The “Trust is Energy” project

With the “Trust is Energy” project, eni, through its subsidiary Eni Corporate University, provides scholarships and support for the training of deserving young people in projects of professional qualification and/or personal and social recovery programmes that help them overcome difficulties.

It is a project that is part of a major investment in scholarships - on average about 180 - awarded by eni each year to Italian and foreign students through Eni Corporate University (ECU). It is a significant commitment that is a practical demonstration of the value that eni attaches to merit. About 50 of these scholarships are for the MEDEA Master of the Scuola Mattei; the others are assigned for master’s programmes and training courses on topics of interest to the oil & gas area and conducted in partnership with prestigious universities in Italy and abroad (e.g. Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, and the universities of Bologna, Pisa and Oxford, ...). These scholarships are awarded after a rigorous selection process among Italian and foreign students, conducted following public tenders.

The “Trust is Energy” project “leverages” training and work as tool to support the personal and professional development of young people. In the case of those serving prison sentences, the specific purpose is their social reintegration.

The project is carried under three conventions, two in existence for some years, and a third signed more recently:

  • The first is an agreement with the Regional Superintendency of Prison Administration of Lombardy (for young offenders). Through this agreement we involved four detainees in a training programme, proposed by the Prison Administration, and managed to hire 3 (at Versalis - Mantua); we are currently considering the launch of two more training programmes;
  • The second is an agreement with the Istituto Martinitt (for young non-EU citizens), the historic orphanage founded in Milan in the 16th century. Through this agreement we have been able to support, through scholarships, the training of 5 young people (one from Bangladesh, three from Morocco and one from Albania), 4 of whom have already completed the course, while a fifth is finishing. At the end of the selection process, 3 of the 4 have already been hired by eni (2 by the R&M Division - Sannazzaro and 1 by E&P - San Donato), while the fourth is in the process of being hired (by Versalis - Ravenna);
  • The third agreement was signed very recently with the Uficio Pio della Compagnia di San Paolo (for ex-offenders).

The initiatives of this project all come from an involvement and an act of faith that nourishes hope and stimulates energy and a sense of the future. It is a trust that the operators of the prison facilities or the educators of the Martinitt share with the people at eni who have contributed and continue to contribute to the realisation of the project.

These concrete experiences have shown us the enormous value of training and work, which are essential in all efforts aimed at developing autonomy, personal responsibility, self-esteem and social skills and, in particular, for the social reintegration of prisoners.