreseen, together with the possibility of paid extra training courses. The working hours will be 40 weekly, up to 54 hours for those in house. It is also foreseen a probation of 30 days before being hired. Finally among the amendment of the law, it has been included the cut of costs of those working overnight from 8 pm to 8 am that will be reduced from taxes Identification and evaluation of previous/ ongoing initiatives with similar objective In 2006, the Region Friuli started a training project aimed at training family assistants directly in Moldova and then employ them in Italy. With the aim to assess their caregiving skills, the Region Liguria has promoted the project “Lavoro doc. Buone prassi nel lavoro di cura” (good practices in care work). Migrant care workers in Italy A case study Patrizia Di Santo | Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) The skills identified were assigned to three different levels: Basic: know own rights and duties as employed, those of the family and the person being cared for; know about the people and the services to which refer to; know Italian language; Technical-professional: handle bureaucratic papers, are able to manage diet and treatments, take care of personal and home hygiene, are able to cooperate with medical staff; Multi-level: capacity to listen, communicate, mediate and adapt themselves; build up trusting relationships, manage intimacy and distance, have an attitude to flexibility, promote independence, be positive and able to face an emergency, finally combining private and working life. Some aspects to be considered when arranging courses: -long courses are hardly compatible with work - timetable needs to be arranged at hours when migrant caregivers do not work -training courses should be offered in cooperation with local networks to reach easily the target -refunds or discounts to use public transport should be given -bonus payments to families allowing their assistants to take part to courses -worker’s substitution or availability during the time of the course -grants -baby-sitting services if participants have children -adequate communication campaign: information channels, both formal and informal, can reach more potential beneficiaries. Among other initiatives worth mentioning: in 2009 the Region Lazio allocated € 2.8 million to provide training to family assistants as well as tax allowances to those families of older people with care needs. Training modules are now available in different Italian areas (Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Piemonte, etc.). Migrant care workers in Italy A case study - Patrizia Di Santo | Francesca Ceruzzi (Rome/Vienna, April 2010) The roles of doctors, nurses or other professionals who can teach care techniques within a specific working context is essential. Such “in-site training” may consist also in a social and health care assistant showing the caregivers how to properly do the job. In Friuli Venezia Giulia the project “Professionals in family” turned 6.000 job contracts into regular contracts (with 200 agreements on average per month) thanks to the intermediation of helpdesks for family assistance. The percentage of families who took advantage of this service has increased from 23% to 87% in few years. Ibid Among the experiences of home tutoring in Italy, there are the following: Madreperla in the Province of Modena, the social tutor in the Province of Parma, Premiata Fabbrica of the Iris and Cissabo Consortia. ibid Some actions also include economic incentives to support the caregivers training: for instance, in the Province of Siena (Region Toscana) a project entitled “Un euro all’ora” (one euro per hour) tries to tackle ‘black’ labour by providing bonus payment for those participating in vocational training for family assistants. Ibid The Centri Risorse in Parma closely operate with trade unions, volunteer organisations, Caritas and other public town services. An agreement was signed in 2004 that every partner makes its own competences available to provide citizens with their services. In the same year, a pact has been stipulated by the Province of Florence and the City Council to provide employment service and integrated care services. The new organisation kept a list of qualified workers (having a certificate, qualifications, relevant skills) and support the families in their choice of the most suitable people. In 2008, the Province of Lucca started the project “I take care of you” concerning the opening of helpdesks, and contracts between caregivers and families. Ibid In the Province of Chieti the project “Invisible jobs” aimed at supporting the employment of family assistants ensuring a professional care service. Among the women participating in the training course (47 family assistants), 10 have built a cooperative called “the link” to provide assistance to the elderly in need of care and help other caregivers to get a regular employment. Patronati, run by trade unions, are also an important civil support in terms of counselling and information with regard to social and employment issues, including tax refund and income tax declarations. For example, the City of Arezzo and the Province of Siena signed a free agreement in order to ensure easier bureaucratic procedures. Also, the City of Venice received help from Patronati during the implementation of the regularization decrees in 2002 and in 2009. Ibid Finally, worthy to mention the first comprehensive study carried out (Boccagni and Pasquinelli, 2010) that explored the use of ICT and ICT-based technologies in long-term care of dependent elderly in Italy. The report analyzed the potential mediation role of care workers with a migrant background in ICT use in personal home care, and how ICT could be used to professionally qualify and enhance the living conditions of these workers. The research was based only on semi-structured interviews and ethnographic methods, focusing on specific national communities such as Ukrainian and Polish, missing though other reliable quantitative data and comparisons on a large scale on migrants’ participation in this segment of the labour market (Baldisseri, 2005; Pelliccia, 2011). International Migration Papers No. 115 Labour Migration Branch ‘Promoting integration for migrant domestic workers in Italy’; Eleonora Castagnone, Ester Salis, Viviana Premazzi- International and European Forum of Research on Immigration (FIERI) Geneva 2013 Another study by Fullin and Vercelloni (2009) is particularly noteworthy comparing four communities: Filipino, Romanian, Moroccan and Ecuadorian. The study described the career paths of the interviewed women highlighting in particular which expectations they had before leaving their country and what opportunities they believed they could have had in the Italian labour market. Ibid FIELD RESEARCH DATA ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FOR MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES (24 OUT OF 30) Age of migrants and refugees who took the questionnaire: 9 are between 18-25; 8 between the age of 26-35; and 6 among 36-50; 1 over 50 years old. Gender: 16 male, 8 females Educational background: 8 attended the primary school, 7 went to high school, 5 got a diploma; 2 hold a degree; 1 attended CPIA; and finally, 1 attended an AMIF course. Nationality: 2 from Gambia, 1 from Eritrea, 5 from Nigeria, 2 from Benin, 2 from Cameroon, 1 from Colombia, 2 from Congo, 1 from El Salvador, 1 from India, 1 from Kosovo, 1 from Ivory Coast, 1 from Morocco, 1 from Pakistan, 1 from Romania, 1 from Togo, and finally 1 did not specify that. Understanding of Italian language: overall all of them have intermediate and upper intermediate level of oral comprehension, as well as intermediate comprehension of Italian texts, oral expression, and written expression in Italian. Integration in the Italian community: 14 said yes, 2 declared not be fully integrated into the Italian society and that they feel a hostile environment; 2 said “other”, whereas 6 migrants and refugees did not specify that. Experience prejudices: 8 declared that they didn’t have any bad experience in Italy, 3 preferred not to say, whereas 13 specified that bad experience happened during leisure activities, by specific social groups, or were asked money for religious rituals. With regard to the discrimination at the workplace: 12 answered that they never experienced that, whereas 11 said that happened; and 1 did not specified that. Intercultural challenges at the workplace: 11 answered that they never had that; whereas 12 experienced that, and 1 did not wanted to say. Experience in the field of caregiving: 6 people have experience up to 6 months, 4 up to 1 year of work experience; 7 people said that they have 1-3 years of experience in this field, whereas 3 have been working now more than 3 years in the caregiving sector. Finally, 4 did not specify that. The interviewed developed very well the following skills: skin care and meal preparation; whereas they declared having very poor skills on first aid, temperature control, mental health support, physical exercise, stress management, money management, blood pressure, rehabilitation, and support to medical staff. The most of migrants and refugees experienced the following problems in the role of caregiving: feeling emotional pressure or stress, and mostly difficulties in communication. They also declared they need support and therefore they would like to know more about: their rights in term of salary, working hours and paid leaves, as well as assistance for validation of their previous competences, national health system, how to maintain daily nutrition and exercise programme, finally they would like to increase their knowledge on stress management and organizational skills. In total 23 migrants and refugees said that they are able to protect themselves according to the new safety procedures during Covid 19, indeed they specified that they know how to use the mask, how to wash their hands, rules on social distancing, etc. With regard to the protection of the elderly: more than 80% of migrants and refugees said that they also know how to do it properly. The pandemic affected their caregiving work in 2020 as follows: being not able to access hospital, someone lost the job, other have problems in finding a new one, and almost all are in economic difficulties. In total 13 among migrants and refugees, who took the questionnaire, would like to have more information on social support for elderly people through pandemic; whereas 11 would like to know how to inform people without panicking. Turning to their level of stress management from 1 to 5: 4 people answered level 2 (the lowest), 7 answered level 3, 8 answered level 4, and finally 4 went through the highest level of stress. With regard to the knowledge of the signs of burnout: 20 said that they don’t even know what it is, whereas 4 said yes. Level of resilience during Covid-19 from 1 to 5: 2 said level 1, 3 said level 2, 3 level 3, 11 level 4, and finally 5 chose the highest level. Coping skills: the most of interviewed has very good coping skills on maintaining relationships and preserving routine, as well as keeping active during Covid-19; while they also declared having some abilities in reducing anxiety. Finally with regard to digital skills in using devices for communication / telemedicine: 9 said they have very poor skills, plus five have basic skills; whereas only 5 have excellent ones. DATA ANALYSIS FOCUS GROUPS MIGRANTS/REFUGEES Interview n. 1 She is 50 years old from Colombia, and she has been living in Catania for 20 years. She speaks fluently Italian, even the local dialect which is very useful especially when communicating with elderly in Sicily. She is fully integrated in Catania with her family, and she has been working in the caregiving sector for 5 years (now 4 days per week, whereas in the past she used to stay overnight). Her tasks include cooking, giving medicine, blood pressure control, going out for a walk with the elder person, taking care of the hygiene, etc. She does not have any formal certificate in the caregiving but she said she has a personal vocation for this kind of job, that she used to do it even in Colombia before moving to Italy. With regard to the Covid-19, she is a bit scared therefore she is interested in the MICARE training course and the Covid safety procedures. She has an intermediate level of digital skills, and she would like to improve it. She has a computer and she is looking forward to get the MICARE certificate, and so have more opportunity for her future career. Interview n. 2 He is 22 years old from Nigeria, he lives in Misterbianco (in the province of Catania) from 4 years. His level of Italian is A2, and in his country he couldn’t finish legal studies. Here in Italy he is fully integrated and never experienced racism or other form of discrimination. With regard to his past working experience: he worked for 4 months assisting a disable, and then with another one for 1 month. In both cases he used to cook, clean the house, take care of the hygiene of the people, give medicine, etc. He has strong digital skills even though he doesn’t have a computer. He is interested in getting more capacities with regard to Covid safety procedures, digital skills and intrapersonal skills for the role of caregiver. Interview n. 3 She is 21 from Nigeria, and her level of Italian is A1. She studied until the secondary school in her country, and now she recently moved to Macerata. She has been in Italy now for 4 years and she said that, even though she never experienced racism, she doesn’t fully feel integrated in the host society. Work experience: 11 months assistance of elderly people by doing food, injections, medicine, hygiene, and cleaning. She didn’t have any bad experience at work, but now she is not working. During the lockdown, she experienced a very stressful period. She has zero digital skills but she is willing to learn more about that, she has a computer for taking MICARE course remotely. Interview n. 4 She lives in Trecastagni (Catania), she is 20 years old from Nigeria and she got a level of A1 in Italian language. She didn’t study in her country. She stated that even though sometimes she experienced racism and discrimination in the street, that never happened at the workplace; and overall, she is very well integrated in Italy. She has been living in Italy for 3 years. Previous work experience in the agriculture sector, never in the caregiving domain but she is willing to work as assistant of elderly and therefore she showed enthusiasm in taking MICARE course, also to boost her poor digital skills. During the lockdown she experienced sad moments, she is worried and therefore interested in knowing more about Covid safety rules. Interview n. 5 She has a long experience of 12 years in the caregiving sectorgiving medicine, cooking, cleaning and taking care of personal hygiene of her patients. She used to stay overnight, now she does only day assistance. She took a training course of 1 years in the field of caregiving, thanks to the Sicilian funded courses. She has been living in Catania for 13 years, she also got the high school certificate in Catania, and her knowledge of Italian is upper-intermediate. She is 47 years old and she feels fully integrated in the society, she had very few bad experiences over her long work experience. She has no digital skills and she would like to take MICARE course for this reason, as well as to improve Covid safety procedures. Interview n. 6 He doesn’t speak Italian even though he has been living in Catania for 9 years. He is 44 from Nigeria, he got the primary school licence, and now he is jobless. Previous work experience in the farm, and zero episode of discrimination at the workplace. He has no experience in caregiving but he can like, finally he doesn’t have a computer but he is willing to take the MICARE course from his new phone, also to improve his poor digital skills. Interview n. 7 He is 52 from Congo where he studied economics. In Italy he attended the high school and the Italian classes, now he has a B1/B2 knowledge. He lives in Catania from 2013. Now he is jobless, but before he used to work as gardener, and did cleaning in a school in Catania. He said he never experienced discrimination at the workplace. Moreover he worked in the field of caregiving for 3 years by assisting elderly people in cooking, giving medicine, and doing cleanings. During the 3 months lockdown he has been working for a disable staying overnight. He knows Covid safety rules but he is interested in more information. Finally he has good digital skills. Interview n. 8 She is 44 from Tunisia, and her knowledge of Italian B1/B2; she currently attends evening courses to get high school diploma. She feels very well integrated in the host society and she declared that she never met wrong people and so never experienced discrimination at the workplace. She has been working as house keeper. She is willing to get more personal/interpersonal skills in the field of medical assistance. She knows Covid safety rules for herself and the others. During the lockdown, she remained at home with her 3 children, she currently take monetary support (reddito di cittadinanza) from the state. She is currently looking for a job, she has a computer (not wifi yet) for taking MICARE course. Interview n. 9 She is 23 from Ethiopia, she speaks very well Italian (B1/2) and she is integrated in Catania: she said she has a lot of friends and thanks to that she feels like at home. Unfortunately she experienced some racist episodes towards her son and at the workplace being called in an offensive way. She has 1 year of experience in the field of caregiving, and so good skills on hygiene, food and diet, blood pressure and temperature control. She said she has no skills on mental health assistance and rehabilitation. She is willing to take part to the Micare project in order to get competences on stress management and her rights as worker. She knows Covid safety procedures, but she would like to have more knowledge on how to assist elderly during Covid pandemic and how to recognize the burnout. She has poor digital and has no computer, this is another reason to take MICARE course. Interview n. 10 She is 54 from Ethiopia, she speaks well Italian but she does not read and write it. She declared she is well integrated in Catania since 1995 and she never experienced discrimination at the workplace. She has 18 years of experience in the field of caregiving, and she has very good knowledge of hygiene, mobility, domestic work and meal preparation. She is interested in Micare project in order to improve her knowledge of Italian, her digital skills (absent) and get a certificate in caregiving. Due to Covid, she lost her job and she is currently looking for that. She is quite interested in Covid safety rules. DATA ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STAKEHOLDERS (12 OUT OF 15) Nature of the organizations who answered our questionnaire: Refugee Welcome, Csc Danilo Dolci, Istituto Arrupe, Fondazione Giovanni Paolo II ONLUS, religious ngos, educational ngos, Jesuite Refugee Service (JRS), other types of social ngos. In particular: 25 % among training institutions, 16,7% among social partner, and 58,3% chose “other”. Among the services that they offer: 25% counselling, 16,7% stage and vocational training; 16,7% cultural mediation; 8,3% volunteer work; 8,3% job placement; 25% other. In details the organizations aim to soft skills advancement such as resilience, self-esteem and self-confidence; empowerment of transversal and professional competences; welcoming/integration services; food assistance; clothes distribution; legal counselling; language/digital/art courses; networking, and housing. With regard to the question about the barriers faced by migrants/refugees to real integration in our society, the interviewed answered 41,7% discrimination; 33,3% legislation; 8,3% language competences/status of immigrant or refugee/or others such as slow administrative procedures for getting necessary documents for asylum, low protection at workplace and for job hunting. Their level of knowledge concerning migrants’ rights: all of them know a lot about linguistic support, cultural mediation and legislation, thanks to the support by institutions. In particular one highlighted the importance of not only providing mere assistance to refugees/immigrants, but also give them the tools for their empowerment and so economic independence, personal dignity and possibility of family reunification. All of the interviewed admitted don’t know a lot about legislation and asked for more information with regard to that. Among the organizations who offer assistance to migrants/refugees: 41,7% provide social and residential assistance; 8,3% day services assistance, 50% other kind of assistance. The stakeholders interviewed answered at 75% that they do not employ migrants/refugees in the field of caregiving; the rest 25% does it through stage, EU grant or providing the opportunity of voluntary service therefore migrants and refugees help fellows with language classes, IT courses and so on. 50 % of the interviewed are aware of the social and labour conditions and issues of migrant / refugee caregivers; the rest aren’t at all especially on language and legislative aspects. 41,7% provide orientation for their employees such as job counselling, language course, administrative procedures; whereas the 58,3 % don’t either before arrival, during the stay in Italy or after the integration. 75% of organizations don’t provide skills recognition and validation of non-formal / informal competencies of migrants/refugees; whereas 25 % does it through the use of Youthpass. All interviewed said that they want to know more about the procedures for recognition and validation of previous competences. 66, 7% of the organizations, having identified gaps in their knowledge, are interested in MICARE training and its consortium support in order to help further migrants / refugees in caregiving. With regard to the last section of the questionnaire, regarding the resilience of the organisations to effectively care for workers during Covid-19: only 25% said they couldn’t. All the organizations took Covid-19 measures especially in the workload distribution, team cohesion and engagement, specific training about Covid-19 and specific equipment for safety reasons. They declared they did not provide assistance for access hospitals and health services, financial support, and awareness raising. DATA ANALYSIS FOCUS GROUPS STAKEHOLDERS (4 OUT OF 5) Interview n.1 Diaconia Valdese (a religious ngo) has been offering a community center in collaboration with Oxfam for 3 years now and they are specialized on job counselling, cv preparation, stage/ traineeship offer, vocational training and previous skills recognition and validation of non-formal / informal competencies of migrants/refugees. The staff working at the community center of Diaconia Valdese, indeed, took part to a 1-year specific training on this subject carried out by Bank Intesa San Paolo in collaboration with a ngo specialized on that and based in Turin, so they know very well how to apply national and European guidelines in order to release certificates to migrants and refugees. Diaconia Valdese also offers support for administrative papers (how to get the residence permit, fiscal code, etc,..) and legal counselling in cooperation with Centro Astalli. Finally they provide courses on mediation in collaboration with the municipality of Catania, as well as Italian and English courses which now, during Covid crisis, they are doing online. Recently, in Covid time, they also offer grocery vouchers and they will soon start also a new project, in collaboration with Oxfam, with regard to social housing. They suggest to get in touch with Diaconia Valdese in Palermo (Center La Noce). Interview n. 2 Sant’ Egidio based in Catania (a religious ngo) has a lot of projects in Italy funded by private foundations, Ministry of Domestic Affairs, and Sicilian Region with regard to assistance services provided to poor people, elderly, homeless, migrants and refugees, and disadvantaged children. In particular they are active since 2013 in the food distribution serving up to 2000 meals per day in Catania, they also provide legal counselling per appointment for administrative papers related to the refugees status, as well as they run Italian language and cultural mediation courses targeted for foreigners, and offer “peace school” course for children. Only Sant’ Egidio in Rome has the authorization to release specific certificates to recognize newly acquired abilities and competencies of migrants and refugees. Sant’ Egidio Catania is willing to take part to the MICARE project in order to get a training for its staff on migration related subjects, and so get the needed expertise with regard to socio-economic barriers for migrants and refugees. Interview n. 3 He works for the Municipality of Catania and he manages a lot of projects with regard to existing services for migrants and refugees in Catania. In particular he mentioned an AMIF funded project “Catania capacity building” started at the end of 2019 and that will run for the next 2 years, focusing on a preliminary need analysis and mapping of local services targeted to migrants and refugees in the area of Catania. Micare project will be also included and will be given a wide visibility in Catania since needed information where shared. Further the project foresees a high-level course for civil servants which will take place from November 2020 to July 2021 online with regard to migration topics. A certificate will be released to each participant in order to certify the newly acquired competencies. Moreover the project will allow to offer linguistic and cultural mediation services in the area of Catania for final beneficiaries, as well as online counselling with regard to legal framework, health assistance, and networking events between public and private bodies working in the field of migration in Catania. The spokesperson is interested in further collaboration with CESIE in Catania and Palermo. Interview n. 4 Centro Astalli has been very active for the integration of migrants and refugees in Catania area, and even now, during the partial lockdown due to Covid-19, they offer legal counselling for appointment with regard to stay permit and related administrative procedures. They also still provide job counselling by helping migrants and refugees with the draft of the curriculum, finding job proposals on Italian website and make all the arrangements. Nowadays Centro Astalli conducts internal trainings for 40 people of the voluntary staff on how to act in case of pandemic at the workplace. They temporarily stopped their projects with the schools, during which they have promoted cultural/religious exchanges between Italian students and migrants/refugees. For the future, Centro Astalli Catania is planning to set-up small trainings in the field of manufacturing and agriculture (get licence for tractors). CONCLUSION As above-mentioned in Italy the population ageing, the lack of public home care services and the high cost of private ones, have increased the request of staff in the field of caregiving. In addition Italy faces a lack of specialized personnel in the caregiving sector, and caregivers with a migrant background have become a very important component of the informal home care system. As seen, they have middle to high levels of education, and many of them would be able to work. Italian immigration policies have allowed the development of a welfare where migrant women have a primary role, and show a high multi-tasking professional profile. The Italian case has been identified as the “migrant-in-the-family model”, but unfortunately this has been achieved at the expenses of caregivers with a migrant background in terms of poor working conditions, low salaries, social isolation, and psychological distress. The live-in assistance to elderly or disabled people is the most labour-intensive, lowest paid and worst working conditions segment of the domestic work sector. As seen in the current report, in Italy, caregivers with a migrant background are irregular and more segregated. The solution would be the enhancement of qualifications and skills of such caregivers through specific courses given by training institutes, NGOs or other voluntary organizations. Their integration into the labour market should be done through information on employment and training, counselling on the work relationship with host families, intercultural mediation, and so on. What is needed is further coordination between private and public authorities in order to elaborate further shared strategies on employment and integration of caregivers with a migrant background. MiCARE project aims to do so by providing structured training on caregiving for migrants and refugees, in order to facilitate their integration into the caregiving job market which nowadays presents a continuous growing demand. 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