- Identifying pathways to integration
- Capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators working with Roma women
- Delivery of the capacity building programme for formal and non-formal educators working with Roma women
- Design and implementation of pilot programmes aiming at the integration of Roma women at a local level
Activities
The National Report on the educational needs of Roma girls and women in Romania is part of a comparative analysis carried out in the 4 implementing countries. The national report for Romania was based on qualitative research conducted through interviews with Roma women, professionals who provide training services for Roma women and representatives of NGOs working to improve the situation of the Roma minority. The study includes three sections: the Romanian context; assessment of needs (access to information, educational needs, training needs, labour market integration, political participation) and personalized support for specific cases. The main conclusions of the report are: high school dropout; traditional values have a negative impact on the education of Roma girls and women; lack of self-esteem and/or positive role models for Roma girls/women with a negative impact on their education; insufficiently trained teachers to create an inclusive space in schools.
The National Report on the educational needs of Roma girls and women in Greece is part of a comparative analysis carried out in the 4 implementing countries. The national report for Greece was based on qualitative research conducted through interviews with Roma women, professionals who provide training services for Roma women and representatives of NGOs working to improve the situation of the Roma minority. The study includes three sections: the Greek context; assessment of needs, and personalized support for specific cases. The conclusions were that despite the efforts of the Greek state and civil society, Roma women continue to face inequalities in all aspects of life, illiteracy rates are significantly high, drop-out rates for girls are higher than for boys, the unemployment of Roma women is very high, while they have limited access to information, educational resources, and low political participation.
The National Report on the educational needs of Roma girls and women in North Macedonia is part of a comparative analysis carried out in the 4 implementing countries. The national report was based on qualitative research conducted through interviews with Roma women, professionals who provide training services for Roma women and representatives of NGOs working to improve the situation of the Roma minority. The study includes three sections: the national context; assessment of needs, and personalized support for specific cases. The report identified the main areas in which the capacities of Roman women should be strengthened so as to facilitate their inclusion, such as access to information, education, vocational training, access to the labour market, mentorship and psycho-social support. In addition, the skills and competencies of educators and NGOs who work with Roma women are considered as most important in order to enable them to support Roma women more effectively.
The National Report on the educational needs of Roma girls and women in Spain is part of a comparative analysis carried out in the 4 implementing countries. The national report was based on qualitative research conducted through interviews with Roma women, professionals who provide training services for Roma women and representatives of NGOs working to improve the situation of the Roma minority. The study includes three sections: the national context; assessment of needs, and personalized support for specific cases. The Roma women highlighted the importance of training related to motivation and self-esteem. The second most requested subject was related to the history of Roma women, and that they can achieve great goals like other Roma women activists, as well as courses on the prevention of gender violence. Finally, another aspect to take into account is the labour market, so many of them want training courses to improve their employability.
The report presents good practices identified as practical examples, highlighting the key success factors and introducing replication potential and mechanisms. The research focused on good practices related to the integration of Roma women at the local level having education and training at their core. For the identification of these good practices, secondary sources were utilised: National Roma Platforms in all EU countries; projects and interventions officially acknowledged as best practices (for example through the EU Roma Integration Award and other relevant competitions); relevant pilot activities undertaken by local Authorities; work performed by organisations and NGOs either representing or supporting Roma populations. In the implementing countries, primary information was also collected via interviews with officials from the National Roma Platforms; formal and non-formal educators with a solid track record in supporting Roma women; Roma women having been involved in similar initiatives.
The assessment involved the identification of areas where Roma women and formal & non-formal educators needed to be provided with the training programme and the local pilots. The report presents the exact needs of Roma women in regard to access to information, education, capacity building, access to the labour market, political participation, and personalized support for special skills and competencies of formal and non-formal educators working with Roma people. These specific needs were defined by taking the findings of Tasks 1.1 & 1.2 a step further and performing a gap analysis between the problems Roma women faced in all 4 countries and the desired state reflected in the good practices identified. The results of Task 1.1 provided useful input about the actual needs of Roma women while the good practices in Task 1.2, highlighted the desired level of certain skills and competencies for educators working with Roma people.
Handbook for non-formal education trainers regarding a holistic approach in working with Roma women gathers together information on the role and use of non-formal education to facilitate the integration and empowerment of Roma women. In this manual, trainers can learn more about the holistic approach to the education process, the principles that should be considered and good practices in working with Roma women. The manual contains an overview of the terms formal education, non-formal education and informal education, including similarities and differences between them, emphasizing the important role that non-formal education has in the lifelong education process, through the social and emotional development of the individual. The authors of the manual created a profile of the facilitator, recalling his main responsibilities, but also the challenges he encounters in exercising his role, while a very important chapter is dedicated to training techniques for non-formal education trainers.
