“LATTEFIENO.APP” project
LATTEFIENO.APP: organizational innovation for a supply chain of STG Hay Milk in support of the Apennines of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
The LATTEFIENO.APP project, of which Fondazione Grameen Italia is the leading partner, aims to identify one or more supply chains for products derived from a particular type of milk, the so-called “Hay Milk” (TSG – Traditional Specialty Guaranteed, EU Reg. N. 304/2016), in order to improve the profitability of farms in the Emilia-Romagna Apennines.
In fact, at the base of the project, there are not only the activities of milk production, its transformation, and marketing but there is a broad vision of sustainable management of the territory and support for the productivity of rural areas, which are suffering from depopulation, too.
By combining new technologies, innovation, and traditional knowledge, the project intends to investigate strategies to create shared economic, social, and environmental value, capable of bringing together territorial productive vocations with market opportunities.
Hay Milk is a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG) registered in the EU with the implementing regulation n. 304/2016 of the Commission of 2 March 2016.
The TSG (EU Reg. 1151/2012) identify agricultural products and food products with a “special” (ie different from analogues belonging to the same category) and “traditional” (ie included in a place for at least 30 years) composition.
The specialty of the productions is tied to the recipe or to the particular (disciplinary) production methods and not to the area of origin.
The traditional requirement is the only substantial distinctive element with respect to voluntary product certification.The path of tradition as enhancement of mountain agricultural products has already been successfully followed by the Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) and the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI). The hilly and mountain territories, which in Italy represent about 77% of the national surface, in Emilia-Romagna cover 52% of the regional surface.
The partners of the project
Together with Fondazione Grameen Italia, they participate in the LATTEFIENO.APP project:
- Abbondanza Formaggi;
- Artemis Srl;
- Az. Agr.Cartiera dei Beneandanti;
- Az. Agr. Delmolino;
- Centro di Ricerche Produzioni Animali;
- Consorzio Apicoltori e Agricoltori Biologici Italiani (CONAPI);
- Cooperativa Agricola S. Lucia;
- Dinamica FP;
- Departement of Management from Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna;
- Latteria Sociale San Giorgio.
“Grameen Lab: laboratori d’impresa per l’inclusione” project
During 2020, Fondazione Grameen Italia Foundation intends to carry out the “Grameen Lab: business workshops for inclusion” project in order to enhance the talents and skills developed by the most vulnerable populations in the context of the numerous reception, training, and integration implemented by social workers in our area.
Grameen Lab aims to transform these experiences (tailoring, catering, crafts, agriculture, etc.) into entrepreneurial skills through the use of effective and engaging training tools that will allow participants to experience themselves concretely in the process of business ideation and simulation.
At the end of the training experience, aspiring entrepreneurs will be oriented towards the most suitable forms of financing to support the start-up and development of their entrepreneurial projects (Microcredit for the company, crowdfunding, public funding and concessions, etc.).
The project will last for 12 months and will be carried out in the Bologna Metropolitan City area, thanks to the support by ASP – Città di Bologna.
The project received a contribution to partially cover construction costs from the Monte del Bologna and Ravenna Foundation.
TARGETS
The project has a dual objective of spreading economic and financial culture and facilitating the development of an entrepreneurial mind-set capable of promoting the start-up of new businesses. In addition, the Grameen Lab project represents an opportunity to experiment with innovative methods of job and financial inclusion in support of traditional job placement (job placement, employment laboratories), so that the efforts put in place by public and private organizations can be translated, where possible, in entrepreneurial experiences.
BENEFICIARIES
The beneficiaries of the project are people of foreign origin and/or in particular conditions of socio-economic disadvantage already included in vocational training and job orientation initiatives, interested in deepening the techniques and tools of starting a business and located in the metropolitan area of the city of Bologna.
The project is aimed specifically at women: a social category affected by specific forms of disadvantage and exclusion and therefore exposed to greater risks of marginalization in the labor market.
The project is aimed at a total number of 15 beneficiaries, who will be divided into 3 thematic groups of 5 people. Each thematic group will be made up of beneficiaries who share the same professional training course.
“Ora che sappiamo” project
It is called “Ora che sappiamo” (“Now that we know”) the project aimed at women who have lost their jobs, are unemployed and want to reintegrate, which was carried out during 2019 in the territories of Bologna and the province.
The project was conceived and organized by ACLI Bologna as part of the regional project for equal opportunities, with the support and collaboration of the Fondazione Grameen Italia, Oficina Impresa Sociale, Fondazione ANT Onlus Foundation and ASAA – Association for the Support of Alopecia Areata.
The main objective of the project is to prevent and combat the phenomena of social exclusion, discrimination and violence against women, and in particular against foreign migrant women, refugees and asylum seekers as indicated in the National Strategic Plan on Male Violence Against Women 2017- 2020.
How? Through a varied offer of training and educational courses, which Fondazione Grameen Italia participated in by carrying out a financial education course aimed at introducing the key concepts of business planning, lasting 21 hours.
Boot Camp 3.0 is coming: an innovative residential course on financial inclusion
“Boot Camp 3.0” is a 3-day residential training course dedicated to the topic of financial inclusion.
The course – to be held in English – will present strategies and tools to improve the financial and social performance of financial institutions and promote access to finance.
The lessons, to which Grameen Italia will participate to train on microcredit and ethical finance, will focus on the following topics:
- Beyond the loan: to whom to lend, how much and how. A path aimed at developing the skills on the design of innovative financial products that meet the needs of customers.
- Credit scoring system: collecting, analyzing qualitative and quantitative data to assess the customer’s risk profile.
- Data management: data collection and constant analysis are a fundamental aspect of the operations and strategy of financial institutions.
- The benefits of cloud technology: the use of an adequate technology platform represents an opportunity for the sector today. What are the benefits and operating methods?
- Outcomes and impact analysis: microfinance institutions have begun to measure the impact of their offer of financial and non-financial products and services. The importance of adopting effective procedures and practices to measure the impact of the proposed activities.
The initiative is promoted and implemented by: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Progetto MEMI (cofinanziato dalla BEI), RITMI, Microfinanza, CeUB Bertinoro, Università di Parma, Fondazione Grameen Italia, Yunus Social Business Centre dell’Università di Bologna and Finman Group.
The registration fee is 750 Euro per person (or 625 Euro per person if 2 or more people from the same organization register) and includes: training, coffee breaks, gala dinner, networking and informal events.
The cost of accommodation is 150 Euro per person (or 125 Euro per person if 2 or more people from the same organization register) for the 3 nights of full board and single room stay.
Costs for the round-trip journey to reach Bertinoro (Forli-Cesena, Italy) are not included.
Registrations are open until September 1st.
You can register by following this link.
The course will be held upon reaching a minimum of 20 participants.
16th EMN Annual Conference: technology and artificial intelligence at the center
This year, the 16th Annual Conference of the European Microfinance Network (EMN) was held in Vienna. About 300 people gathered by the Network to discuss financial inclusion, access to credit and European policies between European microfinance professionals, investors, academics and researchers. Grameen Italia was there too!
Following in the footsteps of the numerous previous editions, this year too the Conference has seen alongside the usual Assembly of Members also numerous public and plenary sessions to deepen the three pillars on which EMN’s activity is based: Networking, Inspiration, and Development.
More than ever, the aim of the Conference was to encourage participants to connect in order to prepare for the future by providing themselves with advanced tools to protect investors, financial operators and all the communities.
Financial technology and artificial intelligence do not stop their development process also and above all in the field of finance and are becoming increasingly accessible: for this reason, it is necessary that the microfinance institutions are ready to provide timely, innovative and truly innovative services in line with the procedures already in place.
Unlike previous events, this year’s conference enhanced the concept of “inspiration“: thinking outside the box, broadening horizons and remembering their aspirations.
Networking moments made it possible to get in touch with colleagues, EU policymakers and investors.
Grameen Italia was pleased to participate!
“Rapiti e Contenti”: a story of microcredit and redemption in the theater
Fondazione Grameen Italia arrives in the theater in Naples thanks to the new show “Rapiti e contenti”, written by Valentina Varrella and interpreted by the theater company Gli Instabili, born within the UnderNeath association.
The protagonist of this piece is Giovanni Serra, a former financial promoter who lost his job and savings due to the economic crisis and who found himself living on a bench at the Mergellina station in Naples. One day Giovanni meets an old classmate of him to whom he asks for help in a very original way…but his plan will be hampered by the random encounter with a Camorra boss, recently released from jail.
The story will have a happy ending but the intention of its author Mrs. Varrella is to leave the public with food for thought on the dramatic reality of social exclusion and poverty.
In the plot, Fondazione Grameen Italia is cited too: it is the character of Mario, son of the Camorra boss but honest guy, to look for our organization to start a microcredit project and thus to help people in disadvantage with an opportunity of redemption.
The Premiere of “Rapiti e contenti” will be staged on the evening of 8 March at 8.30 pm at the UnderNeapolis Theater in Largo Proprio of Arianiello 12 in Naples, in the heart of the historic center of Naples.
Replications will take place on March 9th-16th and March 18th at 5.30pm.
From Bologna, Valentina Gasperini and Dario Candeloro of Grameen Italia will attend the premiere and share a moment of reflection on social issues with the company Gli Instabili and its audience, telling how microcredit can be a real opportunity for many to build a new work and life project.
Earth element: Grameen Italia among the actors of the Bologna welfare.
Fondazione Grameen Italia is pleased to participate in the initiative dedicated to welfare: “Bologna si prende cura – I tre giorni del welfare“, organized by the Municipality of Bologna in collaboration with the Local Health Authority of Bologna.
Thursday 28 February we will be attending the event in Salaborsa Library from 2 to 6 pm with our information materials, to respond to your curiosity about microcredit and our social inclusion projects.
The initiative will take place from 28 to 30 February in various places of the city with appointments open to citizenship, all with free entry.
The Salaborsa Library will be the headquarter of the associations that make up the precious social network of Bologna’s welfare, in the space “Gli elementi fondamentali della solidarietà. Associazioni e welfare a Bologna” curated by VOLABO – Volunteer Service Center of the Metropolitan City of Bologna.
The 24 information stands of the associations will be arranged in four areas, following a narrative metaphor that associates the fundamental elements of life – Fire, Air, Water, and Earth – with the four keywords that describe the concept of solidarity: Differences, Relations, Change, and Rights.
As Grameen Italia will be waiting for you in the stands of the Earth element, which has been associated to human rights and which describes the social organizations that work to guarantee justice, equity and freedom to women, men and communities on this planet.
During the three days, the theater performers of the Saltimbanco cultural association and some volunteers will lead visitors along a path that will allow them to discover the network of solidarity of Bologna and the projects that generate and animate the citizen welfare system.
Finally, it will be possible to listen to the stories proposed by the “books” of the Biblioteca dei Libri Viventi: people who tell their most varied experiences, sharing fragments of their lives in a game of relationships with the public.
“SCHIP – Social Challenges Innovation Platform” project
Fondazione Grameen Italia participates in the SCHIP – Social Challenges Innovation Platform, expression of the European project Horizon 2020 coordinated by META with the partners European BIC Network (EBN) and Impact Hub, promoted by Aster in Italy .
The project is co-funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program.
The platform aims to build a digital ecosystem of social challenges and solutions to encourage interaction between the public and private sectors with the aim of co-developing innovative projects suitable for the market and with clear social purposes. To do this, it makes more than 2 million euros available through the challenge system, to test at least 81 solutions in 2018 and 2019.
Fondazione Grameen Italia participates in the role of “Challenge Owner“: our task is to identify the most salient social challenges of our territory and translate them into a challenge to be addressed to companies so that they can respond in the role of “Solution Provider” by providing a solution to the challenge.
How to participate?
The text of the regulation is online. Startups, companies and third sector organizations can apply for a project, written in English. Group projects can also be presented, in a number not exceeding the 3 participants. The steps are:
- Create an account on the Socialchallenges.eu platform
- Upload your proposal (drawn up in the points required by the regulation on page 7)
- Wait for the eligibility assessment of the proposal (criteria on page 7 of the regulation)
- Once the proposal has been accepted, wait for the election of the winners (criteria and score on page 9 of the regulation)
There is also a guide in Italian explaining how to upload the project to the Social Challenges Platform.
THE SOCIAL CHALLENGES LAUNCHED BY GRAMEEN ITALIA
Social enterprise: now online the call for the new course at the Bologna University
The University of Bologna launches the first edition of the higher education course in “Management, strategy and impact finance for social entrepreneurship and the third sector“.
The course is promoted by the Department of Management and the Yunus Social Business Center of the University of Bologna and AICCON.
The deadline to register for the course is on December 20, 2018.
In light of the evolution of the Third Sector and the social enterprise and its reform, the course allows achieving an advanced preparation to cover managerial positions in social enterprises, cooperatives, and non-profit organizations.
It also allows acquiring specific skills for professional activities of financial and tax consultancy and entrepreneurial and management support for social enterprises, cooperative enterprises and non-profit organizations (foundations, APSs, associations, etc.).
Where: Classrooms in Economics, Management, and Statistics. University of Bologna
Duration: 84 hours
Level: Higher Education
Program Director: Prof. Federica Bandini
Language: Italian
Website: Click here.
Teaching
The course is structured in 6 training modules and will be held in Bologna on Thursday afternoons and on Friday from 9.00 to 18.00 for a total of 84 hours organized in 14 days from January to March 2019.
Within the teaching plan, Fondazione Grameen Italia will hold a module on the theme of “Impact Investing and Project Financing“, conducted by Prof. Giuseppe Torluccio and Mrs. Giorgia Bonaga.
Who is it for?
The course is aimed at professionals, consultants, employees of social enterprises and third sector organizations, but also entrepreneurs, bank operators and credit institutions interested in developing specific skills in the sector.
Number of participants: Minimum: 12 – Maximum: 50
The course assigns 14 University Training Credits to those who attend at least 60% of the lessons.
The Certified Public Accountants who will participate in the course will be awarded 10 training credits by the Order of Chartered Accountants of Bologna at the time of presentation of the certificate of attendance. The course is accredited by the Council of the Bar Association of Bologna, recognizing 20 credits.
Looking for other information?
For further information, contact the e-mail address:
Fondazione Grameen Italia adheres to the European Microfinance Network
Starting from a few days ago Fondazione Grameen Italia is a new member of the European Microfinance Network (EMN).
European Microfinance Network is a non-profit organization based in Brussels created to promote microfinance as a tool to counteract social and financial exclusion in Europe through self-employment and the creation of micro-enterprises.
The Network’s mission, in close collaboration with the Microfinance Center (MFC), is to act in support of the microfinance sector through the advocacy activity and the diffusion of strategic information on EU policy among its members.
Furthermore, the European Microfinance Network works to encourage and spread the best practices of microfinance, addressing both European citizens and industry professionals.
More specifically, the advocacy activity is conducted through the organization of meetings between political decision-makers and professionals, and in activities of so-called “grassroots advocacy” at European citizenship through the collection of public opinions and requests.
Among the initiatives set up by the EMN for the general public is the “European Microfinance Day“, whose objective is above all to raise awareness on the existence of microfinance as a tool to combat unemployment and social exclusion.
As a new Partner Member, Fondazione Grameen Italia is pleased to join the Network and to share the observations regarding the Italian context and the implementation of the Grameen Model for microcredit in Italy.