Description
The project focuses on two issues: non-schooling children in the Roma community and school dropout and poverty of families in Racos. Objectives: 1.Increase the income and improve living standards by promoting traditional agricultural activities - milk cows for 10 families in Racos 2. Providing specialized educational services to prevent abandonment and failure Roma from the village school for 30 pupils enrolled in secondary education . Organizational Development Objective - Support for the development organization of Association for Community Integration Racos. Target group: 30 children from the village Racoş , 10 families, 20 direct beneficiaries, the Association. Results: an after school program, 30 children beneficiaries of the after school program, 10 families with a new economic status a Roma NGO supported, fundraising for the after school program. Project beneficiaries are citizens of Roma and Hungarian communities, local NGOs, public authorities and local media.
Summary of project results
The project responds to the most important problems of the Roma community in Racos: a low level of education / high rate of school absenteeism and high level of social exclusion/poverty, all of them addressed by the local development strategy elaborated through a participatory process. The main objective of the project is to contribute at improving the educational and social situation of Roma in Racos. In this respect, the following activities were implemented: 10 milk cows were donated to 10 Roma poor families, using the “Gift from gift” scheme (the beneficiaries become the owners after they donate the first heifer to another family in the community, selected by the local association); 20 Roma beneficiaries participated at an evaluation process of their informal knowledge on raising animals and were certified; a School after school programme for 31 Roma students and a First Aid course were organised. In the same time, a series of thematic meetings took place: with one Roma student (as a role model for others, acknowledging the importance of education), with a team of police officers (for discussing about youth delinquency and means to combat it) etc. Also, a theatre play, with Roma students and parents as audience, was set. During the project, a fundraising campaign was organised; it mainly addressed 50 private companies based on the 20% fiscal facility. The campaign included a concert with a well-known Romanian singer. The amount of money raised (2,356 Euro) ensured expenses for continuing the School after school activities until the end of the school year 2015-2016. A process of organisational development for the Association for Community Integration Racos was implemented within the project and included elaborating procedures for an efficient functioning, management consultancy and participation at the meetings of the Local Action Group from the Northern part of Brasov County (within LEADER Programme). The project helped improving the educational situation of the 31 Roma beneficiary students who now have a better understanding of the importance of education and can transmit that in the Roma community in Racos. Also, the project started a process of collaboration and economic growth for the Roma families through the “Gift from gift” multiplying scheme.
Summary of bilateral results