Il sistema di accoglienza e protezione per richiedenti asilo e rifugiati nei piccoli comuni italiani

Abstract

The Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (SPRAR) is the network of local municipalities and institutions aiming integrated reception for forced migrants in Italy. The study focuses on the key role of “small municipalities” in Italy (Municipalities less populated than 5,000 residents) within such network, basing the analyses on the SPRAR key features. The role of the small municipalities is growing over years and is becoming more strategic and relevant under a quantitative perspective as well as in terms of impact and enhancement on asylum seekers and refugees in the local involved territories. Indeed, small municipalities represent 28.6% of all the project holders (Municipalities, Provinces, or other institutions) in Italy, value increasing up to 51.4% if considering all the municipalities involved in the SPRAR: out of 1,017 Italian municipalities involved, 523 might be considered as small. Thanks to the forced migrants hosting, in such small territories a variety of welfare services, productive activities, and Institutions networks has been reactivated, fostered or grown. Hence, the study analyses in depth the main actions of the integrated hosting run by the SPRAR in such territories, interpreting the local dimension and framework of this kind of System as the starting point of the “Italian route” towards integration.