More information
Description
GIFT & The Voice- the Voice of the Initiative Group of the Young Women from Braesti locality, Buzau County ”is the initiative of the Center for Advocacy and Human Rights and the Buzau Community Development Agency to empower young women to become agents of change for Roma and non-Roma women, but also of the whole community through advocacy actions and influence of the political and decision to consider the voice of the community and women in establishing and implementing development measures regarding the Braesti community. The project provides women with a platform to react by establishing the GIFT- a Young Women Initiative Group which will benefit from capacity building programme in advocacy actions on community development. This intervention mechanism is proposed to meet the needs of a hard-to-reach community, with a mixed population, residentially segregated, facing economic difficulties, with families living on the edge of poverty, without jobs, high dropout rates, especially of Roma girls who drop out of school due to pregnancies or early marriages; lack of specialized medical access, lack of involvement of young Roma women in the decision-making. Thus, the project proposes a combined package of interventions to strengthen the skills of influencing young women, and providing services in the field of education and health for children and women, such as remedial activities for 80 pupils, organizing intercultural events for 240 students and 60 Roma and non-Roma parents, medical services for 250 members of extended communities, out of which at least 100 women. Through GIFT, all these initiatives will play an essential role and contribution to unify the community of Braesti and combating the isolation of the Roma population, as well as in reducing the differences between this vulnerable group and the majority.
Summary of project results
The project significantly impacted the Roma community in Brăești through the implementation of complex activities focused on social inclusion, education, and awareness. The Young Women’s Initiative Group (GIFT) was established with the participation of 17 Roma women, who were trained in gender equality, community development, and advocacy. The group consulted 412 community members to identify issues and develop a local inclusion strategy, with the action plan adopted in October 2023. In education, 80 students (36 girls, 44 boys) from grades I-IV benefited from educational remediation sessions, which led to improved performance in Romanian and mathematics for over 50% of the participants, a 20% reduction in absenteeism, and its complete elimination. Success was attributed to innovative teaching methods, material support, and the active involvement of mothers. Intercultural events such as “Story Circle – Romanian and Roma Tales” and “Mentorship and Roma and Non-Roma Traditions,” alongside the GIFT-organized cafés, fostered dialogue among women and raised awareness of their role as agents of change. Moreover, the project ran health and sexual education awareness campaigns addressing topics like preventing early pregnancies, vaccination, and oral hygiene, reaching 609 participants. Additionally, 212 individuals received medical tests, 84% of whom were women.
The specific objectives of the project were fully met. Objective 1- 18 Roma women acquired information and skills regarding community development through training courses, technical assistance sessions, the 2 exchanges of experience and the implemented Advocacy actions that led to the elaboration and approval of the local strategy with specific measures for the community local. Objective 2 - through the implementation of A 6 and 7 which resulted in remedial sessions for 80 students from the primary cycle of which 51% recorded progress regarding school performance and absenteeism 0 and 117 students benefited from intercultural mentoring, where the students learned to communicate and collaborate more effectively with other students from diverse cultural backgrounds, developing empathy and openness to diversity. With regard to the objective, 3-704 people participated in A8 both in the information campaigns in the field of health: 34 young mothers benefited from information sessions on healthy ways of raising children and family planning, 339 members of the Roma community and Nerome participated in information sessions regarding the prevention of TBS and the importance of vaccinating children, 117 students participated in information sessions regarding oral hygiene and 212 people benefited from a package of medical tests.
The results obtained in the project were the result of the effective collaboration between the partners, who through the almost weekly management meetings, most of which took place online, and continuous information, planned the activities carried out in this reporting period in time and efficiently. In addition to these elements, an important role was also played by the expertise of the two partners in the field of intervention of the project, the empowerment of interethnic communities, as well as the previous excellent collaborations in similar projects. The ADCBuzau partner supported the project promoter in the implementation of activities 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 in Braesti. In order to carry out the activities in real time and without delay, ADCB provided particularly valuable additional support in carrying out activities 3,4,6 and 7.