INTEGRATED SERVICES FOR THE ROMA PEOPLE IN VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES

INTEGRATED SERVICES FOR THE ROMA PEOPLE IN VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES

The Roma population is the second largest minority in Romania (after the Hungarian ethnic group). It is difficult to precisely assess the percentage of Roma people in Romania, when considering the nomadic Roma population and the fact that this population does not have identification documents. The European Council estimates that the Roma population represents between 6% and 12% of the total population in Romania, while the data published by the National Statistics Institute after the census in 2011 show that 3.08% of the population in Romania is represented by the Roma ethnic group.

Find out more in the research report on the level of acceptance of Roma by the majority population.

Discrimination, social exclusion, and the high risk of poverty are some of the most common issues of the Roma communities.

The Salvați Copiii Romania Organization has extensive experience in providing social services to underprivileged communities, being present in 59 communities (46,595 beneficiaries – pregnant women, mothers, children under five years old). Salvați Copiii has a created a network of social inclusion and fight against poverty, in which it provides integrated services (medical, social, educational services) locally, thus supporting the increased access to sustainable and quality services for mothers, pregnant women, pregnant underage girls and children under five years old.

Moreover, ever since 1998, Salvați Copiii has implemented programs of preschool and school inclusion of children from underprivileged communities, focusing on Roma children. Aiming to increase access to preschool education and to improve the preparation for school, the Summer Kindergarten was a way to stimulate the children’s interest in school, to help them integrate and to reduce the education gap between them and the children who benefited from regular preschool education.

Between March 2021 and December 2023, Salvați Copiii Romania will implement a new project for the Roma persons, i.e., “Integrated services for Roma persons in vulnerable communities”.

The main objective of the project is to develop an integrated and innovative system of accessible quality services, to ensure better inclusion and empowering of the Roma people in four towns in the counties Neamț, Suceava, Timiș, and Dolj.

The project aims to provide quality integrated sectorial services to 1,310 people in vulnerable situations, 1,215 of them being Roma people, in marginalized communities from 4 Romanian counties: Neamț (Bahna, Izvoare village), Suceava (Ciprian Porumbescu, Ciprian Porumbescu village), Timiș (Checea, Checea village), and Dolj (Breasta, Breasta village). In addition, the project also includes actions designed to empower the Roma people, as well as measures to raise awareness about discrimination.

The four marginalized communities participating in the project will improve by: the number of children participating in the educational programmes, an increasing number of people included in the labour market, as well as reduced inequality in terms of access to social and medical services.

Considering all these long-term benefits, the project will contribute to breaking the cycle of social and economic exclusion and the vicious cycle of poverty, implicitly “improving the inclusion and empowerment of the Roma people”.

Expected results:

• 1,275 Roma people will receive services such as identity documents, improved living conditions, education, access to work, health services.
• 32 specialists/volunteers in the field of education, health, labour, social services, public administration, NGOs etc. will improve their skills in working with Roma people.
• 150 Roma people (adults, youth or children), especially young women and girls with little knowledge of their rights and their participation in the life of the community will be empowered by receiving information.
• 45 experts and Roma leaders from the Neamț and Dolj counties will participate in activities aimed to improve the community (25 people from each of the two counties).
• 35 people from the majority population, who are members of the community and who live in the areas covered by the project, including people in vulnerable situations, in risk situations or facing various forms of social-economic exclusion will receive the same services as the Roma population.
• 500 members of the community, who are part of the majority population and who live in the areas covered by the project, will be the target of the awareness/sensitivity campaign, which will approach anti-discrimination topics.

Partners: E-Romnja Association (Association for the Promotion of Roma Women’s Rights) and Bahna Townhall

Contributors: Ciprian Porumbescu Townhall, Checea Townhall, Breasta Townhall, “Ciprian Porumbescu” Primary and Middle School, Checea Primary and Middle School, Breasta Primary and Middle School, Bahna Primary and Middle School.  

The total value of the project is of € 1,089,870.

The project received a grant in the amount of € 980,833, offered by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, via the EEA Grants, in the Local Development Programme.

Disclaimer: This article received financial support from the EEA 2014-2021 Grants. The content of this site does not reflect the official position of the Programme Operator, the National Point of Contact, or the Office for Financial Mechanisms. The author(s) bear full responsibility for the information and opinions expressed. For official information about the EEA or Norwegian Grants, please visit www.eeagrants.ro.

For official information about the grant operator of the Local Development Programme, please visit www.frds.ro.

Partners: E-Romnja Association (Association for the Promotion of Roma Women’s Rights) and Bahna Townhall

Contributors: Ciprian Porumbescu Townhall, Checea Townhall, Breasta Townhall, “Ciprian Porumbescu” Primary and Middle School, Checea Primary and Middle School, Breasta Primary and Middle School, Bahna Primary and Middle School