Turin, Italy: From Kampala to Turin

In 2025, the City of Turin, Italy, was selected as a grantee of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF), the MMC’s instrument to channel international funding directly to cities to implement inclusive projects of their own design. With support from the GCF, Turin will leverage Italian migration policies to develop a formal labor pathway for refugees in Uganda to relocate to Italy to fill critical employment needs. The city will partner with the private sector and stakeholders in Uganda to identify job openings and provide new hires with pre-departure training, language classes, and connections to social services, setting them up for a successful transition while piloting a groundbreaking approach to building city-to-city pathways.

Turin’s economy faces significant challenges from shifting demographics. The city, which is known for its labor-intensive industrial and artisanal production, has an aging population and rapidly shrinking labor force. This trend is reflected across Northern Italy: the Piedmont region, where Turin is the capital, and neighboring Valle d’Aosta will require an estimated 48,000 immigrant workers between 2024 and 2028 to meet employment demand. 

The highest-need sectors include services (e-commerce and personal services), industry (automobile), and agriculture. To address this challenge, Turin has piloted new approaches to welcome newcomers and catalyze their economic potential. Since 2017, the city has operated programs like MENTOR1 and MENTOR2 to create a labor mobility pathway from North Africa to Italy. In 2022, the city established Spazio Comune, a one-stop shop for migrant and refugee inclusion, in partnership with UNHCR. Turin is now focused on systematizing these safe and legal labor mobility corridors and institutionalizing cross-border job training and employment pathways. 

Check back later for more updates on Turin’s grant!

Check back later for more updates on Turin’s grant!