Training, published the first 2 calls for the Digital Republic Fund for young women and Neet

The first two calls of the Fund for the Digital Republic, ‘Futura’ and ‘Onlife’, dedicated to increasing the digital skills of young women and NEETs, were published today. The fund, created as part of the digitization objectives set by the Pnrr and the National Complementary Fund (Fnc) and established by the decree-law of 6 November 2021, is an innovative partnership between the public and private social sectors and involves the ministry for Technological Innovation and the Digital Transition, the Ministry of Economy and Acri. The Fund aims to increase those fundamental skills to complete the country’s digital transition and for this reason it will support digital reskilling and upskilling projects of people on the margins of the labor market with a particular focus on Neet, women, unemployed and inactive . On an experimental basis for five years (until 2026) the Fund allocates a total of 350 million euros. It will be fed by payments made by foundations of banking origin, to which a contribution will be recognized, in the form of a tax credit (equal to 65% for the years 2022 and 2023 and to 75% for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026). The Fund places a strong emphasis on the impact assessment of funded projects. The evaluation aims to identify those projects that will prove most effective and efficient in increasing the digital skills and effective employment of the beneficiaries. The impact assessment is entrusted to the independent scientific committee chaired by Professor Raffaella Sadun. participations by 16 December on the Re @ dy portal In the details of the two calls, for ‘Futura’ there is time until 16 December to participate through the new Re @ dy portal (www.portaleready.it) for public and private entities without profit and third sector entities, individually or in partnership. The call provides for a total of 5 million euros and aims to select valid and innovative training projects to increase the digital skills of young women (18-50 years old) to ensure better opportunities and conditions for integration into the world of work. Particular attention will be paid to the impact assessment. In Italy, only 43.10% of women have basic digital skills (48.20% for men), compared to the EU figure of 52.30%. According to the 2021 Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum, our country ranks 114th in terms of female economic participation. Although almost 60% of graduates in Italy are women, with better results than their male colleagues, in our country there is a high rate of female unemployment: in 2021 in Italy less than one woman out of two works. also for this call dedicated to Neet (15-34 years) there is time until December 16 to submit projects on the Re @ dy platform (www.portaleready.it). The call provides 8 million euros to finance projects presented by public, private non-profit entities and third sector entities, individually or in partnerships consisting of a maximum of three subjects. As for the Futura call, for-profit organizations can be involved as supporting partners (without budget share) or as suppliers for the contribution of know-how and skills in the digital field. The objective is to finance valid and innovative training projects aimed at increasing the digital skills of the Neet. Our country has the highest NEET rate in the European Union, equal to 25.1% (EU data). In total, the NEETs in Italy are more than 3 million; the phenomenon mainly concerns women (57%) and the southern regions where 53% of the NEETs reside. “With the launch of the Fund for the Digital Republic, today we are carrying out an important initiative for the training and retraining of citizens’ digital skills. A project that will support result-oriented and job placement paths and will complement the many initiatives on skills that the Department for Digital Transformation is developing thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Today Italy suffers from a training gap that risks increasing territorial and gender inequalities, and slowing down the economic growth of our country. Thanks to the Fund we provide the tools and economic resources to bridge this gap, fight unemployment and allow many citizens to take advantage of the precious opportunities offered by digital “, declared the Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao, in present the initiative, while for Francesco Profumo, president of Acri , “The Fund for the Digital Republic represents a new great challenge that sees the foundations of banking origin as protagonists. From the positive experience of the Fund for the contrast of juvenile educational poverty, a new public-private social partnership is born that intends to accompany the digitization of the country. Together with the Italian Government, the Foundations gathered in Acri, once again, strongly choose the path of investing in human capital to experiment, in an innovative way with respect to the past, intervention policies in favor of young people, women and the unemployed, so that the transition digital does not become a further form of exclusion, but turns into a real opportunity for their professional life and to actively contribute to the growth of the country “, concluded Profumo.