At Sigep World 2026, the partners behind the “Gelato and Pastry for Solidarity” project reviewed a journey that began in 2012. It has led to 13 gelato shops and pastry businesses in 7 countries (Italy, Haiti, Brazil, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt and Mozambique), plus a range of training and social inclusion projects in Italy and Africa.

What the project does

The initiative is promoted by the Bruto and Poerio Carpigiani Foundation together with NGOs and associations: Agape ETS and Gelarte, Cremedoce de Fronteira Ressano Garcia and Maputo (Mozambique), Vento di Terra Onlus, South Sudan Women Empowerment Project, Borgo Digani and Casa Santa Chiara.

The aim is to give people chosen by local NGOs professional training in gelato and pastry making, then support them to build real businesses backed by solid business plans, so staff and entrepreneurs can enter, or return to, the job market.

Highlights for 2025 and 2026 include:

• New “WorkAbility” training projects in Jordan for women in socio-economic vulnerability.
• A partnership with the residential community Borgo Digani.
• Progress on the Cremedoce de Fronteira project in Mozambique, run closely with Gelarte.
• New links, made during the Sigep presentation, with Sudan and Agape Onlus for possible projects in Congo, Tanzania and India, and fundraising with Agape Onlus for the “Senza Etichetta” project planned for Italy in 2026.

Voices from the conference

Romano Verardi, President of the Foundation, said the projects have kept going despite economic instability linked to the pandemic and war. He explained that the goal has always been to combine ethics with business practice so gelato production and retail can become stable sources of work, even where hardship and poverty are widespread, with free in-person and online training at the heart of it.

Serena Baldini, President of Vento di Terra, described the long collaboration with the Foundation in Jordan and Palestine. There, the social gelato shop becomes a place for inclusion, with high-level skills and machinery transferred to local, sustainable production. It includes a “suspended gelato” (pay-it-forward) scheme so everyone can enjoy a quality product. WorkAbility follows the same principles.

Lorenzo Vanini of Agape ETS said that projects such as Cremedoce de Fronteira in Mozambique, now evolved into Gelarte, show that gelato can build inclusion, training and autonomy, and that their strength is that they can be replicated. This led to “Senza Etichetta”, a planned social gelato shop in Rome run by young people with disabilities and young people with migrant backgrounds, developed with Sinapsy Social Cooperative and Casamatta ETS, with a fundraising campaign under way.

Daniele Cintelli spoke for the Women Empowerment project in South Sudan, which is setting up an artisan gelato school and a training gelato shop that combine technical training, research into local raw materials and entrepreneurial skills. Carpigiani contributes know-how and technology, and the project hopes to become a benchmark for artisan gelato in East Africa.

Timeline of the network, 2012 to today

• 2012 to 2016: first core project in São Paulo, Brazil, with the opening of Gelato que Nectar on 28 February 2016, run by the Father Leo Commissari Association to support children from the favelas.
• 2012: 14 young people from the Francesca Rava Foundation began training at Carpigiani Gelato University, aiming to open the first solidarity gelato shop in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
• 2014 to 2015: Cairo Social Gelato Shop in Maadi, with the Egyptian NGO Eaqfeyat Al Maadi Community Foundation. It opened in 2015 and closed in 2017, and reopening in another part of Cairo is being considered.
• 2016 to 2017: a redevelopment project in disadvantaged parts of Milan with the Casa della Carità Don Angelo Abriani Foundation, leading to the “Ero straniero” Social Bar Gelateria.
• 2016 to 2018: the lead-up to the first Dolce Positivo store in Vigevano, created to offer real jobs to people with intellectual disabilities. It succeeded, and a second Vigevano store opened in 2022.
• 2018: a gelato-making course for Syrian and Jordanian women began in Amman, Jordan, with Vento di Terra Onlus and funding from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The Dolce Futuro Social Gelato Shop was founded.
• 2017 to 2019: the move to Mozambique, with Cremedoce de Fronteira in Ressano Garcia on the South African border. Agape Onlus and the Scalabrinian Sisters created a pastry and gelato training programme that ended with a production and retail shop serving nearby tourist towns on the seafront. A second shop, Cremedoce de Maputo Capital, opened in the capital in 2023.
• 2017 to 2019: two years working with Vento di Terra led to Gelato di Gaza in Palestine, supporting young Palestinians through a sustainable start-up.
• 2019: back in Italy, the Cremeria Capodimonte social gelato shop opened in the Capodimonte district of Naples, with Officina dei Talenti Onlus and Amici Casa della Carità Onlus.
• 2023: Cremedoce de Maputo Capital opened in Mozambique, and Gelateria dei Campioni opened at Borgatella di San Lazzaro (Bologna), promoted by Campus dei Campioni and sponsored by the Engineering Group.
• 2024: a training project in Jordan for Syrian and Jordanian women in socio-economic vulnerability, run with Progetto Vento di Terra, Italian Cooperation and the Princess Taghrid Institute for Training and Development (PTI).
• 2024: the Cremedoce de Fronteira shop moved from Ressano Garcia to the tourist area of Maputo for more public engagement, with expansion of the project into Congo planned, in collaboration with Agape Onlus.
• 2024: Podere Santa Croce and Borgo Digani, a social inclusion and environmental protection project for younger generations and their families.
• 2024 to 2025: in Maputo, AGAPE worked with the GELARTE gelateria, led by Alberto Giani, a restaurant professional with strong technical skills and a commitment to the non-profit sector, to train young men and women from AGAPE’s communities and create new jobs.
• 2025: the Gelato School for Women’s Empowerment in South Sudan, creating an artisan gelato school in Juba to offer women professional training and economic independence.
• 2025: PizzAut in Italy. Founder Nico Acampora added gelato sundaes to the menus of his two Lombardy restaurants, using a simple, replicable system that suits the young people involved in the project.
• 2025 to 2026: “Senza Etichetta” in Rome, a social gelato shop or kiosk in areas such as Villa Ada or the Via Chiana zone. It is a collaboration between AGAPE, the Sinapsy Cooperative, the Italian Buddhist Union and the Foundation, supported by the City of Rome and Municipios II and III, aiming at social inclusion, jobs for young migrants and people with disabilities, training and urban renewal.
• 2025 to 2026: “WorkAbility” in Jordan, Vento di Terra Onlus’s new job inclusion project to build professional skills and improve employability for young people, vulnerable women and people with disabilities.

What this means for gelato makers in New Zealand

These projects show what training and the right equipment can do for a community. Majors Group is the official Carpigiani distributor in New Zealand, and we can help you learn the craft through Carpigiani Gelato University and our training programmes, or plan your own start with the guide to opening a gelato shop.

Source: Carpigiani news. Rewritten for New Zealand by Majors Group.