Farnesina, Minasi: "This is how the network and social networks help us manage crises"

““ Our job is to intervene promptly in crises that affect Italian citizens and interests, interests that may also include construction sites, companies abroad or presences that are not visible but important as financial services.

It is

because even a few minutes of alert on an emergency such as a natural disaster, an act of war or an accident allow you to alert the political chain and even colleagues on the spot, to

”.

Nicola

.

Behind him he has a long diplomatic career, (United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina);

since October 2021 he has been following this new “mission”, in a rapidly changing global scenario requiring ever more in-depth and transversal skills.

The primary objective is the

.

There are two IT platforms available to citizens: the Viaggiare Sicuri portal, which provides information, travel advice and warnings, and the Dove Siamo Nel Mondo portal, dedicated to recording trips abroad.

Both are available through an easily downloadable App.

“I have been working here as a manager for a year - says Minasi in the interview with

- ​​in the past I worked for a period in the Crisis Unit as vicar.

Now I see a big difference: while once following the press releases was enough to be on par with events, this is no longer enough and

to be ready to face them.

And

”.

An evolution with which the Crisis Unit is measuring itself, through new communication challenges, and some projects aimed at promoting what Minasi defines as the

, which is important for all citizens.

There

of this change.

“Until a few years ago, if we learned of an event in progress we also searched on Twitter and Facebook to compare the news.

Now there are tools that do this automatically and therefore allow both to have a sort of sentinel on alerts, and to keep a magnifying glass on certain countries or situations to follow their developments day by day ”.

Has the Crisis Unit chosen to use one of these tools?

"We use a tool, also in use in some other countries and by large media companies, which scours the Net and social media - about half a million sources - and identifies the most important news that have to do with catastrophic events or other great news and gives it in advance of the press.

We learned of Gorbachev's death fifteen minutes earlier, the coup in Burkina Faso all the same.

Artificial intelligence detects tweets, posts and other social messages.

With these tools, therefore, we can improve the level of daily analysis and have a timely alert.

However, technology goes up to a certain point.

In the end you always need a certain instinct to understand where to look ".

How is the control of sources done?

““ The advantage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that thanks to the diplomatic network it has terminals everywhere that allow us to verify the truthfulness of news with trusted people on the spot.

At the same time, with the new tools, we can also give our colleagues an early warning in case they are not notified.

This produces an important exchange and recirculation of information, which increases the general awareness of what is happening.

There are those who say that diplomacy is superseded by the possibility of electronic exchanges, but they are wrong.

The comparison between the two realities makes the difference ".

(

.)

"This is a delicate job - Minasi continues - but at the same time beautiful because it allows us to imagine the future and shape it in some way, we are working on various projects and even small experiments that are not yet operational but if they work they will allow us to do many new things".

For example?

“We are testing, for example, the possibility of creating WI FI bubbles in foreign countries to maintain the connection with the Italians who are there even when the Internet is not working.

The attempt is to understand how to use a technology to create networks connected to the embassy ”.

What about magnifying glasses?

What situations do they focus best on in this period?

“Due to the energy crisis and rising costs of living around the world, low-income countries are the most exposed.

Our problem is to cross this network of countries with the presence of Italian communities that can be exposed, even if the numbers are not huge.

The Sahel, in this case, is an area of ​​enormous interest: there are over 750 Italians there, in the past there have been kidnappings so we use a magnifying glass.

And then we focus on situations that can degenerate into open war conflicts and there we do preparatory work, including with our embassies to monitor the situation, prepare for countermeasures, keep communication channels open, to keep in touch with our compatriots. and to have places to take refuge.

We periodically visit a number of countries to directly verify that embassies are equipped to respond to emergencies.

We need to be ready in times of peace to work better in times of crisis ”.

Rainews.it

Crisis Unit of the Farnesina

Are the situation in Iran and the case of Alessia Piperno under one of the lenses?

“We are not dealing with it directly from the Crisis Unit as it is not a case of terrorism or kidnapping and the excellent colleagues of the Directorate for Italians Abroad are following the situation.

The fact remains that the situation in Iran is complex and delicate, we advise against travel to the country and we have advised the citizens who are there to avoid gatherings.

There is a real risk of being involved in uncontrollable situations ”.

As for Ukraine, did you check the situation in times of peace?

"Yes, a month before the invasion and then on the eve, with two missions that covered the whole country"

Was there already a hint that the situation could degenerate?

“We weren't sure if anything could happen, but the principle we act on is always that of precaution.

When the situation begins to degenerate there is no more time to prepare.

On the eve of the invasion of Ukraine I was on a mission in another place, where the problems we anticipated actually exploded, and I returned immediately ”.

What is the situation of Italians in Ukraine at this stage?

“It is very delicate, until a few days ago the situation in the big cities was, after all, a controlled risk.

There are many Italians who enter and leave the country for work reasons but we continue to advise against going to Ukraine.

In any case, everyone is advised to download the Crisis Unit App and keep themselves informed ”.

Rainews.it

The hall of the Crisis Unit

Is the use of the App widespread?

“It is growing, we have exceeded 100,000 users, however there is always a need for a large investment in communication.

We need to find a way to propagate the use of these tools.

We are talking with small and medium enterprises, with associations, with universities.

Another effort we are making is to get help from companies like Booking ".

How?

“We are talking to them because now travelers use these portals on a daily basis to choose a destination.

To complete the bookings, the user always receives a confirmation email and we thought that in that email a line could be added to suggest registering on our

portal , or to consult

.

We are also talking to Google to advertise our sites among Italians who do travel searches.

And another thing that encourages us a lot is the agreement made with IO, the public services app that is a bit like the aircraft carrier of the digital services of the public administration.

Inside IO there is a drawer dedicated to the Foreign Ministry, with two links to our portals ”.

All aimed at creating more and more a direct connection with traveling citizens.

"Of course.

Moreover, if our compatriots do not notify us on their own initiative, we cannot know where they are going, locate them and intervene promptly in case of need ”.