Description
"Socio-educational services for Roma inclusion", the project of Desire Foundation for Social Reflection and Openness empowers civil society (including a grassroots Roma organization) to implement an innovative model of intervention that responds to the challenges of marginalization in Cluj, and it supports the endeavor of mayoralty to residential re-integrate into the city the disadvantaged families from Pata Rât. The project acts on the latter by services offered to children that assure their participation on quality formal and non-formal education, but as well as to families with difficulties in order to avoid school abandonment; moreover, it operates on the pre-university educational system for developing the network of inclusive schools dedicated to desegregation, inclusive education and education for human rights, which is able to bring together Roma and non-Roma teachers, parents and children, and to assume a public role in promoting the city’s inclusive and cohesive development. Out of the 690 direct project beneficiaries, approximately 360 belong to disadvantaged areas.
Summary of project results
The project provided socio-educational services to children from the Pata Rat disadvantaged area (Roma community near Cluj-Napoca city), in order to support their participation to quality formal and non-formal education. A research was conducted to evaluate the needs of the community and set grounds for further developing the activities. An afterschool program was implemented in 6 schools where Pata Rat children are registered. The program consisted of a package of services depending on the children’s needs: transportation, meals, educational support and human rights issues/civic education and personal development. 458 Roma children benefited from these services. Also there were organized artistic activities at Casa Tranzit in the form of a visual education workshop and a community theatre workshop that were attended by 80 children. Within the project there were provided psychological counselling for preventing school dropout, there were organized activities in the selected schools, aiming to prevent school dropout, peer violence and sexual abuse. There were organized four workshops with parents (residents of Pata-Rat), representatives of local authorities, representatives of the Cluj County School Inspectorate, teachers from the schools that are partners of the project, teachers from other schools from the city, representatives of the local media. These workshops were attended by 40 participants. Working groups of teachers from all the schools were created, as well as advisory groups of parents and students. There was created and made functional the inclusive school network in Cluj. At the same time, a strategy of the Cluj Network of inclusive schools (for the inclusion of Roma children) was elaborated and was agreed through signed partnership with 14 schools, Cluj-Napoca City Hall, Cluj County School Inspectorate and Desire Foundation.
Summary of bilateral results