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Description
Many rural town halls are unable to offer the necessary services to vulnerable groups, because public employees are too few and insufficiently trained, and they do not work together for an effective case management. Such is the situation in Castelu, a commune with 5560 people, out of whom 480 are impoverished Turkish-Roma (called Horahai).
The project aims to (1) produce systemic changes in the way public services for vulnerable groups in Castelu are delivered and accessed, in order to facilitate social inclusion, decrease inequalities and develop the entire community; (2) use the direct experience to improve national public policy regarding integrated community services.
The project involves public employees in developing and testing a horizontal (social services-education-health) and vertical (local county-national) collaboration model to help them solve vulnerable groups'' severe/urgent problems; creates interaction routines among actors, to sustain this collaboration in the future and in other communities; documents the process and formulates public policy recommendations, and informs county and national authorities through constant communication and advocacy.
In parallel, it increases community members'' capacity to access public services, through remedial education, personal development and leadership training for children and youth, health education for mothers and women, by mobilizing a Local Initiative Group and by organizing community events that create positive interactions between people with different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicity.
Reality Check has direct experience in community development in Castelu, in policy evaluation and advocacy. Castelu City Hall involves the integrated local team and makes sure that the systemic changes proposed are applied. New Horizons brings experience in teambuilding and leadership, community organization and literacy, and Pe Stop·contributes with expertise in health and hygiene education.
Summary of project results
Castelu is a village in Constanta County with a severely impoverished community of Turkish Roma (over 500 people), who are discriminated against by the general population. The vulnerable people''s access to basic services is limited in terms of education, health care, housing, social assistance, and jobs.
The project "Together for a better life in Castelu" improved the way public services are provided for vulnerable people in Castelu: 1) creating a new way of approaching social assistance, by forming an integrated local team, establishing a routine of regular working meetings, planning family interventions, and analyzing progress through the case management method. 2) All 30 vulnerable families selected in the project were helped to enroll their children in school or kindergarten, to ensure their attendance to school and other project’ activities, to access health services, obtain late identity documents, get more involved in the life of the community, and attend training courses for employment. 3) a core of 218 children drawn towards school, who recovered part of the education gap and had a good attendance to School after School, sport education, literacy, and personal development bootcamps. Over 60% made educational progress and 90% behavior progress. 30 teenagers with leadership potential, Roma-Turks and Romanian participated in the youth club activities. 4) 175 girls and women attended courses on health education, childcare and breastfeeding. 100 people were helped with treatments, medical tests and counselling on various medical situations. 5) 40 people from Castelu took part in the Local Initiative Meetings. 859 children, teenagers and adults from Castelu, over 50 volunteers and 36 professionals (city hall employees, teachers, physicians) attended the 5 community events. 6) The authorities found ways to support the poor community following 7 local and 5 county advocacy meetings, 5 case studies, 5 policy briefs and a final public policy report, 12 information events, 2 round tables with national authorities and 9 community visits from decision makers.
Following the advocacy campaign a series of policy paper drafts have been elaborated and discussed by representatives of Education, Health and Labor Ministries. The Roma community in Castelu (500 people) started a process of sustainable change, which takes time, effort, motivation, action.