(Adnkronos) – Rome was the setting for the ‘Graduation Ceremony’ of the 3rd edition of the Powercoders Italia project, the computer programming academy for refugees and NEETs, which since 2019 has been offering intensive courses and placement opportunities in Italy companies operating in the IT sector. The event was held at the Enel Auditorium, in Via Mantova 24 in Rome, in the presence of 25 students and the virtuous partnership network supporting the project which involves the Reale Foundation, the Italian Accenture Foundation, Enel Group in collaboration with UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency in Italy.
Journalist Nathania Zevi opened the graduation ceremony together with a speech by Ernesto Ciorra, director of Innovabilty® Enel Group. The initiative continued with the intervention of Francesco Ecclesie, Project Manager of Powercoders Italia, Luca Rossin, secretary of Italia Reale Foundation, Simona Torre, general director of the Italian Accenture Foundation and Laura Iucci, head of Unhcr Private Sector Partnership Italy. In conclusion, the speech by Carlo Bozzoli, director of global digital solutions, Enel Group.
The ceremony was an opportunity to reaffirm the centrality of training in support of an effective process of social and work inclusion. The 2022 class of Powercoders Italia has successfully completed the intensive remote course and is ready to face the challenges of the technology sector in search of new skills, indispensable for the future of innovation in our country and fundamental for the creation of a true process of social inclusion capable of aiming increasingly towards sustainable progress by increasing the level of impact.
The 25 students of different nationalities – including Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Syria, Ukraine, Liberia, Cameroon, India, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Bhutan and Italy – are aged between 21 and 40 and bring with them a important study background; they are motivated and ready to make a change in their professional and personal future. Above all, the ceremony represented a precious meeting opportunity for the course participants who had the opportunity to meet their colleagues, teachers, the team and all the project partners, thus enhancing the experience of Powercoders Italia.
For Francesco Ecclesie, project manager Powercoders Italia: “In the historical period we are going through, the phenomena of social inclusion increasingly become the engine of the new economy and beyond, since they generate hope and the future for many young people who otherwise would see their abilities and their preparation does not become added value. We are happy and proud to be able to continue this ambitious project, investing in training as an essential strategic asset to accompany the country’s digital transformation process and provide a real job placement opportunity for the most vulnerable groups ”, he concluded.
“We are very proud -explained Virginia Antonini, head of sustainability and corporate communication of Reale Group- to support for the fourth consecutive year the Powercoders Italia Program, born in Switzerland in 2016. Reale Foundation was the first to believe in this important project by bringing it in Italy in 2019, thanks to the recommendation of our partner Eurapco, involving about 200 students so far and hiring two of them in Reale Group. We continue to strongly believe in Powercoders and, given the excellent results obtained, we have decided to launch it this year also in Spain, with the aim of exporting the training model to the countries where our foundation operates. All this was possible thanks to a virtuous ecosystem, made up of valuable partnerships, capable of making a concrete contribution to the social inclusion of disadvantaged categories and to the economic development and digitization of our country ”, she concluded.
According to Simona Torre, general manager of Fondazione Italiana Accenture “Fondazione Italiana Accenture continues to support Powercoders with conviction for the third consecutive year, recognizing the quality and distinctiveness of the training course offered, and confirming its important role within ReadyForIT, the of training and support for job placement for NEETs and young migrants and refugees, which the Foundation promotes and supports, and which represents the full expression of its values and its mission”.
“We are proud – underlined Olga Sbutega, Enel’s head of people sustainability plan & portfolio man – to support this innovative initiative of social inclusion and enhancement of diversity, with Powercoders we want to contribute, in line with Enel’s mission, to promote paths that favor new training and job opportunities, with particular attention to the most vulnerable sections of the population, with the aim of enhancing talent, developing new digital skills and making young people passionate about STEM subjects, central to process innovation and more for the future of our planet”.
“Since 2017 with the ‘Welcome. Working for refugee integration’ we wanted to enhance the decisive role of the private sector in the paths of refugee integration and today there are hundreds of companies that have joined this network. We wanted to support Powercoders right from the start because it focuses on the talent and skills of refugees for the good of society as a whole”, concluded Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino.
Powercoders Italia, the graduation ceremony in Rome – Local Authorities Online