Developing effective tools to encourage participation means starting by listening to the people for whom they are intended. It is from this principle that the HumanityHub initiative took shape, involving more than twenty Ukrainian women in a process of learning, discussion and mutual support. Through a series of maieutic workshops, the needs, priorities and challenges of daily life emerged, which guided both the content and the methods of the activities developed in a participatory manner.
Among the main needs identified were those relating to language learning and understanding Italian bureaucracy, guidance on accessing services, and knowledge of the main types of employment contracts. Alongside these is an equally important need: to understand the range of practices, expectations and interpersonal dynamics involved in accessing these areas. It is not merely a question of knowing how to book a doctor’s appointment, but of understanding how to build a relationship with healthcare staff. Similarly, looking for a home also means knowing how to interpret the requests, behaviours and expectations that characterise the relationship with the landlord. This is a less visible aspect, yet one that is fundamental to navigating a new social context with greater confidence. At the same time, the need has also emerged to have access to a social space dedicated to physical and mental wellbeing and to forging links with the local community, fostering opportunities for meeting others, exchanging views and getting to know the area in which one lives.
These needs reflect the holistic approach that characterises HumanityHub. Settling into a new place requires, in fact, a range of conditions that enable full participation in social, economic and community life: from physical and mental wellbeing to the skills needed to access educational and employment opportunities, right through to building meaningful relationships and a genuine sense of belonging to the community.
However, the co-design of the programme did not focus solely on content. The maieutic workshops also brought to light the more practical aspects that can influence participation, such as available time, childcare responsibilities, and, more generally, the resources needed to take part in activities on a regular basis. This made it possible to jointly develop organisational arrangements and timings that best met the group’s needs.
The programme unfolded over five sessions, which facilitated the establishment and gradual consolidation of the Job Club. Over time, the group has become not only a space for learning and guidance, but also a place for socialising, exchanging information and offering mutual support, capable of assisting participants in managing the practical demands of daily life.
The creation of a safe space, capable of fostering participation and strengthening the group over time, was made possible in part thanks to our collaboration with the PENC Centre in Palermo, a centre for ethnopsychology that works primarily with socially marginalised groups and people living in vulnerable circumstances resulting from exclusion or systemic violence. These include unaccompanied foreign minors; women, either alone or with children, who have survived gender-based violence, domestic abuse and trafficking; young people who have survived torture; and refugees and asylum seekers. The Centre also runs one of the few Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS/SSDR) in Italy.
When people are given the opportunity to help shape the solutions that affect them, participation ceases to be a goal and becomes a shared process. This is the starting point for HumanityHub’s work: drawing on the experiences, skills and needs that have emerged to develop tools capable of supporting increasingly effective pathways to inclusion.
To find out more about HumanityHub’s impact and activities, follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, view the project page, or contact melisa.bucur@danilodolci.org.
HumanityHub – Where Cultural Inclusion Meets Economic Empowerment is a project funded by ESF+ Social Innovation+ (an initiative aimed at mitigating the societal consequences of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine). It seeks to respond to the challenges that hinder the full economic and social participation of Ukrainian refugees in Italy and Croatia, by developing pathways built on a participatory approach and a holistic perspective.
Partners
Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci – ETS, Italy
Coordinator: Rehabilitation Centre for Stress and Trauma (RCT), Croatia
Act Group, Croatia