| Article Index |
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| A network between Italy and Punjab |
| Objectives and results |
| Beneficiaries |
| Data synthesis |
| All Pages |
Micro-entrepreneurial models and services for the socioeconomic development of the "working poor" in India – Italy component.
There are four billion people around the world who live in relative poverty, earning just enough to ensure their survival and that of their family. They are economically active persons who earn a minimum of US$ 500 to a maximum of US$ 3,000 per year and are defined as BOP - Bottom of the Pyramid - populations, i.e. located at the base of the income pyramid. The BOP segment of Asian population - including Middle East - involves 2.86 billion people, accounting for 83% of the total regional population. The project promoted by FEM (prime contractor) and ACRA includes various interventions in India supporting the BOP population (in order to facilitate access to water, basic services and social-health) but is also based on the involvement of Indian migrant communities - especially from Punjab - now settled in Italy, promoting South-South cooperation models.
Problems to solve
With a total of 77,432 residents, Indians are the 10th national immigrant group in Italy. Most of these migrants come from the state of Punjab and are Sikh. The prevalence of their settlements is concentrated in the northwest and northeast of Italy, with a high density in Lombardy. The phenomenon of Indian migration in Lombardy begins at the end of the Eighties: many Indians began to work in the agricultural sector and in the dairy industry. Today in the provinces of Brescia, Mantua and Cremona - the golden triangle of Italian milk, from where it comes 30% of the national production - Indian Sikhs support the livestock business with over a thousand employees. This community has a very low profile, only few of them have studied and are involved in cultural or social activities; furthermore there are several very complicated barriers to break down (physical, linguistic and cultural isolation).Objectives
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Strengthening of the associative capacity of the Punjabi community permanently settled in Lombardy
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Raising awareness in local actors and involving them in land development joint actions with the Punjabi group of reference
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Realizing a network among the Punjabi group and other Lombard local actors for co-development activities in India, with particular attention to the Punjab
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Widening and deepening information on the nature and characteristics of Punjabi groups in Lombardy, in view of the development and replicability of the intervention
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Establishing and activating a Punjabi Diaspora Association in Lombardy, which shall provide services to its members and networking with other local civil society actors
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Promoting - among the population of the target area - the knowledge of the social and cultural life of Punjab and the Punjabi Diaspora, raising awareness on the issues of development and co-development, on the main needs of Punjab and putting the attention on some means of intervention
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Setting up pilot interventions of co-development and cooperation between economic actors of the target area (migrants or not) and the Punjab; activate an agency of Business and Cooperation with the involvement of the Punjabi Diaspora Association
- Capitalizing a pilot co-development intervention between Italy and the Punjab and making it available to be extended and/or replicated in other territories of the Lombardy region.
Beneficiaries
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1,500 Sikh Punjabi Indian immigrants living in the area around Pessina Cremonese
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The entire population of the target area
| DATA SYNTHESIS |
| Location: Italy (Lombardia) Duration: 36 months Total value: 401.460 € (budget quota managed by ACRA as partner of the project) Main donors:  Fondazione Vismara Other donors: BCC Agrobresciano, Ghedi (partner and technical) Partner: Associazione FEM Italia Onlus (prime contractor) Associazione Gurdwara Sri Guru Kalgidhar Sahib, Vescovato (CR); The Nabha Foundation, India; Altis, Milano |
