RE.TE. – Territorial Relations: creation of a support network for people and families in vulnerable conditions in the districts of Districts 6 and 7, in Verona.
The project aims to create a network of collaboration between the third sector entities present with their operational offices in the neighborhoods surrounding the headquarters of Doctors for Peace, in Verona. The objective of the construction and subsequent consolidation of the network is to create a reference system that is able to respond quickly and multi-sectorally to the difficult situations detected by each of the members of the partnership, optimizing and systematizing the skills of each entity in the global care of the person in disadvantaged conditions.
The context
According to preliminary estimates by the National Institute of Statistics, the pandemic brought more than 2 million families into absolute poverty in 2020: a number dramatically doubled compared to the previous year.
There are 335 thousand more totally destitute families (+7.7%) compared to 2019: this is 5.6 million people (9.4% of the Italian population) who do not
they have more than the necessary means to have guaranteed the two main meals and basic needs. The increase, in just one year, was one million people.
The families most exposed to the risk of absolute poverty are of two types: households made up of foreigners, for which in 2020 there was a poverty index four times higher (25.7%) than the figure for families made up of Italians (6%), and large families (five or more people, especially if with dependent children), which have seen the incidence of poverty increase by more than four points, from 16.2% in 2019 to 20.7% in 2020.
For people who have been made vulnerable by the pandemic, economic insecurity is a hard-to-eradicate disadvantage that has a significant impact on the
direct negative on every aspect of life: employment, the housing context, greater health vulnerability, marginalization. If not interrupted, this negative spiral is perpetuated in the “intergenerational transfer” of poverty, aggravating its negative repercussions on communities.
Activities
The intervention to take charge of the beneficiary people and families intends to respond to needs not adequately covered by the traditional welfare tools existing in the area, and can concern, depending on the needs of the individual, one or more of the following areas of social and health care, offered free of charge to beneficiaries:
1. Extracurricular educational activities
2. Specialist visits (paediatric, cardiology, ophthalmology, dermatology, gynaecology, psychiatry, etc.) in favour of people/families with low incomes;
3. Dental care, supply of dental prostheses and oral hygiene education in favor of people/families in poverty;
4. Psychological support and counseling with a focus on women’s empowerment;
5. Music therapy and active aging paths;
6. Vaccination recovery and screening interventions in favor of hard-to-reach populations, with particular attention to the homeless.
