On 18 June 2024, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), in its role of reflecting partner in the SYNCLUSIVE Project consortium, hosted the first reflection workshop in its headquarters in Rome, with the aim of reflecting on the overall concept of labor market inclusion proposed by the Project and on the initial progresses taking place in the four Living Labs.
Key national, regional and local stakeholders, including the Ministry of Labour, the Lazio Regional Government, representatives of the three main national trade unions as well as of employers organizations, representatives from research and education institutions, and representatives of a few large enterprises, attended the meeting and contributed to a live and comprehensive discussion overviewing the issue of inclusion of workers with different kind of vulnerabilities in the labour market.
Dr. Irene Houtman, SYNCLUSIVE project leader, joined the meeting and presented an overview of the project focusing on the concept of vulnerable workers, the description of the ENGINE methodology and the four Living Labs (Netherlands, Finland, Portugal and Bulgaria), providing a lot of food for thought for the following group discussion session.
Participants were divided in two balanced groups and were invited to reflect on the ENGINE concept, on the importance of the regional coalition and on the replicability of the project framework in the Italian context. A lively discussion took place in both groups around the definition of vulnerabilities and their characteristics, the measures already in place and the resources already available to support the effective participation of vulnerable workers in the national labour market. The identification of barriers hindering the entry of vulnerable workers into the world of work and the tailored actions needed to overcome these barriers represented another relevant part of the discussion.
The final plenary discussion highlighted the interest of the invited stakeholders to continue discussing on the local implementability of the innovative approach to labour market inclusiveness proposed by the SYNCLUSIVE project, also taking into account the progress that will be made by the Living Labs across the project’s development.
