On 17th – 18th April 2013, the representatives from the National Roma Centrum, and coordinators of the project “Promoting social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities”, Irfan Martez and Anita Dimitrievska, together with the representatives from the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe”, went on a field visit to Liga Pro Europa from Romania. The visit took place in the headquarters of Liga Pro Europa in Tirgu Mures and in the Romanian village Glodeni.
The representatives from the National Roma Centrum and the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” had a round table discussion on the theme “Combating social exclusion of young Roma people – risks and opportunities of employment on the Romanian labor market” at the office of Liga Pro Europa in Tirgu Mures. The subject was discussed by the before mentioned representatives and by representatives from: the County agency responsible for labor and employment, Public health directorate, County school inspectorate, Prefect’s office, and by formal and informal leaders.
The lack of education leads to unemployment. The program “Second Chance” works on professional development through the 19 different trainings which it offers. The problem is that many people have no education at all so they cannot be included in the projects for professional qualification. Many people don’t have personal documentation, but this is a solvable problem. Around 2% of the unemployed people from the area declare themselves as Roma, although the assumption is that there are more.
On the meeting we also heard a motivational speech from Rudy Moca who said that if the people want to be active in the fight against stereotypes and prejudices, then they should become competent to do so, and that can only be achieved with education. Education should begin at the earliest age and is the only way to self-realization. Denying one’s own ethnicity leads to undermining oneself in the eyes of the others. Poverty is not an acceptable excuse for being and staying illiterate.
There are 36 health mediators in the area of Tirgu Mures. All of them are Roma, who have at least primary school education. They are hired by the municipality, coordinated by the Direction for social health and paid by the Ministry of health. They work in 55 districts with 18000 citizens. They work in the fields of hygiene, vaccination, contraception, pregnancy, etc. The mediators have been on a specialization program for medical assistance.
The second part of the meeting was reserved for the presentations from the teams from Amalipe and the National Roma Centrum.
This day was planned for a visit in the nearby village Goldoni. There we visited the local primary school, the kindergarten and the people in the village who showed us their wonderful handicrafts.
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