Watch the dialogue on the three-year anniversary of this movement of people helping people between Simone Bemporad, THSN board member and Generali Communications and Public Affairs Director, and Emma Ursich, THSN Executive Director and Generali Head of Corporate Identity. Discover more about the impact we’re making on our communities, our response to Covid-19, our future home in Venice, and ambitions for the next three years and beyond.
EMMA:
The reason why we launched The Human Safety Net was to make something big together and to see where we could help in the communities
SIMONE:
The Human Safety Net is the element that was missing, is the element that connects Generali to the world.
EMMA:
The Human Safety Net is now 3 years old and it has been an incredible journey. The deployment was pretty fast, we are now in 23 countries with more than 50 partners. We have activities and centers for families in more than 100 cities, incubators for refugees who are seeking employment or self-employment in 13 locations.
PURPOSE IS THE BUSINESS
SIMONE:
People might tend to think that purpose is a higher mission something that goes beyond the business but it's not really part of the business. But the great effort to that we are doing instead is to give the purpose its real meaning: the purpose is the business. There I s no parallel tracks here.
EMMA:
The recipe that has made it successful so far is that we had a common purpose, we were all going in the same direction, aiming for the same objectives.
A NET OF PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE
SIMONE:
So the net is the net of our employees the first of all they see this fil rouge, a common goal of making with The Human Safety Net an important contribution to society. We see the net of the people that we help the NGO that we support through The Human Safety Net. And then the beneficiaries that can benefit from our help today to thrive tomorrow, which is the essence of The Human Safety Net.
But also I would say a very important element of the concept of the net is bringing on board organizations that are similar to The Human Safety Net, similar to Generali, who care about the future of our world, about the future of our children, the planet as is it is today and to work together with them.
EMMA:
We have already developed some interesting collaboration between the public and the private sector, but also between private organizations working in similar field and joining forces.
WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE A TANGIBLE IMPACT
EMMA
So we did not go the easy way to find maybe one global partner. In each country we work deeply to scout together with our colleagues from the business units who was already on the ground, operating in those contexts, working with those targets. And then we worked together to build something that went much beyond a check, so we wanted to build a partnership, and exchange that would build and grow over time. And this also meant that there was a lot of attention on due diligence, on governance and on measurement, not for its own sake but also for learning.
I think we are well underway to achieve our ambition, of course it’s a long journey. The key element of the ambition is the idea to accompanying people for a certain period of their life with the aim of transformation. Transformative really is about helping people achieve their dreams and their plans for their life, and turn their lives for the better.
A FAST REACTION TO COVID
EMMA:
So when the COVID pandemic hit we were able thanks to The Human Safety Net to immediately do three things.
The first one was to be there in the communities, whether it was from Slovenia to Spain, from Germany to Indonesia and help with the immediate needs like food, internet connection, hardware.
The second thing we did was to issue some grants to help our organizations go digital.
The third point which is that we got the help of many of our colleagues, who are IT experts, marketing experts, content experts to help our NGOs develop in the most efficient way and fast way this digital approach.
THE FUTURE THAT’S BEYOND
EMMA:
The world's today is facing unprecedented social challenges. The Human Safety Net is here and ready to act. There's so much potential that we can all activate together for the next three years and beyond to be there for our local communities. and now looking to the future we are in a fantastic position to take full advantage something of this ecosystem we have created, to go even further.
SIMONE:
The Human Safety Net is an evolving idea, it is not a set framework. It provides that connection between all of the Generali people and the world today and tomorrow.
EMMA:
And to me this means, on the one hand in terms of social impact growing the reach of what we do through scaling. And finally, I think the experience that we have matured over these years around social innovation is a really interesting platform to share more widely within our group.
SIMONE:
So I think that the very important goal for the next years is to enlarge the net in terms of those who can contribute to the same goals that we are pursuing.
THE FUTURE HOME OF THE HUMAN SAFETY NET IN VENICE
SIMONE:
Procuratie Vecchie will become the Home of The Human Safety Net when the renovation work, led by architect David Chipperfield, will be finished in the end of 2021.
Think about the incredible circumstances of Generali being in one of the most iconic places of the world, which is Piazza San Marco. Why this is important when we talk about The Human Safety Net? Because every initiative needs a point that summarize all its elements.
This tells a lot about the potentiality of The Human Safety Net in making in the Procuratie Vecchie a physical contact with the people that will come and send them a message, deliver the message of getting involved, of showing a commitment, of being part of the journey. And maybe using The Human Safety Net as the right vehicle to express this commitment and to express the will to leave a mark, and to give a contribution to our community.