Today in Rome, at the INPS General Directorate in Via Ciro il Grande, the framework agreement was presented between the INPS Regional Directorate of Lazio and the Metropolitan Coordination of Rome and Anci, Caritas and the Community of Sant'Egidio, as part of the INPSxtutti project. The aim of the initiative, which continues the experimentation started in 2019 in the metropolitan areas of Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Bologna, Bari and Catania, is to develop a collaboration activity between institutions, aimed at promoting access to welfare services and social security by those who, despite potentially having the right, find it difficult to benefit from them, due to the context of marginalization or the condition of economic, social and family fragility in which they live.
At the opening of the proceedings, Rosanna Casella, Regional Director of Inps Lazio, thanked all those who contributed to the implementation of the framework agreement, approved by the Board of Directors of the Institute and operating in seven Italian regions, in a network of targeted and concrete support for groups most in need of the population. He recalled that the protocol responds to the principles expressed by Art. 3 of the Constitution, because it helps to remove economic and social obstacles that prevent the exercise of rights by those living in situations of poverty.
"The INPS has reason to exist if it takes care of people, if it is an Institute for everyone - commented Pasquale Tridico, INPS President -". “The goal of the INPS for all project is therefore to reach those who are on the margins of society, people with less education or without the means to access the assistance tools made available by the Italian Republic, as their right. And where, as an Institute, we are unable for various reasons to get in touch with the subjects more on the margins, the alliance with those who know and touch these margins becomes decisive. An essential collaboration which, through the agreement signed today for Lazio with Caritas, the Community of Sant'Egidio and Anci Lazio, must set in motion effects that unfold concretely day by day, to save even a few people from the abyss of despair. We are not interested in a massive impact but in the quality of the intervention on those who need it, on the basis of rights, because this is the true institutional service to the country ".
Don Benoni Ambarus, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome with responsibility for Charity and the Pastoral Care of Migrants, continued by recalling that the first protocol of understanding, of 2019, was an anticipatory and prophetic gesture, since there was still no idea what would happen shortly thereafter. The pandemic has shown the importance of collaboration between bodies to help the weak, those without financial means and those who are unable to access their rights. The connection between third sector bodies and institutions allows the creation of a capillary network capable of helping citizens to know the services intended for them. The goal is to act as a factor of social cohesion and facilitator in relationships, to support stability through subsidiarity.
The Anci Delegate for social policies, Lina Novelli, focused on the role of the Municipalities, at the forefront in countering the negative effects of the pandemic on the population, especially the most fragile: the mayors have tried to respond to the needs of citizens and small entrepreneurs , thanks to tools such as shopping vouchers, emergency income and resources intended for the payment of utilities. The Memorandum of Understanding was welcomed in a positive way, because it makes it possible to network the commitment to give concrete answers to citizens' requests, which previously could not be helped. The subsidiarity principle is ethical and moral.
Giustino Trincia, Director of Caritas Rome, highlighted how the first protocol of 2019, although truncated shortly after the onset of the pandemic emergency, was a germ to show the will to help people in difficulty in accessing services. In 2020, 22.000 people seeking help turned to parishes. Caritas has drafted the Operational Manual of Rights for this, with the list of measures to support poverty. 713 people were trained, who became tutors within the parish communities and on the territory. Caritas has also created an observatory on rights. Inps for all strengthens this path, in the hope that, in addition to facilitating access to services, it will make the real needs of those in need reach the institutions.
Nicoletta Anastasio, Caritas Representative of Frosinone, recalled that relations with INPS, simplified thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding, have made it possible to intervene in favor of subjects who are often not well educated who also have difficulty in approaching new technological means and using the SPID. Among the future objectives is to find housing for women and minors victims of domestic violence and to ensure that these citizens have access to the income of liberty. In this way simple charity can become "political charity".
Bruno Izzi, Coordinator of the Community of Sant'Egidio, thanked the leaders of the Institute and its workers for the far-sightedness they have shown in supporting the Project. Inps and Municipalities are the architrave of the founding social values and the new benefits such as the Citizenship Income and the Citizenship Pension have allowed many people to be able to leave the street life and find stable accommodation. Fragile people can unfortunately also find gray areas of intermediation on their path, with INPS this cannot happen.
Sergio Saltalamacchia, Director of Metropolitan Coordination of Rome, highlighted the difference between the Italian welfare system and that of other countries, such as the United States, where less is invested in assistance and social security and more in the means of coercion, with disastrous effects on civil society. The system, of which INPS is the backbone, is appreciated and recognized by technicians and economists from all over the world. In proceeding along this path, the goal will increasingly be to work in a network.
At the end of the proceedings, Gabriella Di Michele, Inps Director General, recalled that when INPS was still an embryonic project for everyone, hunger did not bite yet: subsequently we came to an important awareness of the fact that bureaucracy, seen in its meaning more positive, it reaches very high levels of effectiveness when it is supported by organizations and associations that know better the reality of the territories in which they operate. Only together can the goal be achieved.
The meeting was moderated by Alessandro Casile, Head of Inps external communication.