Betting on the Future: Youth and Territory in the Empolese Valdelsa Municipalities

Title Analysis of the needs and aspirations of young people in the territory of the Empolese Valdelsa Municipalities. Scientific and strategic accompaniment to local activities of the company Sammontana

Location Union of Municipalities of Empolese Valdelsa, Tuscany (Italy)

Funding Sammontana SpA

 

Context

Sammontana is a food company specialising in the production of ice creams and frozen pastries, located in the municipality of Empoli. As part of the process of obtaining a certification as a B Corp, Sammontana launched a research project on the capacity of the territories surrounding Empoli, in particular the Union of Municipalities of Empolese Valdelsa, to offer new opportunities for personal development and participation in community life to young people.

In the target territory, there are very few areas where young people between 14 and 24 years old exceed 20% of the total population, and these areas do not necessarily correspond to the most urbanised centres.

The research has, thus, a twofold purpose. On the one hand, answering to the need to have first-hand knowledge on a topic of capital importance for the well-being of the community such as the relationship between young people and the territory. On the other, it aims at understanding what plausible areas of action Sammontana can focus on in the near future.

 

 

General Objective

The Local Development and Inclusive Development Units carried out an analysis on the opportunities and needs of young people in the Empolese Valdelsa area, with the aim of better understanding the challenges and opportunities that characterise their life contexts and accompanying Sammontana in the elaboration of a sustainability strategy responding to the needs of the territory.

 

Our contribution

In order to structure the data collection and analysis activities in a coherent manner, the research focused on the concept of active citizenship. This choice was guided by the need to anchor the research, on the one hand, to a multidimensional concept of participation in society and, on the other, to a horizon of rights, their exercise and the set of institutions that are responsible for guaranteeing them.

Doing so, Researchers placed at the centre the co-responsibility of the promotion of young people’s rights and, from an operational point of view, the construction of a process towards the sustainability of the results that may have been acquired.

In order to carry out the analysis of the needs and aspirations of the young people in the targeted area, as well as of the territories’ capacity to generate opportunities for them, the research team investigated four dimensions

  • Sport;
  • Culture and expressiveness
  • Participation;
  • Work and autonomy
  • Well-being.

These same 4 dimensions have been indicated as possible areas of intervention by the Sammontana company itself.

 

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