Context

Roma communities are considered as one of the most socially vulnerable groups at EU wide level, suffering from multiple marginalization risks and being discriminated against by the general public. Roma women usually suffer from what in academic bibliography is called double discrimination: because of their cultural heritage and because they are women.
The situation of Roma women at all levels affecting social integration (education, employment, economic situation, living conditions) is far worse compared with men. Indicatively, based on FRA more women than men are unable to read or write, with the differences in the rates of illiterates between men and women above 16 years of age to the whole population being 12% in Romania, 8% in Spain and 12% in Greece. Regarding employment, based on FRA the share of Roma men whose main activity is ‘in employment’ is consistently higher than that of Roma women. Across all surveyed countries, more than twice as many Roma men were in employment than Roma women. The situation is similar also for Northern Macedonia. According to the Strategy for Roma in Republic of Macedonia 2014-2020, unemployment among Roma is almost twice as high as the national average and even higher among Roma women. The same for education; although the completion of primary and secondary education is a legal requirement, noticeable deviations are existent towards Roma girls.

Activities

PROMA is going to be implemented in 4 countries with dense Roma populations (Romania, Spain, Greece, North Macedonia) and involves 2 groups of participants: formal & non formal educators of Roma women and Roma women. 40 formal & non formal educators of Roma women and 100 Roma women will be involved in the implementation of PROMA, which includes the following activities:

– Identifying pathways to integration (needs’ assessment)
– Development of the capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators working with Roma women
– Pilot delivery of the capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators supporting Roma women
– Design and implementation of pilot programmes aiming at the integration of Roma women at local level.
In addition, 3 open days will be implemented (in Spain, Greece & North Macedonia), along with an international conference (in Romania) for introducing the project to a wide audience.

Outcomes

The expected main outcomes of PROMA are:

– An innovative methodology fostering the social inclusion of Roma women will be introduced, utilizing adult education as a vehicle, following a locally-based context and promoting local pilot programmes jointly designed and implemented by Roma women and formal & non-formal educators of Roma women.
– The skills of 40 formal & non-formal educators of Roma women in the 4 implementing countries will be developed in terms of implementing the developed methodology for the social inclusion of Roma women.
– At least 100 Roma women in the 4 implementing countries will improve their skills and competences by participating in the local pilot programmes.
– Local pilot programmes aiming at social inclusion of Roma women through education will be implemented jointly by educators and Roma women in the 4 implementing countries.

Expected project results & envisaged impact:

– Formal & non-formal educators of Roma women are equipped with a new methodology and trained in order to better respond to the special and particular educational challenges that Roma women face preventing their integration into local communities.
– Roma women are more engaged in following educational initiatives at the local level aiming at their social inclusion, as well as have their skills and competences increased.
– The level of acceptance of Roma women where the pilots have taken place has improved and cases of racist or phobic phenomena against Roma have dropped.
– Social cohesion levels in the local communities where the local pilot programmes have taken place have elevated and the level of integration of Roma women in those communities has increased.