Bike-stop for social inclusion: "from guest to host" aims to be a social innovation project in favour of the inclusion of those already in a position of high risk of marginalization. The project is presented by a partnership of 9 organizations from 7 different countries (Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany and the United Kingdom) and aims to develop a shared innovative model of social inclusion, in contexts where it becomes increasingly difficult to identify employment opportunities. The intent of the organizations is to experiment with an active reception model that provides daily training on the themes of cycle tourism and immersion in everyday life that offers constant opportunities for non-formal and informal learning. The first result that we hope to achieve is to offer to adults in difficulty a different reception perspective, whose impact is immediately offered thanks to the discrepancy between the expectation of being in a community and the experience of living in a " albergabici ", moving from a “passive user" logic to an "active reception" logic. This discrepancy is in regards to both the structural expectation (distribution of spaces, furnishings, presence of a front-office with tourist brochures, etc.), and the emotional area, being in contact with people with different experiences. The project proposes two training courses: - the first, a short-course, aimed at educators / operators motivated to implement this active reception model (of 12 professional staff); -the second course is aimed at 14 students in a disadvantaged area (accepted in residential care communities) aimed at acquiring the skills necessary for the management of the reception of cyclists, experimenting with the activities. The project involves the construction of 2 Outputs: - a manual / guideline on how to implement the proposed reception model, aimed at organizations that manage residential communties; - an IT product aimed at promoting the active reception model through the promotion of the available hosts with attached cycle repair shops. Each action of the project tends to a single direction: to change the model of residential community that is prevalent to date, that is to move from a model of care reception to a model that that gives benefits back to the user, of dignity and empowerment of their skills. The innovative model of social inclusion "from guest to host" will produce a change of perspective in adults, from passive subjects inserted in a residential community to subjects who manage an Albergabici and a cycle repair shop. It follows that the project actions will produce an overall impact in terms of the concrete development, transfer and implementation of an innovative practice, which reverses the logic of traditional reception, transforming it into a place of informal and multicultural learning. This change will inevitably generate the informal acquisition of relational skills, the continuous cultural and linguistic exchange with the guest cyclists, the concrete participation in the social life outside the community life, and a facilitated access to digital technologies. The impacts of the project will be recorded both on staff, who will be involved in a generative welfare service, and on adults in difficulty, who will experience the growth of skills and abilities with a culturally transnational perspective, as well as on the organizations involved in the project in various capacities. With respect to stakeholders, it will be possible to find: - the advancement of generative reception models, in view of constant networking with local associations - promotion and public awareness of social issues - transmission of the values of active citizenship through transnational experiences - reduction of public spending by boosting the economic autonomy of institutionalized subjects.
Bike-stop for social inclusion: "from guest to host" was and is for us a social innovation project in favor of non-formal training and inclusion of those who live in a condition of high risk of marginalization. The intention was to experiment with a model of active hospitality that provided daily training on the themes of cycling tourism hospitality and diving in everyday life that offered them constant opportunities for non-formal and informal learning. The first result that we hoped to achieve, and actually was achieved, was to offer adults in difficulty a different perspective of hospitality, the impact of which was immediately given with the difference between the expectation of being in a "classic" community and the experience of living in an "bicycle hotel ",passing from a logic of "passive user" to a logic of "active welcome". This difference concerned both the structural expectation (distribution of spaces, furnishings, existence of a front-office with tourist brochures, etc.), and the emotional one - being in contact with people with different backgrounds.
The project was born out of need to build paths of social inclusion through non-formal training for people in disadvantaged areas. Particular attention was paid to adults placed in residential care communities and semi-residential day centers, who need to experience themselves in a role that can encourage them towards different life perspectives and training activities that can offer them employment opportunities in the short-medium time. The project idea was born as a result of a complex of activities aimed at identifying job opportunities starting with the compilation of the competence balance for women and young adults welcomed in the residential community. This is how the idea of the project Bike-stop for social inclusion was born: "from guest to host", with the certain conviction that those who have had medium-long term hospitality experiences in apartments they don't own and residential structures gave them specific informal competence on hospitality issues. The project aimed to develop an innovative model of social inclusion, where the community is transformed into a place of active hospitality, open to the outside, or a hotel with a cycle workshop included, where upon entering, one has the perception of not being welcomed in a community facility but in a place that offers a different perspective on life. The project was presented and implemented at the transnational level in order to enable the formation of a network of long term participation in structures at the international level.