Apulia

“In 2018, the IPRES Foundation was asked by the Apulia Region to guarantee its support for the implementation of the Snapshots project. So, in October 2018, IPRES Foundation was included in the project’s partnership consortium and we – after signing the agreement – participated in the project coordination meeting held in Vienna, on December 10-12, 2018, where we met all the other partners and project coordinators,” tells Elisa Calò, researcher of the Organizational Models and Processes for Policy Planning Area of the IPRES Foundation – Istituto Pugliese di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali .

“IPRES has a deep experience in supporting the Apulia Region in the design and programming of migration policies at regional level, also through participatory processes aimed at including the migrant population, civil society organizations and local communities. The Snapshots project gave us the opportunity to describe our regional context and to exchange experiences and good practices with other partners. Finally, it has been useful to create a community of interest towards the perception and narrative of migration.”

What aspect, as partners, was most interesting to you in the project? “Advocacy with local, national and European authorities was one of the goals of the project. In this I feel the most relevant moments of the project were the meetings with the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, in April 2019, and the one with the Holy Father Francis, in September 2020,” Elisa answers.

“With respect to the pillars of the project, however, such as solidarity, memory, network between the territories of Europe,

Apulia is historically a place of contrasts. It is the starting point of enormous flows of emigration and the destination of the same flows of immigration. It has received solidarity and hospitality since the end of the Second World War and more recently, after the Albanian crisis of the 1990s, when thousands of people arrived. Today, Apulia continues to be a landing place for migrations from the Middle East and the African continent – Elisa says – but memory is not always alive, even if the testimonies of the ancient and recent past are scattered throughout history, in the streets and in front of the buildings of our cities. We must exercise it more and more. Networking is a fundamental tool to support, above all, peripheral territories, such as Puglia”.

A complex territory in terms of history and current events: what has been the impact of the project on the territory?

“The project was affected by the Covid pandemic, which prevented it from showing all the expected effects even at the regional level. We tried to maintain an active service of communication and information through our social channels and monthly newsletter, describing the work of many groups and associations that every day are involved in various capacities in the reception and inclusion of migrants. We also told the story of many migrants who live permanently on our territory, enriching it with their culture and traditions – explains Elisa – we would have liked to work more in the field, organizing activities for citizens. We participated in the project at the end of the first year, when these activities had already been carried out”.

But the work in the field certainly doesn’t end with the project; on the contrary, it increases and is equipped with new tools.

“The Istituto Pugliese di Ricerche Economiche e Sociali (IPRES) was founded in 1968 as an Association of public bodies, an expression of the system of local and functional autonomies of the Apulia Region. In July 2018, IPRES was transformed into a Foundation: currently, the Apulia Region, the Municipalities of Bari, Taranto and Brindisi, the University of Bari, the Chamber of Commerce of Bari and the ISPE Association are part of IPRES – Elisa tells – The Institute’s mission, first of all, aims to support the formulation, adoption, implementation and evaluation of regional development policies and multi-level institutional relations. It deals with study and research activities on the economic, social and territorial structure of the Apulia Region, its transformations, current and structural development trends, institutional framework and policies. Moreover, the Foundation is in charge of supporting the Apulia Region and the other partners in defining their own position with reference to the themes of local autonomy, European integration, international competitiveness, development of partnerships and international cooperation, with particular reference to the Mediterranean and Balkan area, as well as carrying out studies on public policy programming, monitoring and evaluation methods; technical assistance on programming, management, monitoring and evaluation of the ESIF; participation in EU projects both as leader and as partner; supporting the Puglia Region and other partners in the process of regulatory impact assessment; promoting collaboration between Apulian universities and with other research bodies; communication activities, seminars and workshops on methods, tools and policies defined by the Puglia Region or other members”.

An important work, in a middle land like Apulia, between the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, between the Balkans and the European Union, between the past and the present, which tells about the migrations of yesterday and today bringing its contribution in the European network born from SnapShots.