The third instalment of Impact Territories explores the NEET phenomenon and the role of outcome-based finance in developing responses capable of bringing together public policies, investors and social economy organisations.

Impact Territories continues, the column published in L’Economia Civile, the fortnightly supplement of Avvenire, and curated by Torino Social Impact Advisors Raffaella Scalisi and Tommaso Tropeano. The column examines some of the major economic and social transformations taking place today, starting from local experiences and new forms of collaboration between different actors.

Following the second instalment, dedicated to multi-stakeholder alliances to address the housing emergency, the new article, entitled “Impact Finance to Engage NEETs”, focuses on young people aged between 15 and 29 who are not in employment, education or training.

Over the past ten years, the share of NEETs in Italy has almost halved, falling from 25.7% in 2015 to 13.3% in 2025. This represents significant progress, although the country still remains above the European average. Behind this definition, however, lie very different situations, requiring responses capable of addressing education, employment, health and welfare at the same time.

The article therefore highlights the need to move beyond fragmented, short-term interventions by building alliances between the public sector, private actors, investors and the Third Sector, while testing financial instruments that link the resources deployed to the social outcomes actually achieved.

International experiences point to several possible approaches. From the outcome-based payment model tested in Porto to initiatives supporting young people leaving foster care in Bristol, and the UK’s Youth Engagement Fund, the cases examined show how public, philanthropic and private capital can be connected with social organisations and institutions to develop interventions based on shared and measurable outcomes.

This approach is also beginning to find new applications in Italy. Among the territories involved is the Metropolitan City of Turin, which is working on the development of Italy’s first Outcome Fund dedicated to addressing the NEET phenomenon.

This pathway is connected to the work that Torino Social Impact is carrying out through the European TOUCH project, dedicated to the development and testing of an Outcome Fund model in Piedmont. The mechanism links public and philanthropic resources to the achievement of defined outcomes, while private investors assume the financial risk and social economy organisations design and deliver the interventions.

The initiative is also consistent with the Torino 2030 Metropolitan Social Economy Plan, which identifies collaboration between different actors and innovation in financial instruments as key levers for strengthening the local social economy.

The NEET issue clearly shows why the most complex social challenges require equally cross-cutting responses: rather than financing individual sectors separately, interventions should be built around the outcomes to be achieved for people, measuring their effects and consolidating stable networks between the public, private and Third Sectors over time.