THEn the gym, some guy puts on his gloves and starts training. Further on, in a classroom the instruments are tuned. In another smaller one, full of clothing, sewing machines and fabrics, Yehia welcomes us with a smile and introduces us to the start-up Unique Wear: «We do tailoring and digital printing, here you can create your brand» he says, proudly. We are at Barons85in the Gratosoglio district, southern suburbs of Milanin a former nursery school converted from the end of 2023 into a youth meeting centre. Welcoming us is Chiara Parapini from TOction Aidthe international organization which, together with other associations, won the Municipality’s tender for the management of the complex. At Baroni85 Parapini is head of the project relating to NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), i.e. young people between 15 and 29 who do not study, work or train.
In Italy there are 1 million and 300 thousand, i.e. 15.2 percent of young people in that age group. For them, remaining in this condition means losing faith in themselves and in the future. For the country, it is an unsustainable loss of human capital. THEn Europe we occupy an unenviable third place, after Türkiye and Romaniaand we remain far from the average of 11 percent, which should fall below 9 by 2030, according to the objective established by the Union. Looking at the data according to sex, we discover that women are a little higher in percentage, because they reach 16.6, while men stop at 13.8.
NEET: between “returnees” and “discouraged”
But who are these NEETs, often hastily referred to as inactive or, worse, lying down? Dedalo, the permanent laboratory on the phenomenon created by Gi Group Foundationhas just presented his first study where all the complexity of their situation emerges. «The case history is very broadthere are many subgroups for which very different projects are needed” explains Rossella Riccò, head of the Foundation’s studies and research area, who analyzed a wider age range, between 15 and 34 years old, “because in Italy the critical issues remain for longer”.
There are, for example, the “long-term unemployed”, i.e. for more than a year (14 percent), the “discouraged” who do not believe they will be able to find work (11), those “waiting for answers” (12.4) and those unavailable due to illness or disability (6.4). It is very strong gender difference regarding care burdens: if among girls those who are NEET for family reasons prevail, with 20.6 percent, the percentage drops to 2.4 among males. A very complex picture on which it is essential to intervene in a targeted way.
Girls NEET are slightly higher in percentage than boys: 16.6% versus 13.8. Photo Erica Shires/Stock Gallery.
Try to give concrete answers to an important and very complex program recently presented, ZeroNeet, promoted by the Cariplo Foundation in collaboration with the Lombardy Region and Intesa Sanpaolo. The resources available are impressive: 20 million euros from Cariplo Foundationas many from the Lombardy Region and 10 from Intesa Sanpaolo. The area of intervention is Lombardy (which has 150 thousand NEETs) and the provinces of Novara and Verbano Cusio Ossola. The objective is to involve and make active 20 thousand young people, in order to reach, even ahead of time, the European target of 9 percent by 2030.
It’s important to network
Benedetta Angiari, coordinator of ZeroNeet, explains: «It is a sort of large umbrella which includes ongoing and future projects that are being systemised.Among the most well-established ones, which will be strengthened, there is Young people and work of Intesa Sanpaolo and Generation Italy, a nonprofit foundation of McKinsey & Company that offers several free professionalizing online courses in sectors where there is a great demand for manpower: they range from the sales clerk to the Data Engineer, from the Hospitality specialist to the most recent photovoltaic panel installer technician. It is aimed at young people who are already proactive, the most motivated to train to get out of the NEET condition. The results are excellent: the employment rate among those who complete the program is 80 percent.
“THEThe Lombardy Region’s call for “Opportunity Networks”, which expires on 5 November, is aimed at the most vulnerabletrying to develop and network the services and associations in the area that are able to connect them. The initial phase is the most difficult, because these kids remain off the radar. Networking is essential.”
An archive for the neighborhood
This is what happens at Baroni85, a project financed by the Cariplo Foundation which will be part of ZeroNeet and which we visited. Chiara Parapini says: «There are currently 50-60 young people circulating in this space, we would like to double that. The aim is to engage the kids in the neighborhood with engaging activities of various kinds. There is the boxing gym, homework help, the Rap laboratory. Maybe someone comes in for boxing, then decides to participate in a more structured project. We have two proposals: the first is entrepreneurial, with Unique Wear. Do you want to try being a fashion designer, for example? We help you make your sweatshirt.
«The second is cultural: Gratosogno takes care of the neighborhood archive, has a web editorial team and will soon publish a newsletter. We help them learn a trade: on their CV they will be able to write that they have co-managed a start-up or a cultural space. We are also setting up a space for co-working and now we are starting with the Wise project to involve especially girls – but boys are also allowed – in STEM. We try to train them precisely in the technical-scientific disciplines to which they have less access, with a free training course that helps them to enter – or re-enter, if they have left – the job market”.
More difficult to involve females
Parapini confirms that the most difficult job is to hook NEETs and motivate them to start a business: «It’s unlikely that they show up because they read a flyer. The approach process is long, you need to contact the psychologists and educators in the neighborhood and explain the project, so they can identify who can participate. It is useful to bring in the services: every week we have the Afol desk, which takes care of job orientation and manages 9 employment centres. I can say that you can take back males under 20 who have left school and make them do a specific course.It’s more difficult with females, because they stay at home and sometimes have jealous boyfriends.”
A project is dedicated to them Milan Woman Center of the Municipality 9where Action Aid participates with some initiatives: the latest is a series of meetings on “Bodies, rights and desires” dedicated to Neet girls. Parapini does not hide the fact that at the beginning it was not easy to gain acceptance. Gradually, however, a climate of trust was created, the first guys who joined Baroni85 acted as leverage for the others.
«There is no single strategy for hooking up with a Neet» confirms Rossella Riccò. «But talking to a peer, a guy similar to you, certainly helps to contact them. Social networks are also useful, perhaps those managed by local influencers, and street educators, who go where young people meet and manage to interest them. The personalized approach can make you discover who you are and what you can do. And thus be able to make these young lives flourish again.” © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
«Now I look to the future with serenity»
Mary, 17 years old
«My difficulties began in high school. At the end of the first year I changed schools, I wasn’t happy with it. In second grade it was even worse. I struggled enormously, both with school and with my classmates. I didn’t feel understood, no one listened to me. I gave up: I no longer had faith in myself, I believed that I would never do anything good in life. The problem is that if you don’t succeed at school you’re nobody, you’re only valued for your grades and no one notices how hard you work. I was one step away from locking myself in the house. I discovered I was worth something when I enrolled in the woodworker course at Aslama social cooperative that a friend had recommended to me.
«I immediately felt comfortable, even though I was one of the very few girls, they are almost all boys. I discovered I had abilities I never imagined, especially in the laboratories, and I finally met people who believed in me. I spent the first three years as a woodworker but I decided not to stop. I want to do the fourth to get the technician diploma, then specialize with the fifth professionalizing year and finally follow the two-year course at ITS, to leave with a high level of training that will allow me to find a good job in the wood-furniture sector. I decided to invest in myselftoday I can look to the future with serenity.” © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
«I regained confidence thanks to an online course»
Alessandra, 24 years old
«My school career was linear, without any hitches. I graduated from a technical economic institute in Como and decided to start working immediately, to be independent. I was a consultant for a gym for a couple of months, but I didn’t like it. Then I started working for a supermarket chain. My parents insisted that I continue my studies, and even my high school teachers had the same opinion. I enrolled at Iulm but it went badly, I couldn’t reconcile studying with a job that took me 6 days a week. I tried to make up for it, I asked for a vertical part time job, but I still fell behind on my exams. I ended up leaving both university and my job.
«I found myself with nothing in hand, and little confidence in myself. I was confused, I didn’t understand what I had done. Maybe the faculty wasn’t the right one, maybe the job wasn’t right. I regained confidence thanks to the free online Data Engineer course by Generation Italy, which has Intesa Sanpaolo as its strategic partner. It is an intensive course, almost every day from 9am to 6pm, and has both a technical part and one on soft skills. I understood what I don’t like and what I like, and that is working on data. I read that at the end of the course 80 percent of those attending find work. I really hope to be among them.” © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
If the mother has a degree, few stay at home
According to research by Dedalo, a high qualification protects and helps sons and daughters, especially in the South
According to data from Mazethe laboratory on the Neet phenomenon of the Gi Group Foundation, in the 15-34 age group, if the mother has a degree, the percentage of “returnees” increases, i.e. those who are about to leave the temporary condition of those who do not study or work; they are 17.5 percent compared to 4.4 percent for those who have a mother with a primary school diploma and 8 percent for those who have a mother with a middle school diploma. In the South, the differences depending on the mother’s educational qualification are even clearer: the NEETs reach 48.4 percent if the mother has a primary school diploma, they decrease drastically, dropping to 9, if she has a degree.
As for girls, a high mother’s educational qualification corresponds to a low percentage of daughters who stay at home for family reasons: it goes from 57 percent among females who have a mother with a primary school diploma to 18 percent among those who have a mother with a university degree. «A woman who has studied», comments Rossella Riccò, head of the Study and Research Area of the Foundation, «is valid both for her example and because she is more attentive to activating orientation networks that help her children find their own path and enter the world of work. It affects not only an economic factor, but also a socio-cultural one. The degree is a protective element.”