Maka, 23, is a refugee from Mali who arrived in Italy as an unaccompanied minor six years ago. Emanuele is 25 and lives in Sala Braganza in the province of Parma. He has a degree in environmental economics and sustainability from Siena University and is a keen traveller and active volunteer in Italy and abroad.

Maka and Emanuele are buddies under Community Matching, a program of UNHCR in partnership with CIAC Onlus and Refugees Welcome Italia, to pair refugees with local volunteers who can help them integrate in Italy. The project is funded by the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai through Italy's personal income tax devolution scheme.

A match that became a friendship

Maka and Emanuele met by chance over a game of table football in Parma in early 2022 during an event co-organized by CIAC to present its activities. Months later, Emanuele applied to become a volunteer buddy with Community Matching, and during the first interview he mentioned Maka and his desire to see him again. As it turned out, Maka, who is part of a reception and integration project run by CIAC, had expressed the desire to become a refugee buddy, and so the match was made.

For Emanuele, their match is more than an act of community service. "It's a journey of friendship," he says, sitting next to Maka outside the club where they first met. "I don't see it as voluntary work, it is much more than that. Maka is my friend. Our match will come to an end, but we will remain in touch."

For Maka, Community Matching has been an opportunity to meet new people and hang out. Playing table football, ping pong, bowling, sharing meals, walking in the woods, exploring the local territory, doing seasonal work: these are just some of the things that he and Emanuele have done together, often as part of a much larger group.

"It's beautiful to be together," says Maka with a broad smile. "We have done a lot of things." In fact through Community Matching Maka has found not just a friend, but a community - so much so that when Emanuele travelled to Bosnia Herzegovina as a volunteer with refugees and migrants on the Balkan route in February, a friend and housemate stepped into his shoes.

Maka's community also extends to Emanuele's family and especially his mother, an Italian teacher, who has supported Maka in learning Italian and also geography, his passion.

Some figures of the program

Maka and Emanuele are one of 358 matches that have been made through Community Matching since its inception in 2021 (figures updated to 31 December 2022). The project initially involved communities in Bari, Rome and Turin, before expanding to Milan, Naples, Palermo and Parma in 2022 and to Bergamo, Bologna and Padua at the start of this year.

So far, refugee buddies have come from 41 countries, of whom 34% from Ukraine; 13% have come from Afghanistan, 8% from Mali, 6% from Somalia and 5% from Nigeria. Volunteer buddies have mostly been Italian (93%), with much smaller percentages represented by Ukrainians who were already living in Italy before the war, Russians and Malians.

Under the project, following registration and initial basic training, refugee and volunteer buddies are paired for an average period of six months, and receive support and guidance from qualified project staff throughout the match.

The ultimate aim of Community Matching is to create more welcoming, inclusive and cohesive societies by breaking down barriers and stereotypes and fostering a sense of belonging, allowing refugees to contribute more fully to their host communities.

The program also aims to provide policy makers and the public with a model of best practice for refugee integration in Italy. Early results based on research into 115 matches show that after only six months, 50% of refugee buddies report having improved their Italian language skills. There has also been a significant improvement in employment and housing stability, with 62% of refugees having a job contract and 35% having a rental contract, up respectively from 37% and 18% at the start of the project.

Finally, 86% of refugees reported being better able to navigate the local area and access services and 36% reported an improvement in their overall condition.