The Sicilian region in southern Italy is working on a project designed to repopulate empty areas. The strategy adopted hopes to deploy migrants to the areas to help with regeneration.
On September 19, the Sicilian region presented its latest socio-occupational project, to try and encourage migrants to help repopulate areas of the southern Italian island that have suffered from depopulation and under-development.
The project will include 57 facilities in twenty municipalities located in the Madonie mountain range in Sicily and 54 agricultural, construction, and restaurant businesses, which are ready to hire personne. For anyone who takes part in the project and moves there, 56 local families are ready to act as tutors.
The project follows in the footsteps of a similar Spanish model called "New Paths" (Nuevos Senderos).
Demographic decrease
The demographic decrease in some internal areas of Sicily can be offset thanks to the inclusion of migrants in these areas, where it will be possible to find work and lodging more easily. Therefore, in rural areas, the presence of migrants is an opportunity, the towns will repopulate and there will be people who can continue to work in the fields and to look after the livestock.
The Sicilian region is also hoping that attracting people back to the small towns and villages in these rural areas will help reverse Italy's declining birth rates. If families start flourishing here, it is hoped that that will help regenerate the economy and real estate prices too in some of the most deprived parts of Sicily.
Multiple partners provide funding
The project combines resources and expertise from local comunes, the third sector and the Catholic Church in the area. Funding from European integration projects and the Fund for Asylum Migration and Integration are all being put into the pot.
"The plan we are presenting today is the result of a shared project between the Councillorship and local entities that can facilitate inclusion and help to invert the depopulation phenomenon of the internal municipalities in Sicily, proving that the migrant population can represent, an important resource for our area," said Letizia Di Liberti, General Director of the Department for the Family and Social Policies in the Sicilian Region.