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Description
The project is focused on creating an effective Roma platform composed of Roma leaders operating in the Moravian-Silesian and Olomouc regions, initially formed by leaders of 4 community groups in Moravian and Silesian localities (Třinec, Přerov, Ostrava-Kunčičky and Ostrava-Přívoz) connected to the implementer and partners. We will focus on strengthening the expertise and necessary skills of Roma leaders in these regions so that they are better able to orientate themselves in community work, engage and work effectively in their communities, cooperate with other relevant entities and partner organizations and thus contribute to goals Roma integration strategies at the regional and local level.
The project will map the educational needs of the participating communities (4 partners) and then develop and implement an educational plan in the form of seminars and workshops. In addition to the above, the effort of education is to combine experience and perspectives in the field of community work. The guarantor of this activity will be the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Ostrava. By deepening the skills and competencies of Roma leaders, there can be a more effective creation of strategies in the fight against social exclusion at local levels.
One of the project''s activities will be to support leaders in the implementation of local community activities and events - including community outreach events, and events to connect neighborhoods in localities. Another, partial goal of the project is the education and enlightenment of representatives of the majority society, especially employees of institutions who come into contact with Roma during their work, on the issue of social exclusion of Roma, its causes and the method of community work. This will be related to the preparation of promotional materials and the creation of the project''s website, with the aim of improving the media image of the Roma community in Czech society.
Summary of project results
During the project implementation, the project promoter partly encountered different approaches to community work and different conditions in the localities, and thus also the topics addressed. One of the challenges in the project was keeping the Roma leaders motivated. The project had many outputs, which was very time-consuming not only for the project team, but also for leaders and community workers.The project had four key activities: 1) Creation of a platform of Roma leaders and their education, 2) Activity of the regional platform of Roma leaders, 3) Improving the perception of Roma in society and 4) Support of community activities of Roma leaders in their own communities. The activities followed each other and were interconnected and focused not only on the implementation of community activities in localities, but also on supporting leaders, getting to know each other and connecting within the created Roma platform. An important part was also the publicity, which was used to spread awareness among the public and make the work of active leaders visible. The activities were designed in such a way that trust and partnership were created between the leaders and they were able to communicate together, share their experiences, opinions and ideas for further development their localities and activity of Roma platform. The main output was the creation of the Roma platform FEDER DROM. The platform consists of leaders from Přerov, Ostrava and Třinec. The leaders did a lot of activities that were supposed to contribute to their development and growth. They attended education, weekend trips, a foreign trip to Holland, etc. At the same time, the leaders continued to develop community work in localities. The project promoter also focused on spreading awareness among the public, e.g. through seminars, conference, videos, etc.
The main output and result of the project was the creation of the Roma platform FEDER DROM. Thanks to the newly created Roma platform, a dialogue between Roma representatives, organizations working mainly with Roma, public administration and other entities involved in Roma integration is supported. Altogether more than 700 Roma and 4 Roma/pro-Roma organizations were actively involved within project activities throughout the project implementation. The goal of the community workers is to continue working on the development of community work in individual locations after the end of the project. At the end of the project, the Roma leaders from Třinec began to implement gradual steps to establish a new association. One of the leaders from Třinec became a community worker in the partner organization Bunkr. Cooperation within the FEDER DROM platform will continue on a voluntary basis of the people involved. The leaders will make their own arrangements at the meetings.