{"id":53240,"date":"2017-03-06T09:54:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T08:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cesie.org\/justice\/serco-roundtable-on-social-entrepreneurship-for-roma-inclusion\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T17:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T15:23:12","slug":"serco-roundtable-on-social-entrepreneurship-for-roma-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cesie.org\/en\/justice\/serco-roundtable-on-social-entrepreneurship-for-roma-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"SERCo: roundtable on social entrepreneurship for Roma inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is social entrepreneurship a viable solution for Roma communities in Palermo?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have discussed it with a group of experts<\/strong> and stakeholders<\/strong> who have been active for years in the social and cultural inclusion of these communities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SERCo project \u2013 Social Entrepreneurship for Roma communities<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 was the context of an event that involved several local actors in an exploration of the project and its products, and especially in debating the still unfortunately hot topics for Roma people in Palermo and in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 28th <\/sup>2017<\/strong>, in the hall of the Ex Real Fonderia of Palermo<\/strong>, provided by the Local Ministry for Participation, CESIE organised the first Info Day and Roundtable<\/strong> of the SERCo project, that is co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC) of the European Commission<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our presentation of the project and its outputs was followed by a number of local expert speakers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elisabetta Di Giovanni<\/strong> opened the floor: researcher of Anthropology (Religious Anthropology and Roma Studies) at the University of Palermo where she is Assistant Professor, she talked about practices of informal economy and survival of the Palermo Roma communities<\/strong>, starting from her own field work and direct acquantaince with some of the members of the community in Palermo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umberto Di Maggio<\/strong>, sociologist and expert in innovative social entreprise start-up and participatory local development, presented the opportunities for the inclusion of Roma people through social entrepreneurship<\/strong>, supporting his arguments with good practices from social enterprises established by or with Roma people across Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo<\/strong>, lawyer and one of the founders of the\u00a0Legal Clinic for Human Rights (CLEDU)<\/a>, introduced a discussion about the\u00a0legal barriers to the inclusion of Roma people in Italy<\/strong>, outlining a legal framework not very favourable, with which local actors are forced to work in order to achieve better conditions for the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing the list of speakers, Giovanni Paternostro<\/strong>, on behalf of his colleague Susanna Checchini and of the Special Programming Office of the local ministry for social citizenship in the Municipality of Palermo, presented the upcoming opportunities of funding of the PON Metro Programme<\/strong>, which can support social housing solutions for members of the Roma communities still living at the camp, and at the same time support actions for Roma employability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second part of the event was dedicated to a roundtable<\/strong> on several topics, with a discussion that can be imagined as more or less running parallel to the other roundtables of the project going on in the different project countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topics of the roundtable were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n