Description
Empowering Costesti Community! Is focused on strengthening the relationships between Costesti’s Roma and non-Roma citizens, as well as diminishing the educational discrepancies, thus leading to improvements on the social condition of Costesti’s ethnic mixed community. The project’s purpose is to promote education by organizing a Summer Kindergarten and mentoring programs providing educational support for Roma and non-Roma children, a literacy program addressing 15 Roma women, aiming to improve and promote women’s social perception and equal rights principles. Costesti’s secondary school students will participate in organized debates, discussing subjects such as democracy’s values and principles. A public debate will be organized, where 40 community members and local authorities will discuss and develop a plan, whose purpose will aim at increasing the level of well-being and the quality of life within the community
Summary of project results
The premises for building up an improved interaction and understanding among the two ethnicities existing in Costesti, especially among children as most of the project activities targeted them, were set. Children that live and learn in the same community used to rarely interact outside school, but due to several activities they developed strong and joyful friendships, breaking borders of fear, prejudices and indifference. A debate camp was organised and 20 children participated. 28 debate sessions took place and children managed to develop communication skills, they were able to structure their ideas and present an argumentation and have become more confident in their ability to hold a speech. Their informational baggage on discrimination, prejudices and their roles in decreasing intolerance levels among people also increased. The project focused on developing tools and actions to improve the level of education for Roma children, in order to reduce the gap between them and non-Roma children. Thus, in the summer of 2015 a summer kindergarten was organized for 20 children. At the end of the summer programme all of the children were enrolled in the preparatory grade and 1st grade. In addition, other 40 pupils (2nd to 8th grade) participated to 258 hours of remedial education and 300 educational mentorship sessions. After 6 months, the results showed that more than 30% of beneficiaries recorded progress and 50% of the beneficiaries showed increased school attendance. The educational empowerment targeted also the adults, 15 women - the mothers of the children involved in the educational activities - completed 30 sessions of literacy. As a result of these sessions, the participants became more aware of the importance that education has for their children and, in the same time, they improved their reading, writing and mathematics skills that allow them to escape the informational isolation to which they were exposed. The project also answered the policy development needs of the community, as during its implementation a Local Measure Plan for Roma community was drafted based on 100 questionnaires and a public debate. In January 2016 the Local Council approved the Local Action Plan that includes a number of measures in education, employment, health and housing. Continuing the educational services implemented within this project (the after school and the second chance programmes) is included among the approved measures.
Summary of bilateral results