As part of the celebrations for World Refugee Day on June 20th, an event took place featuring prominent figures including: Lamberto Bertolé (Councilor for Welfare and Health of the Municipality of Milan), Marcello Rossoni (Head of UNHCR’s Milan Office), Fabiana Musicco (Director of Refugees Welcome Italia), Eleonora Corsaro (Deputy Prefect), Gabriella Pasi (Pro-rector for Internationalization at the University of Milan Bicocca), Giovanna Giusti Del Giardino (Head of Sustainability at Mediobanca Group), and Daniela Di Capua (Head of the 8×1000 Office of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai).
The “Community Matching” project, launched in late 2021, facilitates connections between refugees and local communities in ten Italian cities, aiming to create more inclusive societies and support integration processes.
The idea behind the program, launched at the end of 2021, is to promote equal relationships between refugees and volunteers, who can register through a portal and be guided by qualified staff in building new and meaningful connections.
As Marcello Rossoni of UNHCR highlighted, the initiative is an “innovative project in its simplicity, bringing people together in the community to meet and form friendships. With over a thousand matches already made, the project has significantly improved educational and employment opportunities for refugees. Additionally, it contributes to promoting a more positive narrative about immigration and integration, one that tells stories of people meeting and forming meaningful relationships.”
The program acknowledges the crucial role of personal and social relationships in fostering more effective and sustainable inclusion pathways. It facilitates access to housing, employment, services, learning the Italian language, and building social networks where both parties, Italian and foreign, find their place. The relationships people establish are what integrate an individual into a community. Moreover, through mutual understanding, barriers are broken down, stereotypes are overcome, resources are valued, and active contributions are made to society.
For the second consecutive year, the impact of the project was assessed through research revealing that 84% of refugees involved improved their ability to navigate their surroundings, 63% improved their Italian language skills, 30% found housing, and 20% secured regular employment contracts. The impact on local communities is also significant: over 8,000 people have been informed and sensitized on the topic directly by the project’s participants.
Fabiana Musicco of Refugees Welcome emphasized that Community Matching allows participants to “rebuild their lives and restore a sense of purpose that had been lost.” The relationships formed between the buddies have a “multiplier effect on communities: the matched individuals create community bonds that involve many others within the communities where they develop.”
During the event, two buddies, Habib from Syria and Paolo, a volunteer from Milan, shared their experiences. Habib spoke about the deep sense of loneliness he felt during his first two years in Milan, where people seemed constantly busy and in a rush. Thanks to the program, he formed meaningful connections in Italy, finding a sense of community he had lost when he was forced to leave his home in Syria.
Daniela Di Capua, head of the SGI-Italy 8×1000 Office, explained the motivation behind the Buddhist Institute’s support for the project: “Our aim with the 8×1000 funds is to find practical applications of the respect for life and the interconnectedness among all of us, and between us and the environment. This is the third year we’ve supported Community Matching with great conviction because it aligns closely with this perspective. The program demonstrates the power of dialogue over conflict and the value of complexity over the safety of conformity. Through these concrete experiences, we see how much value can emerge from the meeting of seemingly distant worlds and the greater openness and determination that can develop among policymakers, benefiting the entire community.”