Finanziamento UE – NextGenerationEU PRIN 2022 PNRR - PRISMA - Participation and Integration of migrants in Small and Medium Towns: analysing access and accessibility of social and health services through structures, networks and narratives - PNRR M4C2 investimento 1.1 Avviso 1409/2022

The present project aims to analyse migrants’ participation in small and medium towns, in terms of access and accessibility to social and health services. Specifically, we will analyse these processes in three case-studies in Italy, selected, through a preliminary exploratory analysis, in order to consider three different contexts in terms of migrant population and history, institutional and structural organisation of social and health services, socio-economic fabric and geographical position. Access and accessibility of social and health services will be analysed integrating the dimension of policies and institutional level, formal and informal structures and networks, representation and narratives about integration, and local practices. While scholars debate has since long been concerned with the local dimension of migration processes and policies, most of the existing literature focuses on big localities, such as metropolises and migration hubs. Recently an interesting strand of research has started to analyse smaller localities and rural areas in relation to migration, but, generally, they adopted a specific perspective on one of the abovementioned dimensions lacking an integrated understanding of the complexity of such processes of participation and integration. What is more, they generally use a sectoral approach to different categories of migrants, devoting little if any attention to refugees and asylum seekers in relation to participation and integration processes, while paying them an enormous attention in relation to the first reception system. Participation has been mainly analysed in relation to the category of settled “economic” migrants, and this limits the understanding of the complexity of the processes of participation and integration in particular when it concerns the access and accessibility of social and health services. The present project will try to fill this gap adopting a specific understanding of what has been called “socio-structural integration”, which assumes as a proxy of a successful integration a certain degree of access and accessibility to social and health services for the migrant population, and considering the different migrants’ categories through an intersectional perspective. These processes will be analysed on the local level, stressing their strict interrelation with the contextual elements characterising the three case-studies. The focus on the participatory processes will be maintained, considering access and accessibility not just in terms of fruition of services but also in terms of participation to their planning process on the local level. Using a specific participatory approach to the research, this project will lead to the co-construction of policy instruments and guidelines, which will provide an innovative tool for planning, understanding and improving local social and health services for migrants in small and medium towns.