Start Refugees IT Platform Creative Promo Event

A solution by Cronopios sas submitted to Connect Refugees and Work

The solution proposed is addressed to promote Start Refugees IT platform with a one day full immersion event directed to involve in a Action Learning Creative Event the three main stakeholders of the challenge.It will be mixed Creative Problem Solving methodology with a cultual and communication event atmosphere, Our solution want to define a workshop format to reply in other similar situation.

(Pitched: 15/07/2018)

One Page Summary

The solution proposed is addressed to promote Start Refugees IT platform that provides services to sustain the access to work for refugees and asylum seekers (also indicated in the next pages with the acronym RAS). The primary target of our solution are companies that still do not use this platform and don't hire RAS in the necessary proportion. Companies don't use the platform because they are not informed enough and have no tools to identify and select RAS. The second reason of this lack of utilization of the platform, is that lots of companies are not sensible and motivated to the problem.The solution that we propose is a one day full immersion event directed to involve in a Action Learning Creative Event the three main stakeholders of the challenge: some key-roles of “Start Refugees” development team, social cooperative operators and companies HR managers.The general structure of the workshop is based on two main pillars: Action Learning Methodology supported by Creative Problem Solving facilitation tools (Creative Problem Solving Workshop) & attractiveness and emotional involvement of participants (Communication and Cultural Event). With the dynamic mixture of these two approaches our solution want to create an original format that will be tested in a first edition in Genova and then, after the evaluation of the results, can be replied and adapted to other cities and, if is necessary, it can be extended to other social thematic too. 1) The workshop session will create a cooperative context in which participant will discuss and share general and technical information about SE IT platform and will be involved in Creative Problem Solving session, conducted by skilled facilitators.
The session is scheduled in three steps and it is aimed to:
• share a diagnosis of the present situation about RAS phenomenon, work and social inclusion, opportunity to link RAS hiring to competitive advantages in terms of cost, greater efficiency, prestige and reputation, what are the main blocks or concern about the situation and other items connected to the problem;
• build a shared vision af the future desired about the solution of the problem;
• formulate the most important challenges and ideas to facilitate the use of the platform and promote social inclusion.
The deep methodological frame of this action learning workshop is based on Kurt Lewin Change Model revised by the inventor of process consultancy, Edgar H. Schein. This approach help people to change gradually their point of view and build in team work sessions a new perspective of the problem through an experience modulated in three steps: unfreezing in which facilitators create the motivation and readiness to change, changing to help people to see, judge, feel and react to things differently, based on a new point of view and refreezing to help people to integrate the new point of view into the organization as well as the individual personality. 2) The communication and cultural event strategy is based on the choice of a special e suggestive location and the invitation of an important testimonial coming from sport, journalism or show-business. Using an impressive location and involving an important testimonial we are able to create an attractive event mood for the participants.For example the planned pilot event in Genoa could be organized in a emotional and cultural place as “MEMO – Memoria & Migrazioni” (Memories and Migrations) Area @ “Galata – Museo del Mare of Genoa" involving the journalist and screen-player Gian Antonio Stella, who wrote an important book and theatre show about the dramatic experience of Italian emigrants. A guided tour of the museum and a talk show about our past emigration could be for the participant an emotional experience to bring back everybody to their roots of emigrant people. In this way will be facilitated an identification with the "new emigrant" changing point of view, sensibility and motivation about the problem (unfreezing activity). This experience could be something more than a pure information or communication approach because we guarantee a deep physical, emotional and rational involvement of the participants in a Creative Change Process. Our solution is a successful format that we have developed in different sector: public administration (an action-learning process to activate a “practice community” with more than 1.000 participants involved); local police and mental health professional for compulsory psychiatric treatment (8 edition of the workshops format to activate operators local networks); urban regeneration (in the frame of Urbact EU Program, a two-days creative meeting with facilitators and show, with transnational, exchange & learning goals improving urban policies and practices). All the experiencesrealized important results: real activation of “learning and practice communities”, great motivation and emotional involvement for all the participants.