Description
Different issues like: individual and family poverty, communitarian poverty, social exclusion, marginalization and discrimination, poor living conditions, low involvement in the labor market, lack of professional training and the general low level of education influence directly the degree of access to education and information of Roma children and youngsters. These complex issues strengthens the isolation and marginalization tendencies of the Roma people in Grajduri. The objective of the project is to increase the degree of social inclusion of Roma ethnics on Grajduri, Iasi. Specifically, the project will promote inclusive education in the community, will increase the information and awareness level regarding children’s rights in the Roma communities and will increase the capacity of Roma ethnics to defend their rights. The target group of the project consists of 150 Roma children from the 6 villages of the commune, 50 Roma parents and 10 leaders/resource persons from both ethnic communities
Summary of project results
Interethnic conflicts, difficult communication with public authorities, low levels of community development, poverty and educational deficiencies are just some of the issues that Roma ethnics must face in Grajduri, Iasi County. The project's goal was to increase the social inclusion of Roma citizens from Grajduri, Iasi. Therefore, 57 activities of non-formal education, fighting discrimination and promoting tolerance, dialogue and diversity have been organised with the help of the Mobile School in the villages of the commune, with 272 children attending. Also, a football mini-championship and a marathon for the children of the villages, that promoted tolerance and interethnic dialogue as means of communication and living together, have been organised. The necessary steps to start the “Second chance” educational programme - lower secondary level - in the school from Grajduri were made, as part of the project. The paperwork was submitted to the School County Inspectorate in Iasi and one of the classrooms was renovated, creating a great opportunity for the adults that quit school or did not complete the compulsory education to continue their studies. Within the set of activities aiming at increasing the level of information concerning children’s rights, a study was elaborated ("Children’s rights protection in the Roma justice system"), which compares the "gypsy law and judgement" (Stabor) with the national law, from the perspective of children’s rights. In order to verify and complete the conclusions of the study, 3 focus-groups with leaders of the Roma communities in Iasi County were organised. Also, 2 sessions of Summer school with Roma parents from Grajduri were organised. In order to increase the capacity of Roma community members to defend their rights, an inter-ethnic association that has as purpose defending and promoting the rights of roma children and other minorities in Grajduri was established. The 12 founding members participated at a course that gave them the basic necessary skills for a good management of the NGO. The partner in the project was Iasi Police Inspectorate, an institution that assigned a representative who supported the implementation team at the Mobile School activities. The partner had a valuable expertise on identifying and addressing needs in inter-ethnic rural communities and also helped maintaining a good relation with the media, both locally and at a regional level.
Summary of bilateral results