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Description
The AmariZor/Self Reliance project addresses the problem of almost zero participation of the Roma in public life. Most of them do not participate in elections, they often do not know their civil rights. A large number of them are just passive clients of social services, not active citizens, participating in all aspects of social and political life in their city. The process of emancipation and full inclusion of the Roma requires a long-term effort, especially of the Roma themselves, as well as the willingness of the decision-makers to cooperate with them. Therefore, it is necessary to permanently strengthen civic activation of the Roma. The project concerns three cities in the Czech Republic and support and encourage efforts of the Roma to actively contribute to the prosperity of their towns and influence the decision-making processes. The activities of the project are: Regular Meetings of Communities (output:18 meetings); Public Events (output: three public events), Exchange of Experience (output: three meetings); Election Campaign 2022 (output: one campaign) and Dissemination of Good Practice (output: two meetings). The target group is 45 Roma residents in Písek, Chodov and Budišov, who have already been involved in activities within the Bidaripen project (supported by ACF). Within the new project, we would like to strengthen these groups of active Roma, who will continue cooperation with decision-makers and further motivate other members of their communities to become active citizens. The AmariZor project contributes to the emancipation and successful inclusion of the Roma minority, which is the basic intention of the Czech Republic''s Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of the Roma 2021-2030.
Summary of project results
During the implementation of the Bidaripen/Odvaha project (supported by Active Citizens Fund, 2020), it was found that most Roma people do not participate in elections or only occasionally exercise their rights, and generally, they are unaware of their civic rights. (see: http://www.slovo21.cz/extensions/bidaripen-s-odva/870-vysledek-iii)
A survey on the status of Romani women from 2014, in which 600 Romani women from 23 cities in the Czech Republic participated, also showed that their involvement in civic or political activities is almost non-existent. (see: http://www.slovo21.cz/index.php/extensions/vsechny-romske-projekty/332-pruzkum-o-postaveni-romskych-zen-v-ceske-republice)
The Government Strategy for the Equality, Inclusion, and Participation of Roma 2021-2030 emphasizes that "the precondition for the exercise of rights by members of national minorities within the Romani minority is, in particular, their emancipation. Emancipation is understood as the Romani minority''s self-liberation from an unequal position, with the will of a substantial part of the minority being decisive for emancipation. Without this will, which is determined by Romani people themselves, society can only ensure individual equality." (see: https://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/zalezitosti-romske-komunity/aktuality/Strategie-rovnosti--zacleneni-a-participace-Romu-2021---2030---textova-cast_OK_2.pdf)
This project directly contributes to Roma people, from a marginalized civic position, independently moving into the position of citizens who participate equally and actively in all aspects of social life. In selected cities, there is great potential to advance local communities and spread their experiences to other locations, so further support is needed. If we were to terminate our activities in these cities, instead of increasing the base of motivated Roma individuals, the activities that lead to their greater participation in decision-making processes would certainly decline.
The fundamental problem lies in the fact that the vast majority of Roma have lost trust in the institutions tasked with addressing Roma integration issues, and they also do not believe that they can be agents of change and prosperity for the Roma community.
Through a series of project activities based on prior communication with local groups, we contributed to changing the current situation, even though it is a long-term process. We often encountered the fact that Roma in localities lacked information about how local government functioned and that there was an opportunity to establish good communication with the city leadership (without which it was impossible to expect solutions to local problems). Therefore, we organized community meetings where specific needs were formulated, and ways to address them were sought in collaboration with local authorities. We also focused on preparing Roma for participation in municipal elections scheduled for October 2022. Within the meetings of local groups, we discussed and emphasized the need to vote, thereby influencing local policies regardless of who they chose to vote for.
The organization of public events targeting the wider public also contributed to activation and engaged citizens from the majority population. Sharing experiences among different Roma groups led to mutual support and the exchange of information on how communities functioned in other cities. Over time, we expected these individuals to become catalysts for future activities and positive changes.
The project has had the greatest impact, especially in terms of changing the attitude of individuals toward civic activation and community organizing within the
Roma community. During the implementation of the project, three strong groups of Roma citizens were established and we intend to continue to support their
personal development, but also the development of the community as a whole. The Roma in these groups are able to define their needs and are extremely
interested in participating in activities that lead to positive changes, not only for the Roma but for the entire community in their places.
The second success of the project has been establishing close cooperation with other Roma NGOs operating in the given cities. In some cases, we also
addressed local authorities, even if it is still not a continuous and full-fledged cooperation.
The project also positively affected other cities where we operate as the Roma Women´s Group Manushe. Furthermore, the Roma from places where Manushe
has not been active so far, have contacted us with requests to be involved in community organizing, for example, Broumov.
The great success we noticed in Budišov, where the Roma (who participated in the AmariZor project) founded in 2022 their own non-profit organization called
Spring 22. At the beginning of 2023, this NGO submitted an application for its own project on community organizing. With the Spring 22 NGO our organization
will continue to cooperate in the implementation of further activities related to civic activation and community organizing.
The following objectives were achieved:
- Functioning active groups of Romani citizens in three cities were established, motivated to collaborate with local authorities and actively engage in decision-making processes at the local level.
- Implementation of a community election campaign in 2022. Based on monitoring at polling stations and direct communication with Romani citizens by community organizers, it can be noted that the response from Romani voters was significant.
- Execution of one public event.
- Conducted one knowledge exchange.
- 17 meetings of active Romani community members took place in three cities.
- Two public events were carried out.
- Three knowledge exchange sessions were held.
- Two dissemination meetings occurred.