Completed projects
Adoc and UniCredit work together to promote responsible and sustainable consumption.
The theme of safeguarding and improving environmental conditions has been placed at the center of the U.N. Agenda 2030 through the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals, one of which focuses precisely on the ability to guarantee sustainable models of production and consumption, promoting the famous 5 “Rs” of waste – Reduction, Reuse, Recycling, Raise, Recovery – as well as practices of circular economy and responsible consumption that favor a prudent and rational use of natural resources by the population and decrease waste, also in the logic of reducing existing inequalities (another goal of the U.N. Agenda 2030).
This is the basis for the idea of the “Piccoli gesti sostenibili [Small sustainable gestures]” project, created in the Noi & UniCredit context, the partnership program between the Bank and 14 Consumer Associations of national importance in which Adoc has actively participated since 2005.
The initiative aims to promote sustainable and responsible consumption, informing about the consequent social, environmental, and economic benefits and inviting virtuous behavior, reducing waste.
To promote a culture of sustainability among consumers, 3 short videos will be disseminated in which the protagonists (an athlete, a student, and an actor) will share their approach to sustainability, highlighting how, thanks to “small gestures,” it is possible to contribute to better use of natural resources.
ATHLETE short video
ACTOR short video
STUDENT short video
TIM: ‘DIGITAL RISORGIMENTO OPERATION’ AT THE SIDE OF CONSUMERS TO SPREAD DIGITAL SKILLS
Free webinars are launched with Adiconsum, Adoc, Altroconsumo, Cittadinanzattiva, Codacons, Federconsumatori and U.Di.Con. to learn the potential and promote the informed and safe use of the Internet.
To educate citizens and consumers in the informed and safe use of the Internet to seize all the opportunities and advantages of digital life by preventing the main online risks: from the correct use of digital tools for managing money to online purchases to new ways of access to information, products, and services. Thanks to the support of Consumer Associations, the great alliance promoted by TIM and by more than 30 excellent partners from the public, private and non-profit sectors, the new free training courses of “Operazione Risorgimento Digitale” start with this goal, to close the digital divide cultural in the country.
In particular, in collaboration with Adiconsum, Adoc, Altroconsumo, Cittadinanzattiva, Codacons, Federconsumatori and U.Di.Con., the training course “Aware and safe digital consumers,” will start from November, with free content and webinars aimed at citizens and consumers to foster the intelligent, safe and conscious use of technology.
The initiative strengthens the relationship between TIM and the Consumer Associations and will make it possible to increase awareness of how digital tools can concretely improve daily activities. Consumers will, in fact, have the opportunity to seize digital opportunities through different learning areas and also to develop the skills necessary to navigate the digital market, avoid I.T. pitfalls and prevent risky situations, starting with the search for reliable information on the Web.
A large section of the webinars will be dedicated to how to access Public Administration services online, using rights and services in digital format for health, social security, or social security practices, starting with the services made available by the Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale, by SPID and PagoPA. Attention will also be paid to the role of the family, thanks to webinars for parents who aim to promote the informed use of the Internet and devices by their children. Finally, there will be a focus on countering fake news, one of the greatest pitfalls on the Internet, especially in moments of collective emergency where fear can fuel the circulation of unfounded news, which can spread without control.
Further information is available on the Operazione Risorgimento Digitale website.
The new training activities of “Operation Risorgimento Digitale” carried out in collaboration with the main consumer associations confirm TIM’s role in accelerating the spread of digital skills in the country. It is a commitment carried out in synergy with primary partners of excellence, between public and private realities, trade associations, third sector and important players in the field of social innovation, and whose aims are now shared and promoted by numerous Consumer Associations in a historical moment of great transformation in which a greater ability to update is required through all communication channels.
The Safe Support project stems from the evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, mainly physical removal, and isolation, are having harmful consequences on the general population’s mental health throughout Italy, including healthcare workers. Frustration, loneliness, and worries about the future are common reactions and are well-known risk factors for a variety of disorders, including anxiety, affective, post-traumatic stress disorders, and burnout.
At your disposal, you will have a team of psychologists with the possibility of using the following services:
– Self-help group
– Phone Desk for psychological support
– Free webinars
For more information, visit the Facebook page.
In recent years there has been a growing increase in the cases of exploitation of cheap labor. The most affected groups are the weak, poor people and, more and more often, non-EU citizens, who accept to work in the worst conditions only out of necessity. “What can we do?! After all, who is helping us?!” These are the questions we hear every day from those who experience this drama daily on their skin. And what can we answer without giving false hope?
The project “Siamo Uomini o Caporali” [Are we Man or Corporals], funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, is focused on contrasting “Caporalato” [illegal recruitment], a phenomenon that takes away dignity from work and undermines the resources of the regions afflicted by this scourge. The “Caporalato” consists of recruitment, by subjects often associated with criminal organizations, of workers transported to the fields (but increasingly also on construction sites or manufacturing companies) to be made available to an enterprise. The workers are often people in great economic difficulty and irregular immigrants without a residence permit: these people, who are in a very weak position, are paid very little, work with long on tiring shifts, and are often subjected to mistreatment, violence, and intimidation by of the so-called “corporals,” the people who manage the trafficking of workers. The exploitation practices of the corporals consist of failure to apply employment contracts, a salary of a few tens of euros a day, working hours between 8 and 12 hours of work, violence, blackmail, theft of documents, imposition of housing with precarious hygienic conditions, imposition of the transport to the workplace, carried out by the corporals themselves, that is made to pay very dearly by the workers. The Ministry of Labor has signed a protocol to start a specific and targeted battle together with the regions and trade associations. Precisely with this in mind, the project “Are we Men or Corporals” want to offer important support to people (immigrants, but often also Italian citizens) employed in seasonal jobs, underpaid, and exploited, through information and assistance services leading to sue the “corporal,” but also services of job intermediation, through the collaboration with companies that intend to join the project, which favor regular insertion into the world of work. Part of the project is an information and awareness campaign for the prevention of undeclared work, addressed to both businesses (tools to support regular seasonal work, regular work contracts that can be activated, corporate social responsibility, etc.) and Italians and foreign workers (worker rights and duties, regular recruitment channels, accessibility to initiatives and facilitation services of the project network for seasonal workers, etc.).
The project “L’amore non ha lividi” [Love has no bruises] has as his own target to promote PREVENTION, INFORMATION, AWARENESS, and SUPPORT activities to women victims of violence.
Specifically, the project wants to implement INFORMATION and AWARENESS activities, organizing events and taking part in the initiatives already launched by subjects with whom Adoc has been collaborating for years and with whom it has built an “anti-violence network.”
This network is made up of anti-violence centers and public structures, and with this project, the aim is to expand it further.
On the other hand, the assistance activity will be carried out by the listening centers that collaborate with Adoc, and to which consumers who will turn to our counters will be addressed.
Too often, episodes of violence are not reported because the victim fears for their own physical safety and, often, for that of their children.
Then there is the feeling of shame in exposing to others one’s own experience of suffering, not to mention the difficulty of living under the same roof with what often turns out to be one’s tormentor. The most obvious concrete obstacle is not knowing where to go, the lack of a place and people to welcome the victim and any children. This is still the main obstacle today: not having an alternative. The “Love has no bruises” project starts with these problems to provide victims with their needed tools.
Project “Love does not have bruises – project for the prevention, awareness, and implementation of a national service against violence to women” funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, pursuant to art. 12 c. 3 lett. f, law n. 383/2000 – The financial year 2015
Project “Io non alzo le mani [I do not raise my hands] – a project of prevention, awareness, and implementation of a service at a national level against violence to women” funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, pursuant to art. 12 c. 3 lett. f, law n. 383/2000 – The financial year 2014
On November 25, World Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Italy was published by EURES the second report on femicide, which shows that in 2013, 179 women were killed, practically one victim every two days. Compared to 157 in 2012, the number of women killed increased by 14%. Those in the family environment increased, + 16.2%, passing from 105 to 122, as well as in contexts of proximity, neighborhood relationships, friendship, or work, from 14 to 22. Also included in the calculation are women killed by criminality, 28 last year: in particular, these are murders because of a robbery, of which mostly older women are the victims. Also, in 2013, 7 out of 10 cases (68.2%, equal to 122 in absolute values) femicides took place within the family or emotional context, in line with the data relating to the period 2000-2013 (70.5%). With these numbers, 2013 has the highest percentage of women among homicide victims ever recorded in Italy, equal to 35.7% of the deaths killed (179 out of 502).
Starting from this data, the Adoc intends to give life to the project “I don’t raise my hands” with the following objectives:
- To prevent and counter the phenomenon of violence against women e provide support and assistance to women who experience violence;
- Raise awareness among the younger generationsin order to make them recognize and overcome conditioning and social and cultural in gender stereotypes;
- Raise awareness in the male worldon respect for women.
Through activities of:
- PREVENTION:carry out a prevention campaign in the main places where forms of violence develop (schools and families);
- SUPPORT: through the opening of branches, the creation of a toll-free number and a dedicated web portal on which it will be possible to find all the information, especially on anti-violence centers, on Adoc branches and public structures such as hospital emergency rooms, Carabinieri, police stations, counseling centers, social and health services.
- SUPPORT: the creation of a network made up of territorial structures affected by the phenomenon
In recent years, our way of communicating has radically changed through a massive spread of digital technologies. However, not all of us use websites, apps, and social networks in the same way: on the one hand, there are children and very young people born and raised in conjunction with the development of new and increasingly advanced I.T. tools, on the other hand, there are entire generations who have had difficulties (or are not able at all) in managing these new means.
The project Care Sharing: protection within everyone’s reach born from the desire to protect consumers and users through services differentiated by the type of user; it is a project designed for you and your everyday needs, which arises from the desire to inform you about your rights and to offer you 360-degree assistance through multiple tools so that you can choose which service and which medium to use, based on your needs.
In a society that imposes frenetic rhythms and where time never seems to be enough, even the resolution of a small billing problem for a gas user or a trivial inefficiency on the part of a phone company can reserve unexpected difficulties. It is essential to have as many means as possible available to solve the complications of everyday life, so we have studied initiatives aimed at spreading as much news and useful information as possible on topics of vast interest: from problems in the energy sector to inefficiencies in the tourism sector, from vital health, health care and nutrition issues to unfair business practices in telephony.
Correct information can prevent many everyday problems: remember that the more informed you are, the easier it will be not to run into scams and fraud. Obviously, however, misadventures can also happen to an informed and aware citizen; for this reason, we offer you protection and advice through a variety of tools to make it simple and easy for you to access our services. Whether you want to use the free APP, interact with us through social networks, take advantage of our site online help desk, or prefer the on-demand physical help desk mode, we will still be at your disposal to provide you with all the assistance you need.
To find out more, visit our project website: www.sportellocaresharing.it!
The 2016 Stability Law (l.n. 208/2015) amended the television fee regulations for subscriptions in the private sector.
Such regulations provide that the ordinary fee is payable by anyone who owns a device capable of or adaptable to the reception of television broadcasts. The possession of the appliance is presumed if there is a user for the supply of electricity in the place where the subject has his registered residence. The payment of the fee is made by debiting the electricity bill issued.
In recent months, both the various regulations that have followed one another and the information that the media have disseminated have confused many users. Many Italians are worried about making mistakes in the event of a request for exemption from a declaration of non-detention or for a request for reimbursement.
In consideration of the need for transparency and clarity and to protect consumers from incomplete or incorrect information, the project “TiVuoiINFOrmare” created by CTCU – Centro Tutela Consumatori Utenti, Adiconsum e Adoc was born.
The project aims to provide a service of information, assistance, and advice to consumers on the new legislation regarding the payment of the T.V. fee in the electricity bill, on the obligations to be fulfilled by virtue of their situation.
The project involves the activation of a network of 66 physical branches, already present and widespread throughout the national territory in each of the 20 Regions.
The services provided by the physical branches will also be accessible through the tools online (also in German – tivuoinformare@adiconsum.it, and tivuoinformare@centroconsumatori.it) and through the toll-free number.
Finally, all the project activities will be issued on the associations’ sites and posts and tweets on Facebook and Twitter by Adiconsum, Ctcu, and Adoc.
Law 199 of 2016 represents an important turning point about illegal hiring, which has introduced a series of innovations, especially in terms of repression of the phenomenon. In our opinion, this law, which has already produced important results, can be accompanied by a series of activities concerning the preventive aspect to try to prevent the worker from entering the sphere of exploitation. Therefore, the “Legality makes you free” project aims to focus on aspects related to prevention, such as greater information on workers’ rights and forms of protection, to offer support in the management of training and information activities, also through contacts with reception centers, encourage the creation of transport based on agreement, encourage the involvement of employment centers for “supply and demand” and promote forms of reward for healthy companies.
Finally, to obtain a concrete result, it is essential to work in the direction of increasing responsibility for the agri-food chain as well as for the final consumer. Therefore, we want to foster a so-called ethical chain by promoting companies that operate in respect of workers, foreigners, and non-foreigners.
PROJECT INITIATIVES
ADOC will set up information desks throughout the national territory to strengthen the protection and information activities for foreign and non-foreign workers, and through collaboration with public bodies (prefectures, local authorities, and employment centers) to direct workers to the booking lists already introduced by some regions to access regular work.
Also, to promote the legality and protection of workers’ rights, events, meetings, and debates aimed at all concerned province citizens will be promoted throughout the project activities. The theme will be irregular work and all that it entails, not only discrimination and exploitation of workers but also the damage to the entire community (citizens and companies).
Equally important in the fight against illegal hiring will be the creation of the conditions to weaken the influence and power that illegal work recruiters have over workers and hit them in the transport business. With the project, we will collaborate in the organization for seasonal workers of a “safe” transport system to and from the workplace. Meetings will be promoted, in the municipalities most concerned, with the territory institutions and employers, to set up dedicated lines with the aim of taking away Italian and foreign workers from illegal hiring people’s blackmail. A road safety campaign will also be carried out for workers who often travel the work/accommodation route with run-down vehicles, on foot or by bicycle.
In the next phase, in collaboration with the already existing reception centers, there are paths of inclusion, professional training, and integration aimed at non-EU workers in conditions of exploitation and marginalization: Italian language courses, basic I.T. courses, orientation, and access to local services, training, and professional requalification, guidance, and accompaniment to work placement, housing, and social integration, legal protection and psycho-socio-health protection.
Throughout the project period, a campaign will be developed to promote the so-called ethical chain. Those companies that operate in compliance with the rights of workers will be included in a product promotional campaign, with particular attention to those that undertake to hire workers regularly.
The “Empowering Consumer Organisations: towards a harmonised approach tackling dual quality in food products” (ECO) project is a European project funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC) of the DG Justice of the European Commission. This project aims at limiting dual quality practices in food and strengthening consumer organisations in the EU.
The project involves three partners based in 3 Member States :
- Associazione per la Difesa e l’Orientamento dei Consumator (Italy)
- SAFE – Safe Food Advocacy Europe (Belgium)
- InfoCons Association (Romania)
Dual quality in food products
“Dual quality is a practice in which companies use different recipes, formulations or standards for items sold under the same brand name and with very similar looking packaging”.
This practice can be found in every kind of product, but it is extremely present in foodstuffs. In the food sector, “dual quality” has been characterized by products sold under the same brand with identical or very similar packaging, but with different ingredients and quality depending on the European country where they were distributed. Under EU law and Single Market principles, companies that trade are free to differentiate their products for different markets according to local preferences for example. Nevertheless, consumers cannot be misled by different products being presented to them as identical in the absence of legitimate and objective reasons and this is what happens with “dual food quality” in some cases.
Objective
This one-year long project aims to create a structure based on consumer organisations and able to alert and provide the relevant authorities (at national and EU level) with a full and accurate assessment on dual food quality in the EU. By raising the awareness of the relevant authorities on this issue and by providing them with full and accurate information, our project will help to tackle this problem.
Activities
Based on the EU harmonised testing methodology, the project aims
- to develop a harmonised guidance for testing products and identify misleading branding strategies, corresponding training materials.
- to create an online platform to report and share test results and misleading branding strategies, which will be provided to consumer organisations.
- to report misleading strategies with results of testing of at least 500 products uploaded by 18 consumer organisations.
- to create a certification system with the registration of a minimum of 6 companies
- to improve the advocacy of consumer organisations and fostering the cooperation between consumer organisations, competent authorities and relevant private players through the organisation of a European conference where the results of the testing will be presented.
Internet and digital technologies are progressively modifying our lifestyle, transforming our consumption habits, as well as the way of working, settling in the private sphere as much as in the professional one of each of us. Nowadays, the opportunities offered by the network are numerous and cover any area, from the possibility to do shopping online, rather than schoolbooks, electronic products, or furniture, to the possibility of activating service supply contracts, rather than booking medical examinations or dialogue with the public administration.
Having a global hypermarket at your fingertips offers significant opportunities for the consumer, increasing choice and convenience. At the same time, however, careless use of technology can bring many hidden risks.
The European Commission has proposed to create a single digital market as a priority to ensure protection and uniformity at the E.U. level.
Into this context fits the project “e-RA DIGITALE: the consumer meets the web” – created by the associations Adoc, Adusbef, and Federconsumatori and financed by the Ministry of Economic Development – with the aim of protecting users, as consumers, from the risks deriving from the incorrect use of digital technologies and from economic transactions carried out online.
With e-RA DIGITALE, Adoc, Adusbef, and Federconsumatori will implement a series of activities differentiated by categories of users, from the youngest to the not so young, to educate consumers in a conscious and informed use of digital platforms, raising their awareness with reference to the exercise of rights and forms of protection determined by the development and diffusion of e-commerce. How? With an innovative and high-impact information campaign that also educates the consumer through games and fun, with an online assistance service that can be accessed from the project website and with training activities.
Not only that, e-RA DIGITAL has another goal: breaking down the technological and cognitive barriers of that segment of the population “excluded” from the network, favoring access to the digital market through our web access points located throughout the national territory.
For more information and updates on DIGITAL e-RA activities, visit the project website www.e-radigitale.it.
Realized as part of the e-RA DIGITALE project, funded by the Ministry of Economic Development (D.M. February 7, 2018).
The assistance, consultancy, training, and information activities promoted as part of the e-RA DIGITALE project are provided free of charge.
Having a global hypermarket at your fingertips offers significant opportunities for the consumer, increasing choice and convenience. At the same time, however, careless use of technology can bring many hidden risks.
The European Commission has proposed to create a single digital market as a priority to ensure protection and uniformity at the E.U. level.
Into this context fits the project “DIGITAL e-RA: the consumer meets the web,” with the aim of protecting users, as consumers, from the risks deriving from the incorrect use of digital technologies and from economic transactions carried out online.
With e-RA DIGITALE, Adoc, Adusbef, and Federconsumatori, will implement a series of activities differentiated by categories of users, from the youngest to the not so young, to educate consumers in a conscious and informed use of digital platforms, raising their awareness with reference to the exercise of rights and forms of protection determined by the development and diffusion of e-commerce. How? With an innovative and high-impact information campaign that also educates the consumer through games and fun, with an online assistance service that can be accessed from the project website and with training activities.
Not only that, e-RA DIGITAL has another goal: breaking down the technological and cognitive barriers of that segment of the population “excluded” from the network, favoring access to the digital market through our web access points located throughout the national territory.
For more information and updates on DIGITAL e-RA activities, visit the project website www.e-radigitale.it.