Despite the increasing number of African women seeking refuge in Italy, integration policies have largely remained “gender-neutral.” African migrant women face various forms of gender-based violence in their home countries, during their migration journey, and in the host country. In response, the MIA project (Modeling of Integration and Reception paths for women refugees victims of violence), an innovative Italian intervention, combines the expertise of migration and gender-based violence professionals. This qualitative study explores the experiences of professionals involved in the MIA project, using focus groups and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings confirm the need to build new tools to cope with the load of vulnerability brought by forced African migrant women, and the practical implications of these results will be analyzed.
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