Context

Municipality IV extends East of the city of Rome, with a territory characterised by the presence of urban agglomerations that are often isolated and separated from each other by green areas and infrastructures. It ranks eighth in the list of the most populated municipalities in Rome; it would be the 21st among Italian cities, just after Modena and before Reggio Calabria. This municipality has the highest social deprivation index in the capital, with a value that is even higher than the average calculated on a national basis, a unique case among all the municipalities of Rome.

Hence the idea of creating a protected space, open to women, minors, vulnerable boys and girls, Italians and foreigners, to build a system of global, qualified and multidisciplinary care, capable of adapting to the different needs of people.

Our intervention in 2023

Throughout 2023, we intensified our commitment in response to the growing needs of unaccompanied foreign minors and Ukrainian refugees in Italy.

Since July, in collaboration with UNICEF, we resumed monitoring the phenomenon of unaccompanied foreign minors in transit in Rome. The lack of adequate reception facilities and lengthy administrative procedures have driven many of these minors to voluntarily leave the initial reception centers, exposing them to significant risks such as exploitation and trafficking. To address this situation, we launched an Outreach Team dedicated to monitoring migration flows and institutional responses. Additionally, we established a Mobile Clinic to provide medical check-ups and distribute kits, thereby ensuring better access to basic healthcare and support services.

Moreover, we continued to provide socio-health support to Ukrainian refugees who applied for international protection in Italy. Our activities included the distribution of essential goods, guidance on legal, social, and healthcare services, home visits, language mediation, prescriptions, school enrollments for minors, and specialized and psychiatric consultations.

The centre

INTERSOS24 is a multifunctional space located in Rome, in the Torre Spaccata district, which offers:

• A Safe Space for women and girls that offers multiple services, including:

– social secretariat;

– work orientation desk;

– information and training activities on topics such as gender-based violence, reproductive health, maternal and child health, nutrition, personal care);

– social activities, including a cooking workshop, a beauty workshop and sports activities;

– Italian language courses;

– vocational courses in tailoring, food processing and herbal medicine;

– customised support based on individual needs.

• A Child Friendly Space: a space dedicated to children, offering recreational-educational activities such as homework support and various workshops.
• An Outpatient Clinic offering social-health guidance, primary care and psychological assistance to people in conditions of severe marginalisation, with the aim of supporting them in accessing public health services. The Outpatient Clinic also offers specialised courses aimed at physical and mental health, especially for women, minors and survivors of violence and discrimination.
• A 24-hour reception facility that hosts single-parent families (mothers with children and girls) from Ukraine with serious health vulnerabilities, in partnership with the Municipality of Rome.
• A mobile team to intercept and support survivors of violence and lone foreign minors. The mobile team is part of an intervention we have been carrying out for years together with UNICEF Italy to monitor and refer to social services cases of gender-based violence and unaccompanied foreign minors in need on the territory of Rome.