The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a humanitarian, non-governmental and non-profit organization founded in 1956 in Denmark and operating in 40 countries around the world.

Most of DRC International’s activities are implemented by the organization’s structures established locally, in order to work directly with beneficiaries, local authorities and stakeholders on site. However, DRC also implements projects through local partners when this represents the best way to achieve the objectives and adherence to DRC’s values. DRC engagement with Italy started in June 2018; through 2 scoping missions and 4 engagement visits, DRC mapped 5 focal regions for a pilot, and developed decisive relationships with key local actors.

Torino, in the Piedmont region, was selected to be the first base of the project, due to a strong civil society presence and a large number of displaced groups in both official and informal settlements. An innovative programmatic entry was developed: through screenings and referral from key informants on the ground, DRC identified a leading local organization working on the integration of migrants and refugees and established a 1-year partnership through an MoU. After the first phase of the project, aimed at mapping best practices of reception and integration and link them with visibility and fundraising efforts at the Italian and European level (joint participation to calls, networks, events), DRC managed to attract funding in Denmark, Sweden and Italy to fund common actions implemented with partners in Italy ( (Esserci s.c.s; Rainbow4Africa Medical Development, Diaconia Valdese CSD Servizi d’Inclusione; ASGI). DRC constantly works both on the implementation of new support activities for vulnerable people in the territory of Turin, and on the drafting of new project proposals to the EU authorities and to foreign private foundations to further support the non-profit entities in Piedmont and give local actors the opportunity to create solid networks at European level.