FORMATER

FORMATER is an agency, established in 1994 to meet the vocational training needs in the retail traders category coming from the area of the Alessandria, Vercelli and Biella provinces (Piedmont, Italy). It, also deals with vocational training for unemployed young people and employees of local SMEs.
Piedmont Region is located in the NW of Italy, a country which is a going through a severe economic crisis that has led to a youth unemployment rate of 33.9%.
This strong crisis has exacerbated the difficult conditions of disadvantaged groups leading, for example, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities to 44% and the one of migrants to 11, 1%. In Italy, in this last years, in fact, we are facing the phenomenon of requests from migrants, to be assisted in going back home, because in Italy they’ve failed in finding satisfactory work and living conditions.
For these reasons, Formater is involved, for several years, in projects concerning vocational training and job placement especially addressed to disadvantaged groups(school drop outs, migrants, disabled people, former prisoners, drug addicted people, etc. )working in network with social and public employment services.
The agency is managing, with Vercelli Municipality, a youth employment service”, especially addressed to youngsters, to cope with the big problem of youth unemployment they are is facing. A solution for youngsters is self employment, becoming entrepreneurs, an option considered by 44% of 15-24 year-old Italians and supported by our actions.
Formater is coordinator of a Grundtvig Multilateral Project titled E.T.O.S. – Effective Training for the Outsiders of the Society, concerning the definition of a Training Methodology with skill certification system addressed to disadvantaged people.
Furthermore, Formater was involved as a partner in some other activities:4 projects about equal opportunities between male and female employees; Equal Phase I, a project in the field of adaptiveness;2 pilot projects financed by the Italian Ministry of Labour on continuous vocational training;Equal Phase II, a starting project on equal opportunities between male and female employees; Equal Phase II, a starting project in the field of requalification in the labour market; Leonardo Da Vinci II Programme-Mobility “E-Marketing applied to Tourism”.
Our intention is to implement youth supportive actions, collaborating with other associations and NGO’s working in the field.