travellers in europe

Pratices of social and work inclusion

TRANSNATIONAL GUIDE

Travellers in Europe

EQUAL Community Initiative - Phase II

Pratices of social and work inclusion - Transnational guide

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Hanno collaborato alla stesura della Guida

Per le schede relative al Progetto Equal “Il lungo cammino dei Sinti e dei Rom: percorsi verso il lavoro”:Cecilia Vicentini - IAL Emilia Romagna

Si ringraziano, per la raccolta dei materiali: Fausto Amelii e Elve Ghini - Comune di BolognaSauro Avanzi e Vito Verracina - Comune di ParmaAlfa Strozzi, Lucia Gianferrari e Yucca Reverberi - Comune di Reggio Emilia.

Per le schede relative al Progetto Equal “Rom: cittadini d’Europa”:Elisabetta Burlotto - Cooperativa StranaideaStefania Catalano - Cooperativa StranaideaElisa De Paulis - Gruppo SogesFrancesca Ghisio - A.I.Z.O. Associazione Italiana Zingari OggiCarla Osella - A.I.Z.O. Associazione Italiana Zingari OggiIbrahim Osmani - SRF Società Ricerca e FormazioneAndrea Porcellana - Cooperativa LiberituttiRoberto Samperi - Comune di TorinoAntonio Sucamiele - DaseinSergio Tosato - Cooperativa Animazione Valdocco

Si ringrazia, per la traduzione di alcuni testi:Luca MolinariIl Melograno Servizi

For the sections on the Equal Project “Roma employment centre”:

Meta Gaspersic - Novo Mesto education and research centre Primoz Gjerkis - AliantaJanja Gramac - Papilot, Institute for the development of life qualityDarja Praprotnik - psychologist, Papilot, Institute for the development of life qualityMateja Softic - AliantaLilijana Stefanic - lecturer, Kocevje Adult Education InstituteMag. Nada Zagar - Crnomelj Education and Culture InstituteStanislav Zagar - Slovenian Republic Employment Office, Novo Mesto Regional OfficeUrska Zelic - Alianta

For the translation we wish to thank:Brina Beskovnik

Published in December 2007 by Comlito, Turin (Italy)

1 Objectives of the guide

2 The situation of travellers within the three geographical areas of the project

2.1 The situation in Emilia-Romagna2.2 The situation in Torino2.3 The situation in the Republic of Slovenia

3 “Travelling people in Europe”: Projects developed by partners

3.1 The Roma Employment Centre3.2 The long road of Sinte and Roma people: pathways to employment3.3 The project “Roma European citizens”

4 Legislation

5 Milestones of the route towards employment: experiences compared

5.1 Reception/referral services5.2 Skills assessment/work experience analysis5.3 Guidance5.4 Training5.5 Job placement and training5.6 Business creation and start up advisory services5.7 Work integration

6 Social inclusion

6.1 Education and training6.2 Housing integration6.3 Health services6.4 Culture protection

7 Full exercise of citizenship

Notes

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Objectives of the guide


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“The EQUAL initiative forms part of the European Union strategy to create more and better jobs and to makesure that no one is denied access to these jobs. Since it is a community initiative part of the European SocialFund, EQUAL is the learning platform that finds new ways of achieving the policy objectives of the EuropeanEmployment Strategy and Social Inclusion Process. EQUAL differs from the mainstream European Social Fundprograms in that it is a laboratory to develop new ways of tackling discrimination and inequality in the labourmarket. EQUAL presents evidence of good practice for these innovative approaches, with an emphasis on activeco-operation between Member States, thus ensuring that the most positive results are adopted and sharedacross Europe”. (Communication n.840 from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, theEuropean economics and social committee and to the Regions committee, 2003)

This is where projects aimed at nomadic people originate. Indeed, trevellers cannot be ignored, they live in ourcities and we meet them daily. They exist and we all have to deal with their presence. They are a “problem” for “us”, they live in inadequate hygienic and sanitary conditions, they often have deviantbehaviours and usually do not wish to become integrated into our society. However, we have to face this problem and look for new strategies in order to make their social and workintegration possible, while respecting their culture. In the awareness that the best way to overcome the“annoyance” caused by the presence of nomads is to introduce them in the community where they live, as wellintegrate as at school and in the workplace. In this way people will discover that often Roma are not so different from us; they also desire to live in a cleanhouse provided with sanitary facilities, can send their children to school and even perform a “normal” job.

In the document Guidelines for the second phase of the EQUAL initiative - ANSWER TO THE EMERGINGCHALLENGES the European Commission states:“The enlargement to 25 countries will include millions of Roma people and they will become the largest ethnicminority group in the EU. The poverty, marginalisation and discrimination faced by Roma people is a challengeand a matter of concern for all member states. Current state members have developed strategies andprogrammes to support and integrate the Roma people already living in the European Union. With theenlargement, these challenges will confront the Union on a much larger scale”.

This text illustrates experiences and good practices – designed and carried out in Italy and Slovenia - aiming atsocial and work integration of Roma and Sinte people. Some of the experiences reported have beenimplemented, both in Italy and in the Republic of Slovenia, in the framework of three EQUAL projects thattogether have founded the transnational partnership “Travellers in Europe”; they are:• Romsky Zaposlitveni Center - Slovenia (Lubiana)• The long road of Sinte and Roma people: pathways to employment - Italy (Bologna, Emilia-Romagna)• Roma people European citizens - Italy (Torino).

All partners, in different ways and contexts, have experimented methods aimed at promoting the work inclusionof Roma and Sinte people.The description of the work implemented and the publication of the methods used aim at widening reflections inorder to identify new actions for the effective social advancement of Roma and Sinte people in the European Union.


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The situation of travellers withinthe three geographical areas of the project

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2.1 The situation in Emilia-Romagna

There are three major groups of Roma communities within this region:- the Sinte and Roma from Abruzzo, who are Italian citizens and descend from those travelers coming from

the area of the Balkans - who between 1300 and 1400 began to populate Western Europe;- those Roma coming from the countries belonging to former Yugoslavia as a result of the war that occurred in

the ‘90s and consequent persecutions;- those Roma who’ve only recently arrived from Romania and that after January 2007 have changed their

status from illegal immigrants to European citizens.

These groups share similar living conditions: temporary camps and nomad camps. Often, even those who have recently arrived from a resident situation have been seen as “needy” and “only able”to live at the margins of cities in the temporary camps.Over the last few years, the social actions planned by local institutions for their integration envisage theopportunity to access council housing, or the creation of micro areas, solutions that indeed improve humandignity and facilitate integration with the rest of society. It’s hard to establish how many they are since there is no recent statistical survey: a rough indication estimates3,000 Italian Roma and the same number of foreign Roma within the region. Another significant factor is the high rate of school attendance among Roma children up to lower secondaryschool. However, it must also be said that they tend to be low achievers and that very few continue theirschooling to higher education or professional training. Further, their presence on the labour market was investigated in 2002 thanks to a Phase I Equal project. Itincluded a survey that was carried out within 10 Roma settlements in Emilia Romagna and that established thatroughly 30% of the Sinte and Roma population has a more or less regular job. Their most frequent areas ofemployment are: porterage, cleaning, metal collection, car mechanics, refreshment and catering.

2.2 The situation in Torino

The first news regarding nomadic people allocated in the Turin area goes back to 400 years ago. From then aminority having more or less stable characteristics began to develop here. Their cohabitation with the rest of thepopulation has been often difficult, even though peaceful cohabitation examples don’t lack. However, a conflict situation with local authorities has always been registered. Over these past years there haveoften been exclusion, discrimination and even persecutory policies. From the 18th century onwards there havealso been cases of forced integration.Nazism introduced some extermination policies against the gypsies, which were considered as genetically “antisocial” people.The current regional and international laws include provisions both for the protection of nomadism and theprotection of the culture of nomadic minorities. Anyway many negative stereotypes still subsist. Surveys say that in common opinion gypsies are amongst thesocial groups most despised and feared by the rest of the population, both Italian and immigrant.The Piedmont Region, with law n.26 of June 10th 1993, regulate actions in favour of the gypsy populations inorder to safeguard their ethnic and cultural identity and make their progressive inclusion in the communityeasier.“Piedmont Region in enacting this Law secure gypsies groups the right to be travellers as well as settlers in orderto respect and ensure their free choice about life style.”The Municipality of Turin, in order to welcome whilst controlling the gypsies, set up a specific public service andfew equipped areas, the first of which dates back to 1979.


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In the 1980s, when authorities noticed that some of them - groups of Sinte and Roma of Slav Kanjarija andKorahkané origin - were Italian citizens which had lived on the metropolitan area for ten years, decided toarrange equipped settlements in specific urban areas.In fact, the area of Via Lega 50, although not officially authorised, existed since after the second world war.Furthermore and Roma from the Yugoslav Socialist Federative Republic living in dozens of stable settlements hadbeen registered already from the 1960s. An important consequence of their settling was the admission of Roma children to local schools.Today the Roma equipped settlements in town are four:- Sangone: Unione Sovietica Avenue, 655- Le Rose: Silvestro Lega Street, 50- Germagnano: Germagnano street, 10- Aeroporto: Strada dell’Aereoporto n. 235/25.

The so called Sangone settlement was set up in 1978 on the bank of the homonymous river. It was the first oneto be equipped by the City of Turin. Today in the area there are only “Piedmont Sinte”, Italian citizens, with theexception of a “Yugoslav Romuni” family.The Le Rose settlement is the oldest one. It arose in a spontaneous way about fifty years ago but was regularizedand authorized only in 1991. Only “Piedmont Sinte” live there.The Airport settlement is the one that, in 1988, received gypsies moving from Strada Druento (where the Alpsstadium had been built) and Via Reiss Romoli 306 (ex-Paracchi area). It is allowed to host “Korahkané Roma”Kanjarija Roma”, “Romuni “, “Arlija” and “Gadjikané Roma”.The Germagnano settlement is the most recent one. It’s formed by emplacements with support structures inmasonry suitable to be inhabited and supplied with services. In 2004 a large part of the families previouslysettled in Strada Arrivore was moved there.

In recent years a new phenomenon, gradually increasing, has characterised Turin’s nomadism and has become aproblem both numerically and in terms of their living conditions. The arrival of an important number of people from Romania is changing the city’s asset and forming a stronglyheterogeneous situation. On the one hand, there are the Roma people and on the other Rumanian citizens - ofRoma origin - who want to stand out from the former. Although the Roma origin is the same, their habits and life style in clothing and housing vary and also theirexpectations and attitudes towards work are different. They live along rivers and torrents banks, insideabandoned industrial buildings and disused urban spaces. They find shelter and hiding-place in the vegetation.The places in which they live are poor and uneasy and often they are insecure and very dangerous.

Roma population increases constantly and sensitively and it is difficult to quantify, this due to their constantmovement. When Romania was not part of European Union the Roma migrated from town to town to escapeexpulsion. Now they move in search of better living conditions or return, even if not definitively, to their countryof origin. These new community citizens live in very hard conditions. They lack water, lighting and heating. They live invery little huts built with waste materials and heated with gas cylinders or wood-burning stoves built with drumsand lit by generators or old car batteries. There is a significant number of women and children - many of them born in Italy. Lately, the number of theelderly has grown too and they live in situations of extreme poverty caused by both environmental and sanitaryproblems and by cultural deprivation.


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2.3 The situation in the Republic of Slovenia

The historical data mention the Roma living on the area of today’s Republic of Slovenia already in 15th century.But from 17th century onwards the information about them is more frequent; they are also mentioned indifferent Registers. Research shows that the Roma, settled on the Slovenian territory, came from three differentdirections: the ancestors of the Roma that live in the Prekmurje region came to Slovenia through Hungary, theRoma from the Dolenjska region came through Croatia, and small groups of Sinte that live in the Gorenjskaregion came from the north through the area is now Austria. Even though primarily these groups were nomads,and in the past they frequently changed the position of their settlements, today we can firmly talk about fourspecific regions in Slovenia where these groups settled indefinitely: the NE region of Prekmurje, the NE region ofDolenjska and Bela krajina and by the river Sava in Posavje. In these regions the Roma are considered as atraditionally settled community, which has preserved its more or less permanent settlement.The Roma community in the Republic of Slovenia does not have a minority status but a status of a specialethnical community or minority, which has recognized ethnical characteristics, such as its own language, culturaland other ethnical features.The beginnings of solving the legal status of the Roma in Slovenia date back in year 1989, when a provision forsolving the Roma status legally was taken. The legal basis for solving the status of the Roma ethnical communityin the Republic of Slovenia is set out with article 65 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, whichstipulates: “The status and special rights of the Roma community, which lives in Slovenia, is regulated by law,”and since march 2007, also by the Roma Community act of the Republic of Slovenia, which regulates the statusand defines the areas of special rights of the Roma community in Slovenia. This act has established the legalgrounds for protective measures, and has indicated that the Roma, due to their characteristics, cannot beequalled with the status of the Italian or Hungarian minority in the Republic of Slovenia.The number of the Roma in Slovenia has been increasing in the past years. In the census in 2002, the numberof declared Roma increased by 30%, while the number of people who declared Roma language as their mothertongue increased by 28%. However, according to the data by the Social Work Centres, the number of actualRoma population is nearly 50% higher than the one declared in the Census statistics.1

The reason for this discrepancy is that many Roma do not want to declare members of the Roma communitydue to its negative connotation. Therefore, in spite of the Census data, we estimate that there are from 7.000to 10.000 Roma living in Slovenia in 90 Roma settlements.General picture shows a concentration of the Roma in a few areas, especially on northeast (Prekmurje), andsouth-east part of Slovenia (Dolenjska with Bela Krajina and Posavje), which makes it a regional General pictureshows a concentration of the Roma in a few areas, especially on northeast (Prekmurje), and south-east part ofSlovenia (Dolenjska with Bela Krajina and Posavje), which makes it a regional problem.2

A vast majority of the Roma community still lives in settlements, which are isolated from the rest of thepopulation, or are on the edge of the urbane areas, in living conditions below the minimal habitable standards.Data shows that about 40 % of the Roma live in brick housing, half of which are built without the necessarylicenses and documentation, and only 12 % of the Roma live in apartments. The rest of the Roma live inprovisional housing - shacks, containers, trailers, and similar. Only a fraction of the Roma, which are integrated with the Slovenian environmentand society live together with the majority population.The basic condition for a successful integration of the Roma in the social life (education, employment, etc.) isorderly, decent living conditions. Lately, this subject is getting more and more attention. Therefore, the Republicof Slovenia is regulating the co-financing the urban planning of the Roma settlements. Communities with Romapopulation have the possibility of gradually improving the conditions in the Roma settlements with governmentcontributions. In such way, they can ensure the Roma decent living conditions, which are the basis for positiveresults in all other areas (education, employment, socialization, etc).3


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“Travelling people in Europe”:Projects developed by partners

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3.1 The Roma Employment Centre

The project of developing the Roma Employment Centre is part of the European Social Fund – Communityinitiative EQUAL for Slovenia from 2004 to 2006, which is being directed by the Ministry of Labour, Family andSocial Affairs. The holder of the partnership is the Municipality of Skocjan, which is co-ordinating the projectjointly with the company Alianta, projektno svetovanje, d.o.o. The development partnership is composed by 26institutions, which are promoting the improvement of the status of the Roma Community on the local, regionaland national level.The main purpose of the development partnership Roma Employment Centre (REC) is a pilot establishment ofthe Roma Employment Centre, which will function as a public institution in Novo mesto, in the region ofSlovenia where Roma employment is most pertinent. The Roma Employment Centre will be the umbrellainstitution, which will serve to the potential employer’s needs for Roma workforce, existing Roma employers, aswell as to the Roma looking for employment.The idea for a Roma Employment Centre developed from the specific situation of the Roma employment inSlovenia. Due to low educational levels a large majority of the Roma is still unemployed, and full-time jobs are ararity to them, where mostly irregular and unorganized types of jobs are present. Research has shown that incomparison with other workers waiting for employment, Roma are in a disadvantageous position, not only dueto low literacy and education, and a poor knowledge of Slovenian, but also due to widely spread negativeattitude of employers and the rest of the population towards the Roma.Therefore, the Roma are requiring special attention and help in integrating into the labour market.Therefore, Roma Employment Centre will be the cover institution, which will help Roma to a faster and moreactive employment.

Within the project, project partners will focus on current methods and actions for integrating the Roma into theeducation, training, and employment. Institutions, which are co-operating in this project (Employment Office ofSlovenia, non-governmental institutions, public institutions for adult education, municipalities, institutions, andcompanies) already have experiences working with the Roma. On the basis of their positive experiences and bestpractices that they carried on, new motivational programs, training and education of the Roma, and motivationof employers for employing Roma have been established.The activities of the Roma Employment Centre will include:• Assisting the employable Roma;• Organization of educational courses for the Roma and their mentors in cooperation with companies;• Assisting younger Roma, who dropped out of school and guiding them into condensed schooling programs

in cooperation with educational institutions;• Guiding the Roma to the appropriate jobs;• Assisting the Roma on their jobs;• Continuous monitoring of the Roma work results and employment issues for the Roma getting employed

through the Employment Office.

The main purpose of the public institution Roma Employment Centre will be development and implementationof programs, which will increase the employability of the Roma and their integration into the work and socialenvironment. Additionally, the institute will motivate the employment organizations for employing the Roma, aswell as analyze the existing needs for employing the Roma workforce.The Roma Employment Centre would like to establish a bridge between the Roma who are willing to beemployed, and employers who believe that the Roma can become successful employees.The institute will not oversee the employment referral, but would like to establish a comprehensive approach toimproving the employability of the Roma, hence, improve the social and economical situation of the Romapopulation in Slovenia.


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3.2 The long road of Sinte and Roma people: pathways to employment

This action is aimed at all those subjects belonging to the Sinte and Roma population in Emilia-Romagna.Indeed, the entire life of these people is marked by a condition of exclusion and discrimination that ishighlighted by an alarming set of features such as economic marginality, cultural deprivation, unease, devianceand micro-criminal behaviour. Alongside the often dramatic material conditions and cultural deprivation, there isamong these subjects a fairly widespread inferiority complex and a tendency to experience their identity inopposition to the surrounding culture, thus leading to an attitude of self-exclusion that represents a negativeclaim for identity. Consequently, the Sinte and Roma end up paying the price for both society’s prejudices andfor their own corresponding stereotypes of the surrounding culture. This happens because the two groups ofprejudices and stereotypes become allied in hindering the construction of a fruitful dialogue between the twoworlds. Therefore, they only perpetrate the separation between, on the one hand, a Sinte and Roma cultureclosed in on its own traditional culture and, on the other, a surrounding one in which the constant emotionaloscillation between romantic idealisation and hostility prevails over concrete project design based on factual andin-depth studies.The project’s goal is to work towards overcoming the conditions of exclusion and discrimination which, bothfrom the employment and the social point of view, the Sinte and Roma communities in Emilia-Romagna sufferfrom. Considering these two aspects, the action’s aims are the following:- To improve and broaden Sinte and Roma access the local service network,- To facilitate their access to the Labour Market.

The first goal will be reached with a systems approach towards integrating both public and private local servicesas well as making them more easily accessible by Sinte and Roma subjects. The second aim, instead, will befulfilled thanks to individually tailored training programmes and placements designed with the concrete purposeof employment. In order to reach this second goal, the Project aims to identify companies willing to become“businesses for transition”. These businesses, beyond profit, will take on the goal of performing an educationaland training activity enabling the Roma and Sinte subjects involved to acquire the professional skills required tofind employment. Further, the Project intends to organise events that can increase the population’s awarenessand sensitivity towards the condition of travellers and what they need in order to overcome the social exclusionthey experience today.

It must be clear that, in order to reach concrete results in respect to the discrimination and exclusion currentlyexperienced by the Roma and Sinte population, it isn’t enough to simply oppose exclusion and make efforts forremoving the obstacles that hinder a constructive and factual relationship between them and surroundingsociety. Even though this can be, beyond all questions, a preliminary objective which cannot be renounced, inorder to reach inclusion - a goal that any so-called democratic society cannot postpone - it’s essential topromote actions supporting the construction of a meeting ground for collaboration. This is the only way inwhich the monologues interwoven with stereotypes and prejudices that each of these actors use to address eachother can become a dialogue setting the basis for an actual collaboration. Clearly, this needs to be structuredusing an authentic multicultural approach, in other words a perspective built on the basis of a renunciation toprevail in the relationship from both sides together with a willingness to listen to each other. In order to reachthis result, the PS will work on organising a series of events focussing the two abovementioned objectives:improving and broadening Sinte and Roma access to the Emilia-Romagna local service network and facilitatingtheir access to the Labour Market through specific training programmes.Major actions planned are: • Integrating existing local services available to Roma and Sinte populations by setting up integrated desks which

perform a double role in facilitating relations between Roma and Sinte members and the surrounding society;• Training programmes on the social inclusion perspective for Sinte and Roma members based on the

implementation of projects designed to improve their social integration. Therefore, to reach this purpose, itwill be necessary to implement actions that develop from the previous Equal Project and are based on thegood practices that have emerged;


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• In the social inclusion perspective employment clearly plays a fundamental role. Thus it is essential for thisaction to lead to the actual employment of Sinte and Roma project participants. A strategy adopted topursue this objective is that of identifying entrepreneurs interested in working with the project towardsRoma and Sinte employment;

• Publication of results reached.

Priority beneficiaries:• Unemployed Sinte and Roma ethnic minorities.

At the end of the training programme participants will have:• acquired or improved their Italian language skills (both spoken and written);• become more familiar with the urban context in which they live thanks to the events promoted by the

information desks;• improved their understanding of how the surrounding society operates and functions, and consequently their

ability to engage in relations with it and with its members, be they individuals or institutions such asassociations, service networks, schools, training bodies and the Labour Market itself;

• improved their perception of surrounding society and of the members composing it, overcoming prejudiceand stereotypes;

• acquired technical and professional skills within specific fields (e.g. catering and cookery, green areamanagement, motorcycle repairs, tailoring and dressmaking, craftsmanship, differentiated refuse collection),actually in demand on the Labour market;

• acquired the tools and techniques required to effectively search for employment;• become more familiar with the Labour Market, its mechanisms and demands.

At the end of the project it will be possible to observe that involved bodies have gained:• a better coordination and greater integration among all the various public and private services that work on

the different aspects of the Sinte and Roma condition (housing, health, minors, employment, women’scondition, residence permits etc.);

• an improved familiarity with the actual conditions the Roma and Sinte populations live in, including theirproblems, needs and training requirements that is vital for the social actors who make contact them andwork with them;

• the existence of “businesses for transition” within the areas involved that can support and facilitate Romaand Sinte access to the labour market by offering a training and placement period in which participants candevelop the necessary professional skills within a “protected” work environment.


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3.3 The project Roma European citizens

The project Roma European citizens, funded by the European Social Fund within the line of Equal II projects, hasthe major goal of facilitating the employment process for members of nomadic populations (in particular Romaand Sinte). The project’s overall geographical area includes the Municipalities of Turin, Collegno, Moncalieri,Orbassano and Rivalta. The purpose is to work on the difficult relations between the nomadic population andItalian citizens by generating the conditions required to improve them, focussing in particular on areas wherethere are permanent camps and those ERP neighbourhoods within which traveller family units reside.

In fact, since one of the most important reasons behind these difficult relations is the scarce nomadicparticipation to the Labour Market, the project intends to act on the causes that hinder their employment andin particular on:- the cultural barriers that currently exist both among travellers and Italians; - the development of competence and skills required to perform service and maintenance jobs within traveller camps; - the emergence of activities - to date performed irregularly - in order to make them legal as well as

compatible with environmental protection; - increasing the flexibility of job opportunities in order to make them compatible with Roma “traditions”; - the qualification of personnel that can facilitate relations with nomadic citizens, including also cultural

mediators of Roma or Sinte origin.The result expected is the improvement of social relations, a greater success in finding official forms ofemployment for travellers, the setting up of orientation, training and employment guidance services compatiblewith the characteristics of the Roma and Sinte populations.

Therefore, the project’s goals can be outlined as follows: - to overcome existing cultural barriers, both among the nomad population and among Italian citizens, that

seriously hinder the employment and/or the emergence of self employed work performed;- to provide concrete employment and self employment opportunities for nomads that fall within the general

framework of compatibility with nomad traditions, cultural and behavioural norms and that also valueexisting skills and potential;

- to create training and guidance services accessible to nomads that are made suitable to support their settingup of businesses by adapting the usual service methods and approaches.

In order to reach the objectives set, all activities are illustrated to the Roma and Sinte groups involved and theirrepresentatives. In this way, any intervention strategies decided will be actively taken on and shared by finalbeneficiaries and their social and family context.Right from the design phase, we searched for a valid tool that could become operational in order to implementthe entire process. The tool imagined - and subsequently used - is the tutor team, composed of 10 tutors and acoordinator who has trained through development partnerships. Tutors were chosen within the scope of privatesocial bodies that had already gained considerable experience on different aspects of the Roma ethnic group.Some had been volunteers for local associations that assist the Roma (e.g. Opera Nomadi and AIZO); othershad been professionally involved inside both settlements and ERP blocks with family units residing there,working towards community integration, on housing mediation and local education (within the CROMIE project -Cooperative Animazione Valdocco, Autoromia Social Service; Educativa Territoriale StranaIdea, CooperativeLiberitutti, GPL, Committee for the Falchera neighbourhood’s development); several team members haveadditionally been involved in research and specific studies on the subject. Right from the beginning, the ideaprevailing among tutors was that one of the project’s fundamental peculiarities would be team cohesion andtight collaboration. Regardless of their different origin, each member would share strategies in order to createnew scenarios in which to act and practices that could be repeated in the future.

One of the strong points on which the team’s cohesion developed was the participation in a training course runby CFPP( Piedmont Professional training Centre), designed and run specifically for the project. The coursesubjects included the in-depth study of key elements for the construction of the route towards employment:


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immigration legislation, reflections on past Equal projects developed, Roma involvement; the need fornetworking, the labour market, skills balance and intercultural mediation. Bringing together all the variouspractices and experiences already tried out by institutions with this ethnic group makes it not only possible toreuse what in the past was successful, but additionally to build a specific and effective approach for Equal - RomEuropean citizens, with the purpose of motivating final beneficiaries to become actively involved. The expression“final beneficiaries” intends to encourage a new mental perspective, in which the Roma are not seen as passive“users” to be assisted by social services, but rather as actors and protagonists of a process that leads to theiremployment whilst at the same time building and developing those skills that can best support them towardsautonomy. The entire process was designed and defined by tutors.Indeed, offering them the opportunity to independently define the steps they considered necessary gaveEqualRom a wider scope and is also an innovation of the project itself.

The first operational step was examining of a list of beneficiary names drawn up from the Turin MunicipalityNomad Office’s database. This list was intended to match a number of parameters identified by the team withthe aim of selecting an initial group that could subsequently lead and motivate the rest of the community. Inparticular, the idea was to reach the most emarginated members of the nomad groups such as women andyouths. Indeed, during the interviews it emerged clearly that these subjects possess a strong motivation forundertaking routes towards employment that stems from their desire to emerge, become independent andemancipated. Among the parameters used for the selection, the relationship of the beneficiary with his/herfamily unit was considered. Because of the complex and extended nomad family structure, it was decided not toinclude too many components of a given family unit in the project. In this way beneficiaries could be involved inthe process knowing that other family members would continue to perform their daily chores and duties.Otherwise, the fact that there no longer was someone who could guarantee them getting done could negativelycondition project participation and even lead some beneficiaries to abandon the process. Further, choice wasdirected to ensure the participation of a heterogeneous group, including Roma coming from nomad settlementsin town (Airport; Germagnano) as well as others from housing blocks. Ethnic origin was also assessed in order tochoose among the different groups present within the Turin province area: Slavic Roma of orthodox/catholicreligion and Muslim Slavic Roma. However, from the original list given us by the Nomad office, we had to “freeze”the names of those subjects who didn’t have the required documents, and in particular had problems with theresidence permit. We didn’t want to renounce a priori to giving people without regular documents theopportunity to participate in the project. Therefore, we got in touch with our network partners - Turin provinceand Turin Police headquarters - to investigate whether and how it might be possible to include those subjectswhose situation in respect to immigration and residence permits is critical. At the moment contacts have justbegun. By the way, discussing this issue in depth lead to the team decision that, as far as future enrolments tothe project are concerned, beneficiaries having a particularly critical position in this respect cannot beconsidered until we receive a positive reply or authorization from the institutional authorities contacted.

The tutor team has developed a methodology for making contact with beneficiaries. It consists of a series of interviewsthe first of which is carried out by two staff members - on rotation - and serves a double purpose. The first is that ofproviding information concerning the various aspects of the project, and in particular illustrating the role of tutors whoaccompany beneficiaries throughout the process. Indeed, the project has the ambition of offering an experimentalexperience able to overcome the logic of “work scholarships”, intended as temporary placements that don’t offerpermanent or long term employment. The second purpose of the initial interview is that of collecting both objectivedata - such as personal details, legal and judicial status - and subjective data such as previous work experienceacquired, transversal skills gained through life experiences and everyday life, motivation and desiderata.

Over time, the word “desiderata” has become a keyword of our project. It is used to indicate all those wishes,desires, dreams, life projects and expectations held by beneficiaries in respect to employment. It must beconsidered a key concept because often the experience and habit of the Roma lead them to accept what isoffered by the job market on the basis of available resources rather than their will. And usually this means havingto give up the “desiderata”. The new system being tested with Equal-Rom has actually lead to surprisebeneficiaries, but at the same time has faced them with the opportunity and difficulty of having to make a


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choice. Through the initial interviews the group of project beneficiaries was identified and the data collectedused to fill in the first Citizen’s Folder, a database implemented by Turin Council’s Information System.To date this isn’t yet a defined procedure, but in the near future it will become a reference tool for social serviceworkers. Beneficiaries were also asked whether they’d registered with their local employment centres and, if not,were invited to do so. If necessary, their tutor could be available to accompany them there. Subsequently, the team assigned tutors to beneficiaries and at this point arranged the second interview,required to better define the contents of the first.In this occasion, motivations were investigated further and in depth to help construct the relation betweentutors and beneficiaries. This in view of the training agreement to be defined when employment would begin orthe enterprise be started up.After the second interview, beneficiaries took part in a training course - defined as ‘training step’ - and weredivided into two group-classes.

The course, held by CFPP and AIZO, includes an overview of the various aspects of the Italian employmentmarket as well as an illustration of social skills: rights and duties of employees and employers, safety legislation,drafting and completion of the curriculum vitae. Another section of the course is dedicated to examining similarities and differences between values anddisvalues of the Italian and Roma cultures.During the entire course, tutors monitored a number of parameters like attendance, individual problems,classroom management and integration difficulties.When required, they also mediated with the training staff. The presence of tutors throughout this phasecertainly contributed to strengthening their relation with beneficiaries. A final section of the course enabled participants to learn about setting up a business and the necessaryfulfilments. In fact, in parallel to the support in searching for employment, the EqualRom project offers theopportunity to start up a business and become self employed.During the interviews with candidates we identified who was interested in this option, ensuring they had meansof their own and the necessary skills. The first step was to put them in touch with the development partneragency that works in this field: CNA.Alongside the work with project participants, a range of activities was performed by the team. In particular,contacts with some network actors like Police headquarters and local Employment centres were established, theproject was promoted within nearby Municipalities part of the network such as Orbassano and Moncalieri; localinstitutions interested in working with nomads living in their areas - City Districts and Development Agencies -were actively involved; additionally a number of meetings with agencies offering employment (socialcooperatives, consortiums, private companies and temporary employment agencies) were held.

In parallel to the training programme beneficiaries attend, tutors begin investigating the existing localemployment resources, trying to find the one that best matches the “desiderata” expressed during theinterviews. The goal of the search is the pinpointing of companies potentially interested in taking onbeneficiaries for a three month job placement - renewable for three more - that, in line with the project’sapproach should not offer training but direct work experience. The network constructed with the abovementioned agencies has turned out to be an essential tool foridentifying effective channels. Some beneficiaries were introduced to their first contacts with the employment market by actual job interviews,to which they were accompanied.


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Legislation

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Roma Community Act in the Republic of Slovenia enacted on march 30th 2007

The first provision for assigning Roma Slovenian legal status dates back to 1989.The legal basis for recognising a status to the Roma ethnical community in the Republic of Slovenia is set outwithim article 65 of the Slovenian Republic’s Constitution, which states: “the status and special rights of theRoma community, living in Slovenia, is regulated by law”. This act establishes the legal grounds for protectivemeasures, and indicateds that the Roma, due to their characteristics, cannot be given the same status of theItalian or Hungarian minority.In 1995, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the position that the protection of the Romaethnical community should be regulated by sector-specific instruments. Special protection of the Romacommunity was regulated by 12 sector-specific acts up to March 2007, when the Roma Community Act in theRepublic of Slovenia was passed. In the future, the regulation of the Roma issue will be imposed by both sector-specific acts, as well as the basic act on Roma Community, which is expected to help improving the condition ofthe Roma ethnical community in the Republic of Slovenia.The Roma Community Act regulates the Roma’s status and defines the area of special rights. Moreover, the actdefines the jurisdiction of governmental departments and departments of the local communities for theirexecution and the cooperation of the members of the Roma Community in exercising their rights, andobligations, stipulated by the law.The essential objective of the act is a comprehensive regulation of the status of the Roma ethnical minority.The Roma Community Act defines the special rights to organization of the Roma on a national and local level,and the financing of such organization. The act deals also with improving their living conditions of employment,education and schooling. The Republic of Slovenia is creating the conditions for integrating the Romacommunity members in to the education and schooling systems, as well as ensuring the conditions for increasingthe educational level of the members of the Roma community, and an appropriate scholarship policy.In addition, special attention is given to stimulating their employment, vocational education and training.The act encourages the conservation and development of the Roma language as a cultural, informative andpublishing activity of the Roma community.The Roma Community Act defines the governmental departments and the local governments as the designatedauthorities for ensuring the conditions for solving the special planning issues, and for improving their livingconditions. The funds required for financing the tasks, and measures for ensuring special rights to the Romacommunity will be granted from the Budget of the Republic of Slovenia.The Roma Community Act is one of the basic documents, with which the government expects to significantlycontribute to the comprehensive solution of the Roma community issue in the Slovenian Republic, and to fostertheir integration into Slovenian society.

Piedmont’s Regional Law of 10 June 1993, No. 26. - Actions in favour of the nomadic population;Emilia-Romagna’s Regional Act of 23-11-1988 No. 47: Regulations for traveller minorities in Emilia-Romagna Source: Official Emilia-Romagna Gazette - No. 101 of November 25th - 1988 -

This regional act is destined to Councils, Mountain communities and Local institution consortiums and concernsall those projects to be carried out within their geographical areas of competence. It further addressesinstitutions, associations, private and public bodies working with the traveller population.The goals to be reached are that of safeguarding travellers’ ethnic and cultural identity and of supporting, whilerespecting reciprocal acquaintance and cohabitation, their gradual integration within the regional community. This regional legislation is designed to provide funding for projects that improve the traveller population’s livingconditions.


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Milestones of the route towards employment:experiences compared

As part of the evaluation process, the three projects have compared notes on their experiences and practicalimplementation of inclusion processes. They’ve reached a synthesis illustrated by seven milestones identified,each provided with a specific form summarising the practical experience of a ps project partner.

Thus the route towards employment may be seen in the light of the following steps:

Reception/registration

Skills balance / identification of experience acquired

Orientation

Training

Job placement

Consultancy for company creation and start up

Company employment

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5.1 Reception and referral services

Generally speaking, the term reception refers to a whole set of processes, actions, tools and facilities aimed atbuilding a friendly and welcoming atmosphere that is likely to promote peer-to-peer exchange and dialogue andto raise beneficiaries’ awareness and motivation for them to become integrated into training or work experiences. Organization, labour psychology, and pedagogy theories together with the legislation supporting the design ofcustomized and flexible training courses highlight the need to build a favourable climate to welcome users, tofamiliarize them with the context and to acknowledge their past experiences in view of their future prospects.This phase is the first contact (the “filter”) between job-seekers and employment centres.Reception and referral services are mainly intended to take into account users’ expectations and to analyse theirguidance needs.Further objectives can be grouped into 4 categories:• To inform about and promote the available services provided by the referral centre and more generally by

other community offices;• To identify and analyse the training and work needs of the employment centre’s users;• To provide users with suitable and useful information for their job search;• To refer users to the most appropriate services centres.

The whole process starts from an interview between a user and an expert. Its duration varies according to thekind of problems to be addressed. From an operational point of view, interviewees receive a friendly and openwelcome by the desk operators; they are given the opportunity to introduce themselves, to illustrate theirproblems and needs on confidential terms; they are then provided with all the necessary information about theavailable services, their characteristics and objectives and finally they are advised about how to accessemployment services. All users can access information not only through the direct contact with a desk operator, but also throughinternet or by accessing specific information facilities.In the case of Roma and Sinte users, reception is a very sensitive phase in which the target group’s specificdifficulties are addressed, such as poor schooling level, lack of mobility and access to information, poorknowledge of the host country’s language, etc.Specific reception and referral services are designed for them; desk operators hold targeted interviews with theseusers to identify their interests and they provide them with basic information about available projects, coursesand recruitment criteria. They acquire useful and reliable data and information to design the training or workintegration process and are provided with general hints on how to write a curriculum vitae, the kind of servicesavailable to them and how to access courses.Furthermore, they are entrusted with the task to check:- applicants’ personal data;- their papers, in case of foreigners; - their family situation;- their telephone number; - whether they are already enrolled in an employment centre;- whether they are able to read and write as well as their schooling level; - their previous work experiences, if any etc.

Finally, desk operators are required to encourage users to enrol in an employment centre and to legalisetheir status.


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Practices of the Equal Project Roma European citizens

Subject Reception/admission to the projectGuidance

Area/location Turin Municipality – ItalyProject Network Councils - Piedmont - Italy

Target group Roma and Sinte looking for employment Objectives To create a clear, objective and uniform standard for tutors recruiting project

participants Project staff 11 tutors chosen from the cooperatives that are project partners Project length January 2006 - September 2007


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Outline for the initial interview Presentation of the Equal projectIt is a European Project (funded by the European Union) that encourages employment (suitable and possiblypermanent) or the creation of a private business. Over the following months the vital milestones will be: - following the initial interview, two more to understand interests and activities they enjoy as well as to lay out

an initial curriculum - general training program (curriculum drafting, types of contract, basic rules of the job market like working

hours etc.) in the course of which the tutor searches the market for suitable job placements- placement in a company for a training period called passage to work or support for setting up the

beneficiary’s own business. The difference with other employment programmes is that in this project a tutor is provided to support andfollow along the entire training and employment seeking process.

Filling in the project personal file - Personal data- State of documents possessed/residence permit- Registration at the local employment centre - Reading and writing level / schooling - Previous work experiences

Motivation assessment and explanation of project timing and phases - Recognizing the actual motivation - Explaining the criteria for being selected:

Residence PermitNo more than 2 family members per cycle No discrimination against women

Note.If someone doesn’t turn up, plan another time in which to hold the interview.

Scheme for the second interviewPresentation of the training course It is part of Equal, a European project ( funded by the European Union) to favour employment (suitable andpossibly permanent) or the creation of a business.Scheduled activities:an overall total of 40 hours plus eventually another 20 dedicated to specific training.

Course contents: social skills (knowing how to communicate and manage relations at work, conflicts etc),the job market ( preparing a curriculum, types of contract, basic employment rules like the working hoursrequired etc.) values and disvalues of the Roma and Gagè cultures.General rules of the training course: attendance is compulsory, no more than 12 hours may be missed.Tutors will not attend the course, but will maintain contact.

Moreover in the interview the following information is requested:- Timetable preferences: for morning or afternoon classes, existing binding commitments etc. - Check for existing conflicts with other families in order to avoid the contemporary presence of conflicting

parts during courses.- School level reached: verify skills and knowledge. - Pending charges: make sure to clear any remaining doubts.- Employment Center registration:

verify that they’ve registered, otherwise make an appointment and go with them;check whether they have a business project to eventually adapt the contents of the training course;assess and identify motivations and attitudes for vocational training.

Scheme for the third interview - Feedback from the training course. - Go over the steps performed and the ones remaining. Understand whether from the course other possible

wishes have emerged and start the active search for companies. Tutors remain the reference point and arethe ones with whom to continue the search. ( If anyone has made contacts directly they need to inform theirtutor in order to agree a time for the appointment. In any case, tutors are committed to finding otheropportunities).

- Possibility for registration at the local employment center to obtain cheap monthly bus season tickets(for those who have a valid residence permit and can show it physically)at tutor’s discretions.

- Skills assessment. In any case the personal file remains an open document that can be updated at tutor’sdiscretion considering that they get to know students directly.

- The curriculum vitae will be produced by CFPP (local training agency). However, it could be possibleto fill in the European model as well and to give students a copy.


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5.2 Skills assessment/work experience analysis

Skills assessment is a tool that enables adult workers or job-seekers to take stock of their vocational skills:knowledge, know-how, knowing how to learn, to be, to do, to act.It is an active guidance methodology in which the subject designs a personal and vocational project based onthe analysis of skills owned (basic, technical-professional and life skills), motivations and expectations, with thesupport of a skills assessment advisor. At present, it is mainly addressed to a growing number of unemployed people wishing to know more about theirvocational profile and intending to define their own career planning and growth project in view of theirintegration into the labour market.

Skills assessment is mainly intended to:• foster the integration and/or re-integration of the unemployed into the labour market, by means of a

possible career growth and training plan;• promote the career growth of employees; • match employers and employees’ needs.

These objectives are mainly pursued by:• acquiring a better knowledge of the applicant’s personal and vocational profile; • enhancing each individual’s decision-making power; • designing the applicant’s personal and vocational project.

Skills assessment is mainly based on individual activities, but it can also be supplemented with group sessionsaimed, for instance, at better defining career growth opportunities and/or acquiring a deeper knowledge of jobmarket opportunities and demands.As for the skills inventory and work experience analysis of Roma and Sinte applicants, specific desks are set upfor an ongoing monitoring of shared work skills followed by a monitoring of job opportunities available on themarket. The main aim is to match labour supply and demand, to produce real job opportunities beyond policiesaimed at fighting against social exclusion and marginalisation and/or providing mere and ineffective welfaresupport.

Since the Roma and Sinte are not fully aware of their skills and of labour market demands, a first step should bemade to assess their real attitudes and skills, in order to identify the most suited job placement opportunities.The previous work experiences and acquired skills are identified and written down in detail by means of aspecific interview together with their personal aptitudes and life skills - such as their inclination for teamwork,problem solving, etc.Finally, their language skills are assessed and entered into the profile, along with any difficulty experiencedwithin the project.


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5.3 Guidance

Guidance is a support activity addressed to people going through school, training and vocational “transition”.It pursues a whole set of different objectives: such as, supporting individuals in identifying their personal andvocational goals, and in their decision-making process to cope with transition. Vocational Guidance is an activity addressed to job-seekers, to job first timers or to people who wish to find anew job or to receive a retraining or upgrading of skills and who need the help of an advisor to identify theirassets and skills in order to draft their vocational project with their personal and vocational goals.In Italy, in the framework of the employment centres’ reform, Vocational Guidance plays a fundamental role andit requires the setting up and operation of a whole referral services’ network throughout the territory.Every Provincial Authority has set up its own guidance services’ network, which is mainly focused on: trainingcourses; training and job placements; job guidance (both to support people’s work integration and re-integration).Depending on the aims and means that have been laid down, guidance can be provided in different ways, i.e.:• Guidance-oriented information: an easy access to information is provided about education, training and work

opportunities, at a local, national and European scale, by means of paper-based or multimedia informationsystems, made available to applicants either for direct consultation or with the help of an expert.

• Guidance-oriented advice: it concerns a set of differentiated actions - ranging from interviews to other morecomplex processes, such as skills assessment - aimed at knowing oneself better, becoming aware of one’saptitudes, capabilities, interests and motivations, in order to draft one’s own individual and vocationalproject and the way to implement it.

• Guidance-oriented training: it envisages job placements or short training sessions addressed to user groupswith similar needs in specific thematic areas (job-seeking strategies and techniques, new work forms,knowledge of the labour market and of local professions).

Guidance tools are: individual interviews, information and training activities, to be supplied either individually orcollectively, in a class-based situation.With reference to Sinti and Roma beneficiaries, guidance activities should be effectively integrated into theirliving context in order to help them experience this transition phase with confidence, develop coping skills tomanage change and thus overcome the potential stress and discomfort that might arise from the impact with adifferent cultural universe, assuming that:- transition phases are likely to lead to “potential stress and discomfort arising from the changes that might

be involved in the process or from the increased complexity entailed by a new situation as against apreviously experienced and well-known one”;

- these changes are further enhanced by their different cultural habits.In general, guidance activities should meet three main aims:• Guidance-oriented information: to provide Sinti and Roma beneficiaries with information material to

be used by themselves;• Training support: beneficiaries are coached by advisors in their decision-making processes;• Guidance-oriented or individual counseling: this activity is based on an individual relationship since special

reference is made to the applicant’s personality; in this case, it is not only a question of negotiating orfacilitating the relationship between individual users and the problems they are confronted with,a specific individual psychological counselling is also required.

With reference to guidance activities addressed to Sinti or Roma beneficiaries, two types of individual interviewscan be distinguished, which are carried out or supervised by guidance experts:• Introductory interview: used especially with young people, but also with a few adults, interested in a direct

work integration;• Interview geared towards an active job seeking activity and/or redesigning one’s work experience: this kind of

interview is part of a work integration process and it is addressed to those Sinti or Roma applicants whowish to develop the necessary tools to manage their own job seeking experience. It is very useful for thosepeople who are not willing to attend a vocational training course.


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The Introductory interview is intended to explore the transition phase that the Sinti or Roma applicant is aboutto embark upon, from school to work or from training to work, to support him/her in his/her training and/orwork decision.Three action levels are envisaged:• The first action level is aimed at helping Sinti or Roma beneficiaries get a clearer idea about what they know

and what they think about a certain job. By tracing back their experiences, they are guided to betterunderstanding and becoming more aware of their social representations, aspects and variables that enterinto play in their decision-making process;

• The second action level is aimed at helping them acquire a better knowledge and ability in understandingreality by enhancing their critical evaluation and analysis skills;

• The third intends to work out specific strategies to cope up with a new event or complex situation;to address these issues flexible attitudes and proactive capabilities should be built.

The information collected by guidance experts during introductory interviews is processed taking into accountthe specific training projects that will be designed and put forward to Sinti or Roma beneficiaries.Introductory interviews should be designed taking into account the following decisive factors:• The second level: information, counselling, empowerment;• Actions: rebuilding and enhancing the beneficiaries’ coping strategies;• Guidance issues: the beneficiaries’ resources, job and training opportunities, the labour market;• Personal, social and structural constraints/conditions.Finally, a form is filled in: including the analysis of the beneficiaries’ schooling experiences (choices, assessment,acquired skills, etc.), the analysis of their previous work experiences (tracing back work and personalexperiences, representations) and the analysis of their personal experiences (positive situations, criticalmoments, interests, biases, obstacles).


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Mro drom i poklico - My Pathway to Employmentand Roma Employment Centre

Subjects Counselling/MotivationTraining

Area/location Slovenia, SE region, Administrative Unit in Novo MestoInstitution Research and Education Centre in Novo MestoProject title My Path towards Employment - Mro drom i poklicoTarget group Roma pupils in primary schools

Young adult RomaExperts in primary schools and in primary school programmes for adults

Objectives Preparation of a guide for the professional orientation of Roma pupils inprimary schools and of young adults

Developed actions Shaping and publishing the guide My path towards employmentShaping suggestions for a leaflet with the presentation of professionsEstablishing a number of motivation workshops for the promotion ofprofessions and a pilot realisationPresenting the material to the expert public and the target groups

Project staff Meta Gaspersic, Tina Krzisnik, Barbara Ivanez, Andrej Ferkolj,Ksenia Berkopec, Romna Podobnik, Ana Granda Jakse

Project length May - December 2006Author Meta Gaspersic, Research and Education Centre Novo Mesto

The project My Path towards Employment originated on the basis of the experience of the Research and EducationCentre in Novo mesto with the education of adult Roma and the observations of the Phare project ProfessionInforming and Counselling for the Roma, in which we also cooperated as partners. Within the framework of the Phare programme activities, two studies on the educational and professional interests ofthe Roma have been carried out on the area of the Dolenjska, Bela Krajina, Kocevje, Posavje and Grosuplje regions.40% of the people interviewed expressed interest in employment, while 55% of the people expressed that they areprepared to enrol in different programmes for general education - Roma women stated most frequently that theywould like to learn how to sew, cook and garden. Roma men, on the other hand, want to learn to drive a car and fixvehicles. The most wanted professions among the Roma men are mechanic and driver, followed by cook and hair-dresser, while Roma women expressed most interest for the professions of seamstress and cleaning lady. The researchshowed that we have to work especially on motivating of the Roma for their active inclusion in different forms ofeducation. Within the framework of the project activities a research was carried out, with which we wanted to find outif the current work of the counselling services in primary schools in the field of professional informing and counsellingsuits the characteristics of the target group, and establish what is their opinion on the additional activities for Romapupils. On the basis of the results of the research we found out that in the majority of the cases, a minimal standardin these areas is ensured. At the same, the dependence of this standard on the form of given information, because oflack of understanding of Slovene, was confirmed. Information is given to the Roma pupils by the counselling workersmostly orally, while the proportion between oral and written mediation of information for other children is almostequal. The reason that oral information prevail in case of Roma children is also the fact that they have problems withSlovene and have greater difficulties in understanding written information, because they are too demanding. Theinformation from the field of professional orientation, which is adapted to their understanding of Slovene, is mediatedto the Roma pupils and parents by only 16% of the counselling workers. Most counselling services in schools believe that the existing information with the content on professional orientationmust be adapted to their understanding, and add other contents, which would work as motivation (examples ofsuccessful Roma, the importance of education, the opportunity to finish primary school in primary schoolprogrammes for adults, presenting professions that are suitable for them, etc.).Beside our experience in informing and counselling in the education of adult Roma, the observations of the projectwere an additional encouragement and a confirmation that it is reasonable to produce material, which will be ofassistance to the Roma pupils and parents when learning about professions, and motivating Roma children to pursueeducation. Vocational education is one of the activities that we encounter in regular education and in adult Romaeducation. Together we are realising that Roma parents also need to become involved in these activities, so they canlearn about their child’s interests, the meaning and opportunities of education and employment. It is important thatthe parents of Roma children acknowledge the opportunities of education, obtaining employment and theemployment opportunities and interests of their children, so they can offer support to them during education. Project My Path towards Employment - Mo drom i poklico was carried out within the framework of the activities ofthe Counselling Centre in Novo mesto, the community work programme Mobile Information and CounsellingService for the Roma and the activities of the Mobile Information and Counselling Service for the Roma in theproject Centre for Lifelong Learning in the Dolenjska region, which is co-financed from the European Social Fundand by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.Our main goal was, on the basis of the existing concept of professional informing and counselling, examples ofgood practise and experience with working with young Roma in primary school programmes for adults, and onthe basis of the results of the professional and educational interests of the Roma, to form a My Path towardEmployment leaflet. The booklet would serve as a profession indicator for young Roma, which are successful in their education.Our second goal was to produce a leaflet with the presentation of 6 professions (three chosen by men andthree by women), for which the Roma in the SE, Posavje, Central Slovenia regions are most interested. In the project we:• elaborated starting points for the preparation of the concept of the mobile counselling service for the Roma,

while mobile counselling for the field of Roma education is carried out within the Centre for LifelongLearning project in Dolenjska,

• designed the content of the profession indicator, which was given the title My Path towards Employment -Mro drom i poklico, and printed it,


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• prepared the content for the leaflet with the presentation of individual professions, • presented the material to the expert public, the opinion leaders of the Roma and the media.Most of the time was spent for gathering material and forming the text in a language that will be understood bythe young and the elder with a less rich vocabulary of Slovene.The counselling group of experts from the Brsljin Primary School in Novo Mesto was of great assistance.In the booklet, there are types of profession that are pointed out the most, all the working procedures, theduration of schooling and the employment opportunities, so everyone can get a basic idea about types ofprofessions. Despite the simplified language, the descriptions of the professional areas and the professions areas much practical and informative as possible - they emphasise the things that enable their differentiation andimportance in everyday life. The importance of education is confirmed by thoughts of the Roma, who acknowledge the importance ofknowledge and decide to educate themselves.

The booklet My Path towards Employment consists of the following chapters:• motivational introduction,• short presentation of secondary-school programmes,• statements from the Roma who have positive experience with education,• addresses of labour offices and counselling centres, where they can get additional information,• exercises, needed for learning about oneself and one’s interest for an easier choice of school,• a short description of good learning habits.

The main characteristics and advantages of the booklet are:• recommended A5 format,• rich content, pictures of professions,• clear, simple and informative text,• simple language,• Roma language, since part of the text is translated into Roma language.

The booklet is primarily intended for the Roma, however, it can be used, without hesitation, by all those whowant to acquire more information about a professionIt is available on the web portal www.cvzu-dolenjska.si.The booklet will also serve as an instrument that will be used by the mobile counselling service in the process ofinforming and counselling. With an experimental operation of the mobile counselling service within the Centrefor Lifelong Learning programme in Roma settlements, we wish to achieve an increased awareness of parents andyoung people about the importance of learning, finishing schooling and obtaining employment.It is important to include profession education processes in adult education as well, and use differentapproaches, which take into consideration the principles of integration of those that are different into themajority society. Adult education has an important role in supporting people in their fight against poverty, inequality,exploitation, employment and discrimination. It helps them develop new skills, acquire new information and amore efficient integration in society. For an individual, education is most useful when it becomes part of theindividual’s everyday life and satisfies his needs. These individuals will not enrol in education themselves, they need to have a dialogue with an expert who helpsthem define their needs and goals, and offer them an adequate support in changing their lives.Because of lack of basic qualifications, functional illiteracy and employers’ prejudice as well, the Roma arepushed to the margin of social integration.Their working activity is lower than the activity of the majority population in Slovenia, full-time employment israre and irregular forms of work prevail (there is no exact information, only estimations are available).The percentage of Roma children who finish primary school is on the increase, however, it is still low.Among young adults, the interest for finishing primary school is increasing, only a few individuals, however, arethinking about acquiring a vocational education.


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Most secondary schools, in which Roma pupils want to enrol, are vocational - three-year or lower vocationalschools. They also like to enrol in schools in the vicinity of their place of residence.In majority, they wish to enrol in the programmes for mechanics, mechanical engineering - metal worker,and in schools for farming, catering and education, but also in schools for timber technology and in thesalesmen programme. Since data show that most children leave school in the 5th, 6th, or 7th grade, we believe that more attentionshould be dedicated to professional orientation in lower grades.Children are more acceptable to changes, but it would also be necessary to involve Roma parents in theco-operation.

Since a large percentage of counselling workers in the Phare research - Vocational Informing and Counselling for theRoma believe that it is reasonable to implement activities for profession orientation since the beginning ofschooling, and carry out additional motivational workshops and presentations of professions in Romasettlements, we established a number of motivational workshops I want to become ..., which support our conceptof profession orientation for young Roma. They are mostly about discovering one’s wishes, especially regarding profession (learning about oneself:comprehending one’s interests, discovering professional goals, wishes and interests, personal qualities, abilities,skills), learning about professions (typical chores, employment, schooling) and the educational system, as well asthe factors that influence the choice of profession.Thus, in the end, the participants can form their own profession card.In small groups or individually, the young Roma can learn about the professions of seamstress/tailor, cook,pastry cook, waiter/waitress, beautician, hair dresser, salesmen/saleswoman, florist, gardener, driver, policeofficer, and mechanic. We started carrying out the workshops in individual Roma settlements (Smihel and Belokranjska cesta in NovoMesto, and in Sentjernej) in cooperation with primary schools and opinion leaders.The implementation of workshops in Roma settlements (especially if attended by adults and children)contributes to a better knowledge of profession opportunities, motivates the Roma for continuing schooling andencourages the local environment, which still has a negative influence on Roma children’s interests for learningand employment.

In the time of quick and constant changes in all areas of human operation, the only way to compete in thelabour market and be in step with the time is to be armed with knowledge.In the past, knowledge was practically poured into an individual, but now one has to seek it himself.The question is, whether modern society enables equal opportunities for acquiring the necessary knowledge,skills, professional competence and employability to everybody.We realise the answer is negative if we focus only on one discriminated group - the Roma.Not only recently, but for the past few years, the Roma have been receiving special attention: mostly, there arediscussions about problems and “great” realisations that the Roma issue needs to be approached in an integral,systematic and constructive way, in co-operation with different institutions on a local and national level.Unfortunately we can see that the results of these great actions are small, and achieved too slowly.It would be hard to agree with the statement that this situation is entirely the Roma’s fault.We have to realise that this is a target group that needs, in the process of education and employment, specialattention and active assistance from institutions. We met the Roma in the Counselling Service in Novo mesto already in the time of its formation and theformation of its model of operation, since we recognised them - because of their characteristic features - as atarget group that will need a lot of attention.

The basic purpose of the Counselling Service in Novo Mesto is to enable a quality information and counsellingactivity to adults, which serves as support in their education and learning in different phases of the learningprocess.The activity of the Centre is directed towards helping the adults in their inclusion in educationalprogrammes, in the education itself and in employment, and for the Roma, the general social inclusion as well.


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It is important for an adult, who decides to get education, to be able to acquire the necessary information inone place. Another important thing is the counselling assistance, which is available within the framework of theCounselling Service in Novo Mesto before deciding on education, during education, when adults mightexperience problems, and after the conclusion of education, when an individual decides to continue education,change profession or simply valorise the education.

The developed counselling activity and network have an important role in motivating adult Roma for theinclusion in education. In the process of individual or group counselling for the adults, we enable informingabout education opportunities and different forms of assistance in the inclusion in education, and in evaluatingtheir interests, abilities and opportunities for education, when organising learning habits and in solving learningproblems or obstacles that affect learning activities, and in deciding about further education and employment. We apply all seven activities in counselling for the mentioned target group, which are necessary for an integraland quality activity (informing, advising, counselling, representing, training, feedback and evaluation).In the annual programme of the Counselling Centre, we define special tasks and goals regarding the Romacommunity as well, which we plan to realise during that year. In 2004 we started with a planned implementationof vocational counselling and informing for the Roma. The main tasks were: connecting and co-operating with the local media for the vocational informing of theRoma, motivating Roma for the inclusion in education, vocational informing and counselling for individuals. The counsellor at the Counselling Centre in Novo mesto has actively joined the Primary School for Adultsprogramme, in the 8th grade, where a group of boys was just concluding primary school.Our purpose was to motivate these boys to persevere and finish primary school, and inform them about theadditional opportunities for continuing education. Beside the individual work with individual education plans,she also joined the group weekly. At first it was hard - most of the time was spent for convincing, argumentation, proving and explaining howimportant knowledge is in the life of an individual. It seemed that their strong contrary beliefs were not to bechanged soon. They were firmly convinced that they won’t be able to get employment even if they finish primary school, andthat all their effort is in vain. To continue education on a higher level was unacceptable to them. The counsellor faced two challenges: is it true that a young Roma cannot obtain employment after finishing primaryschool, because he is a Roma?, and convincing at least one Roma to continue the education on a higher level.

In order to achieve this, our work within the group became even more target specific and systematic. We alsoincluded an expert from the Social Work Centre in Novo mesto in the process of motivation. At weekly meetings,the boys acquired knowledge about the employment process (looking for employment ads, choosing thesuitable ones, writing employment applications and CVs, preparing for job interviews, etc.), the employmentopportunities and especially the advantages of continuing education and employment.

During the partnership in the Roma Employment Centre project, the Employment Office of the Republic ofSlovenia, Regional Office Novo mesto was also partner in the Vocational Informing and Counselling project. Inthis partnership we actively co-operated at the completion of the National Professional Standard RomaCoordinator proposal, and with their suggestions expanded the circle of activities in the sector of employment,which must go hand in hand with education. We also cooperated in recruiting unemployed Roma in the first(pilot) educational programmes for Roma coordinators. Since we wanted to test the Roma coordinator model in praxis as soon as possible, the Regional Office of theEmployment Office in Novo Mesto gave the initiative that the Employment Office should apply the newprofessional standard to the public tender for public works for 2006 as a national public work programme, withthe opportunity of implementation in all the areas of the country, where there is a large number of Romacommunity members.For this purpose, the national public work programme Coordinator for Increasing Roma EmploymentOpportunities was prepared and notified, with the following content.The Roma have a substantially lower training and employment opportunity, because of their low level education,lack of language knowledge and lack of knowledge about the operation of institutions. One of the basic


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observations of the researches on Roma position that have been made until now, is that the key to improvingthe Roma position is in the sector of education and employment.The Purpose of the Programme is to ensure a higher level of inclusion of the Roma in society, dismissingprejudice and stereotypes on the Roma community, and increasing the level of acceptance of the Roma by themajority population. This will be possible with ensuring better communication between the Roma and the localcommunities and with special assistance with solving problems of Roma training and employment. The Goal of the programme is increasing the employment opportunities of the Roma by including them in theActive Employment Policy, with constant monitoring of their inclusion, and by promoting the inclusion of theRoma in employment.The programme includes coordination and cooperation with institutions that deal with solving Roma issues,especially in the sector of Roma training and education.

The activities include:• Offering assistance in the inclusion of unemployed Roma in the Active Employment Policy measures -

establishing a network for informing the Roma about the activities, obligations and employmentopportunities, as well as motivating, encouraging, monitoring their inclusion and solving potential conflicts.

• Cooperating with employers in seeking new employment opportunities for the Roma - searching foradequate employment positions and offering assistance in communication with the employer.

Expected Effects of the Programmea. for the implementerEstablish a two-way communication flow, and promote tolerance and cooperation between the Roma and themajority population. Including people with low employment prospects in work, creating new employmentopportunities for the Roma in the local community, enabling the acquisition of new knowledge and skills to theunemployed.b. For the local communityThe Roma coordinator is an important link between the majority population and the Roma community, who cancontribute substantively to the recognition of the Roma community’s needs, to the creation of circumstancesand conditions for a better inclusion of the Roma in the local community and to the searching of Romaemployment opportunities.c. For the participantsIncreasing competence and functional qualifications, acquiring working experience and new knowledge, acquiringcommunication skills and skills for solving conflicts, developing organisation and coordination competence.

Time PlanThe time plan for the allocation of work for the participants in the programme, which lasts 7 months, is thefollowing:- Month One: introduction to the Active Employment Policy programmes, learning about the field of work, and

training for this position of work. Organised group training.- Month two - seven

Establishing the needs of the Roma, assisting the establishment of a communication network with Romasettlements, cooperating in planning and implementing the activities for the inclusion of the Roma in ActiveEmployment Policy programmes and cooperating in the search of regular employment.

For the implementation of the programme, the Employment Office of the Republic of Slovenia obtained sevenexternal implementers, which operated in the areas of the following Regional Offices: Kranj, Ljubljana, Maribor,Murska Sobota, Novo Mesto and Sevnica.All together, they notified 11 employment positions: two on the 1st complexity level, four on the 2nd complexitylevel, two on the 4th complexity level, two on the 5th complexity level, and one on the 6th complexity level.The implemented public work programmes were successfully concluded in the end of 2006.We expect the included Roma, with the experience they acquired, to be an adequate human resource for theRoma Employment Centre Public Institution, when it starts operating.


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5.4 Training

Vocational training is a fundamental asset to assure people’s growth and the development of the social,economic and manufacturing system. It allows to develop a whole set of career paths that are likely to meetvarious people’s diverse life-long learning needs:- children, starting from the end of junior high school until the age of 18, are offered the opportunity to obtain

a school-leaving diploma or a vocational qualification certificate, to make and implement serious decisions; - young people are provided with the opportunity to learn skills upon their entry into the labour market,

through vocational training activities; - the unemployed are provided with the opportunity to be re-integrated into the economic and manufacturing

system through vocational training; - disadvantaged people at a risk of exclusion are provided with the opportunity to acquire base and vocational

skills and to be integrated into the labour market; - women are given the opportunity to access and attend career growth plans in the labour market; adult

workers are given the opportunity to keep updated about the new technological innovations and know how. Furthermore, vocational training is designed to meet the vocational requirements of enterprises and of theeconomic and manufacturing system. It provides them with a skilled, competent and flexible work force; itsupports companies’ and workers’ innovation and adjustability to changing work organization; it fosterentrepreneurial spirit towards the creation of new jobs, it pursues the skilling and enhancement of humanresources in research, science and technology. Different and customised types of vocational training actions aredesigned and implemented based on the information deriving from the labour market needs and the social andtraining needs analysis of training beneficiaries. As far as Sinti and Roma target groups are concerned, vocational training is designed based on guidanceinterviews with the beneficiaries made by experts and on the information collected by social workers in the fieldor through Sinti and Roma mediators. The main types of vocational training actions addressed to Sinti and Roma beneficiaries are guidance jobplacements, courses on “life skills”, basic training courses, job-oriented training courses, courses on how todevelop self-employment and entrepreneurship skills and job placements.In several cases, vocational training actions for Sinti and Roma beneficiaries are designed according to short-term successive steps, based on blended learning, i.e. taking into account a mix of the different above-mentioned types of vocational training actions.This approach allows to design customised and flexible forms of vocational training that take into account eachindividual user’s needs and to readjust or change them while in progress to fully meet the set targets. In spite of customised vocational training solutions, this does not mean that Sinti and Roma beneficiaries takepart in the various initiatives on an individual basis, but there might also be cases when a few Sinti and Roma areintegrated in already existing groups including different beneficiaries, or in other cases, when they are integratedin small groups with other Sinti and Roma participants having similar needs and interests, as pointed out by theguidance interviews. Finally, ad hoc customised and individual projects can be designed for each beneficiary. In all cases, it is important that during the whole vocational training experience, the Sinti and Roma traineeslearn how to cope up with different contexts, groups, situations and problems, in relation both to the differenttraining objectives and the environment.

The main vocational training actions are:- basic training courses: they include both remedial courses, aimed at allowing students to obtain a junior high

school-leaving diploma, initial training courses and Italian literacy courses;- “life” skill courses: they concern the acquisition of the social and relational life skills necessary to enter the

world of work;- job-oriented courses: they include both classroom-based courses (theoretical classes and practical

workshops) to learn base and core skills in specific sectors (i.e., mechanics, hotel and catering, care services,etc) and job placements in relevant firms;

- self-employment courses, they envisage courses aimed at the development of self-employment skills.


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Practices of Equal Project Roma: european citizens

Subject TrainingArea/location Turin Municipality - Italy

Project network Councils - Piedmont - ItalyInstitutions involved AIZO

CFPP (local training agency)Project title Roma: European citizensTarget group Roma and Sintes looking for employmentObjectives The proposal for courses on social skills and, eventually, professional training,

stems from the need to offer beneficiaries a short and agile route aimed atunderstanding those norms regulating the job market, recruitment, individualpreparation, fulfilling duties and being granted rights.The course aims to offer beneficiaries some indications and suggestions tohelp them avoid prejudices and conflicts, to facilitate attitudes based ontolerance and integration in order to encourage the acceptance of cultural andethnical differences, to experiment and consolidate methods for accessingsocial integration and employment opportunities.Considering the factors involved (with respect to gender identity, age, level ofschooling, previous work experiences, aptitudes, professional skills, familycomposition and role played), the proposed training and social skills courseprogram can certainly not have a rigid structure. Indeed, it will not developusing a didactic method designed using only rational and logical-deductive references.

Actions developed A very flexible course, that can well be adapted to suit individualised routeswhich usually privilege practical and experiential methods. The range, in depth study, structure and order of subjects dealt with are allclosely dependant on the composition and size of groups, on interestsemerging, on the employment perspectives, on the level of understandingreached. The shortest version of the course is subdivided into 2 didacticmodules lasting 20 hours each and if run within a company or a jobplacement, it consists of a single 20 hour module. The tools available toteachers for facilitating lectures and helping comprehension of matters dealtwith are:- Audio-visual aids (slides, documentaries);- Role playing: simulating employment searches, interviews with potential

employers to access job market opportunities;- Interactive teaching of subjects based on dialogue and discussion.

Project staff AIZO trainersCFPP trainers

Project length January 2006 - September 2007

Program and subjectsCourse presentation Group definitionLiteracy - Italian language and civilization (6 hours)Individual design of the program valuing the basic individual skills and competence SESSION ON COMMUNICATION (3 hours)- How to communicate- How to manage conflicts – Negotiated conflict resolution - How to solve problems- How to make decisionsPERSONAL ASSESSMENT (3 hours)- Professional knowledge and competence acquired in past experiences - Analysis of personal characteristics - Identification of the value system THE JOB MARKET (3 hours)- Standing legislation related to the job market- The labour market in Italy:

self employment, employed work and cooperatives;contracts;rights and services for the unemployed; work grant, temporary work for the unemployed, socially useful jobs, labour mobility, incentives for selfemployment, invalidity or incapacity for work.

SUPPORTING THE ACTIVE SEARCH FOR EMPLOYMENT (3 hours)- Job interview simulations; Role-playing- Motivation and communication within routes leading towards employment:

Techniques for motivating employment searches;Interview; Communication; Looking for a job;Job-club.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VALUES OF MY PEOPLE AND OF THE GAGÈ (18 hours)- Cultures: the value of comparing and finding possible ways of cohabiting whilst respecting differences

The history of the roma people;Personal story telling by each participant;The personal history in relation to that of the Roma people;Concept of positive and negative values: translation into the two languages;Concept of positive and negative values: synchronicity and their evolution over time;Identification and reinforcement of the nomadic culture’s values;Pinpointing those parts of my culture perceived as negative values by the gagé;What the two cultures have in common and how to strengthen what they share;Pinpointing what separates the two cultures and finding possible communication bridges

- Is work a right and/or a duty?Recognising differences and common views about work in the roma and gage cultures;Conveying a more “prescribed” work culture (set breaks respected, being on time and respectingdeadlines, precision in performing tasks assigned)Collection and discussion of some positive and some negative experiences; Verbal expression of feelings and sensations deriving from one’s work experience, highlighting alsohidden aspects or negative elements that are hard to make explicit;Collection of wishes, expectations and goals of each individual participant in respect to possible future work experiences (also related to the course) and, eventually, their re-modelling taking into account the behaviouralrules of work environments or an analysis of communication approaches for relationships in the workplace.Starting up a business: individual requirements, standing legislation, procedures and practices

FEEDBACK


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5.5 Job placement and training

A job placement is a training period spent in a company, whose aim is to allow a trainee to learn new specificskills and to support him/her in his/her decision-making process through a direct on-the-job experience. Trainees are not entitled to be paid or hired by the company. At the end of the job placement they receive acertificate about the skills that have been learned on the job.A job placement is a practice training experience. It requires no work contract and it is aimed at letting thetrainee make a practical experience in view of his/her vocational and personal growth. Furthermore, job placements are considered to be an integral part of the University students’ education,following the reform of the Italian University education system, which is now based on a training credit system. Direct on-the-job experiences allow trainees (both students and job-seekers) to learn new skills and get familiarwith the world of work, and they foster the work integration or re-integration of disadvantaged people havingdifficulties in entering the labour market.In Italy, job placement opportunities are made available to: secondary school students, University students,vocational training students, school-leavers, newly graduated University students, disadvantaged people andjob-seekers or unemployed people enrolled in the employment centres’ mobility lists.

The duration of a job placement differs according to the kind of trainees involved: - secondary school students: max. 4 months; - job-seekers or unemployed people enrolled in the employment centres’ mobility lists, national vocational

school students, post-diploma or post-graduate students: max. 6 months; - university students or newly graduated University students (since no more than 18 months),

Ph.D. or post-graduate students (also during the 18-month-long period after the end of the university studycourse) or disadvantaged people: max. 12 months;

- disabled people: max. 24 months.

Applicants, who wish to leave on a job placement within a public or private company, have to address themselvesto competent authorities: i.e. employment agencies, employment centres, universities and higher educationinstitutes, bodies supporting the right to higher education, education authorities, school institutions, guidanceand vocational training centres, therapeutic communities and social co-operatives, and work integration servicesfor the disabled.A job placement is not an employment relationship. Sinte and Roma people usually experience difficulties with job placements. For most Gypsies, a job placement isto be regarded as a form of work and as such it must necessarily be paid. To most of them, even small amounts of money mean a lot.Further problems stem from the distance between the workplace and their camps, travel expenses, family andcultural problems and habits (to this regard, the different social women’s status should not be neglected; forinstance, women usually have no driving licence, thus making it difficult for them to go to work).In order to solve these problems, it is fundamental to involve Sinti or Roma mediators or facilitators, when presentin the camp. These mediators come from the Roma community, they play a twofold role: they teach trainees the rules to becomplied with during a job placement and they take action in case of conflicts within the groups, the families orthe companies involved in the apprenticeship experience. Mediation takes place at more levels and it involves the various actors who play a role in the work integrationprocess. Hence, a distinction should be made between a Sinti or Roma facilitator, a camp operator (involved in theintegration processes put in place by the local authorities) and a training tutor (who is a new interlocutorto many Sinti and Roma people, who is in charge of facilitating their integration in school, training and workexperiences).These three key actors, who co-operate with the company tutor, play a fundamental role in creating a favourableclimate within the workplace and in designing and monitoring the whole training process, by motivating andinvolving beneficiaries.

5.6 Business creation and start up advisory services

Training geared towards self-employment or business creation is addressed both to young job-seekers, job firsttimers and adult employed people. These training activities are designed to set up new business incubators, such as: • courses aimed at acquiring business management skills; • courses aimed at capitalising on previous work/training/education experiences and the acquisition of

specific technical and functional skills to start up a new business or to become self-employed; • technical advice and assistance services during the new business start-up phase.

Coaching new entrepreneurs in business creation is a strategic activity in the framework of new business servicesin Europe, since it fosters the development of an entrepreneurial and self-employment culture, especially incontexts that are instead mainly interested in employee work.

The service is mainly intended to:• disseminate the entrepreneurial culture through local development and entrepreneurship guidance initiatives;• support new entrepreneurs in designing and implementing their entrepreneurial projects successfully.

The service is supported by a different set of individual or group strategies and actions, such as:• the analysis of new entrepreneurs’ needs;• the provision of useful information for business creation;• the feasibility assessment of an entrepreneurial idea in relation to the prospective entrepreneur’s personal

and professional resources;• the implementation of training activities aimed at developing effective entrepreneurial management skills;


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Practices of Equal Project Roma: european citizens

Subjects Job placement/vocational trainingArea/location Turin city- Italy

Project Network Council - Piedmont - ItalyTarget group Roma and Sinte seeking employmentObjectives 1) to identify available resources for job placements offering vocational

training in view of lasting employment 2) to share employment resources contacted and their willingness to

collaborate with the project 3) to map the attitude of companies towards employing Roma workers in

order to monitor the level of discrimination they suffer 4) to assess the percentage of companies willing to host Rom citizens within

their job placements and the percentage of those willing to offer themlong-term employment

Actions developed Creation of a tool (database) containing data on the employment resourcescontacted by each tutor (name, address, contacts, business field, availablepositions, job placements available, direct employment if possible, date of thecontact, tutor involved).

Project staff 11 tutors coming from agencies that are project partners Project length January 2006 - September 2007Documents produced Database for finding resources


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• technical support during all the entrepreneurial project implementation phases up to the new business startup and operational phases.

In the case of Sinti and Roma beneficiaries, the latter aspect is fundamental, since it allows us to understand andcorrect mistakes and thus to successfully overcome difficulties. As far as training activities specifically designed for Sinti and Roma users in Italy, it is interesting to mention afew specific courses leading to the issue of certificates for the start up of businesses (such as restaurants) orself-employment activities (such as horse breeding and trading).A business creation coaching period for the Sinti and Roma might include three phases:during the first phase, trainees are introduced into business management issues and they receive information onhow to keep the accounts.The main subjects that are covered during this stage are:• introduction to business economic management;• definition of working activities to be carried out;• identification of the items to be monitored;• entry of assets and liabilities;• balance sheet analysis.During the second phase of the project, designed in collaboration with the camp social worker, the Sinti orRoma facilitator, the training tutor and the teacher shall take into account the first phase results, as well as theneeds that have emerged in the meantime.Training will be followed by a third phase focusing on the actual setting up of the firm, to be coached andmonitored by all the actors involved in the previous phases.Coaching is geared towards the design, development and implementation of a business creation project basedon the following cultural approach: Gypsy populations are not interested in work stability and continuity to startwith. Hence, they are ready to run the risk involved in the setting up of a business, to experience the insecurityand to live under unstable conditions that are linked to the business creation process.Re-discovering traditional century-old trades (weaving, wickerwork, etc) to set up one’s own business can be anacceptable work alternative; yet it should be supported and coached. In Italy, there are no specific subsidies orgrants for this kind of initiatives in favour of the Sinti and Roma population, otherwise more business creationprojects would be under way.During the follow-up phase the greatest difficulties in business start-ups are encountered by women. They aremainly due to family and work balance problems.

5.7 Work integration

Work integration is the last stage of the process, when operators are mainly required to assist users in the activesearch of a job and during the early work integration stages.Work integration coaching is a key activity in the range of new business services throughout the European Unionto facilitate the work integration and re-integration of disadvantaged people.The main aim pursued by the service is to support job-seekers by enhancing their active work searchcapabilities, to coach them in drafting and implementing a consistent and realistic professional project, to raisethe awareness of the social and business community and to enhance the effectiveness of employment policies. The service requires the implementation of diversified strategies, including both individual and group initiativessuch as: the analysis of the application and of the type of problem to be addressed, the assessment of theproject feasibility, coaching applicants in their active job-seeking commitment (i.e. by drafting a curriculum vitae,sorting job ads, getting ready for job interviews), supporting applicants in designing and implementing aneffective job search process (also through the referral to other services) and tutoring applicants towards workintegration by promoting their adjustment to the job requirements.

Job coaching also envisages training and guidance placements, so that users can be coached in the acquisitionand/or strengthening of base, core and life (diagnosis, relational, coping) skills directly on the job.Once an applicant is integrated into the workplace, he/she shall be coached for a certain period of time by acompany tutor, who shall support him/her in the job to be performed by enhancing strengths and improvingweaknesses, in order to increase their odds of success in view of a job contract. The work integration of Sinti and Roma people can occur either as a final step in a successful training process,or as a direct entry into the labour market, in the case of applicants who have asked to do so during the needsanalysis and the guidance interviews.

The work integration is the final step of a standard process, which envisages the following stages:1. interviews aimed at the active job search and/or analysis of the applicant’s work experience, 2. processing of data emerging from the interviews and identification of companies,3. ending applicants’ profiles to the identified companies,4. analysis of job opportunities with the companies concerned and organisation of interviews with Sinti and

Roma applicants,5. meeting the Sinti and Roma applicants in view of the recruitment interviews,6. planning and organization of individual interviews of young applicants with the companies, 7. interviews of young applicants with the identified companies and appointment of coaches who are

charged of actually accompanying the Sinti and Roma trainees into the companies,8. introduction of Sinti and Roma life context to the companies; further information about their life and

personal conditions can be provided by social workers,9. interview feed-back by Sinti and Roma applicants and by the company representatives,

10. definition of coaching actions to be carried out during the first stage of work integration. Further meetingsand interviews between Sinti and Roma apprentices and actors involved in coaching (camp social workers,training tutors, Sinti and Roma mediators/facilitators) according to an approach to be agreed upon with thecompanies concerned.

During the work integration phase each company defines a regular work contract.The most common reactions of Sinti and Roma people to work offers are:• rejection of the work proposal (due to economic reasons, or to working hours not consistent with their

family or life commitments, etc.);• accepting a job that is not consistent with their training project (due to economic reasons, or to other

reasons related to their need to obtain or maintain a permit to stay, etc.);When Sinti and Roma applicants accept work offers that are consistent with the kind of training they havereceived, positive results are achieved both from the point of view of beneficiaries and of the companiesinvolved. In this case they are well integrated within corporate organizations and workgroups.In the long run, the most common difficulties that might emerge, especially in case of work proposals that arenot consistent with the training project, are due to:• the lack of mobility and the unwillingness “to leave their camps”,• family instability,• absenteeism,• fear of employers;• negative representation of employers and businesses;• lack of motivation.


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Practices of Equal Project Roma Employment CenterSlovenia - Prekmurje region

Subject Work integration Area/location Slovenia, Prekmurje RegionInstitutions involved Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs

Ministry of Education, Science and SportEmployment Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Project title Roma Employment in PrekmurjeTarget group The RomaObjectives Acknowledge the state in the field of Roma employment in Prekmurje,

the employer’s attitude towards Roma employment and the Roma’s attitudetoward employment

Developed actions Improving the situation in the area of Roma employmentAuthor Primoz Gjerkis, Alianta, projektno svetovanje, d.o.o.

One of the basic conditions for improving the entire social and economic position of the Roma and their socialintegration is the area of employment. According to the information, the percentage of employed Roma inSlovenia is only 2%, the remaining 98% is unemployed. The majority of unemployed Roma depend on social assistance, while some of them seek additional income inblack economy or in collecting and selling waste goods. The economic position of the Roma is poor in theentire area of Slovenia, although recently the state of employment is improving, especially in Prekmurje. Somecompanies in Prekmurje employ the Roma without any prejudice or additional restrictions.The Roma are still stigmatised in the process of choosing employees, since there is prejudice on the part ofemployers, who believe the Roma are not hardworking and not prepared to work. In spite of this, their state ofemployment is improving. The Roma are becoming more equal candidates for employment positions and are notdiscriminated against because they are members of the Roma community, but are taken into consideration bythe employer on the basis of their references. Because of their low educational structure, however, the Roma inthe Prekmurje region are employed mostly as manual workers in construction, metal industry and textiles branch.A large percentage of the Roma from Prekmurje are also employed abroad, especially in Austria.According to the statements of some employers, who have Roma employees in their companies, the attitude ofthe Roma towards employment is recently improving.The Roma realised that only a positive attitude towards work - coming to work on time, loyalty at work, positiveattitude towards colleagues and the management, striving for the company’s well-being - can get them theenvironment’s trust and ensure a better future with the help of a regular employment.The attitude of the Roma towards other employees and the management is on an adequate level, however, someproblems regarding motivation still occur, but the employers understand this issue and try to solve it togetherwith the Roma. Also the employed Roma see regular employment as positive, and can bring them, beside thefinancial well-being, a higher respect in society and dismiss the prejudice that they are not hardworking and notprepared to work.The problem with Roma employment is still their relatively low level of education, since 95% of adult Roma onlyhave the first level of education. Most frequently, the Roma get employment as manual workers or assistantworkers in construction, timber or metal industry.A large percentage of the Roma also engages in occasional seasonal work or selling souvenirs, clothes andjewellery. Within the programmes of the Employment Office of the Republic of Slovenia, the Roma are includedin a number of programmes for training and additional education.Among other things, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport co-financed the education of adult Roma inMurska Sobota, in the area of functional and computer literacy and encouraging Roma traditions and professions.

In spite of this, there are still not enough Roma enrolling in programmes for vocational and professionaleducation.5

One important experience has been developed in the municipality of Sentjernej, in the Dolenjska region wherethe Roma are settled. Roma families in this municipality live in settlements, next to the rest of the population.There are approximately 150 Roma registered at the Administrative Unit. However, not all Roma are registeredand therefore there is no official information about the actual number of the Roma.The Roma in this municipality are employed mostly in the area of maintenance of municipality surroundings andinfrastructure of the municipality and maintenance of public surfaces. The Roma are employed through thepublic work programme in the EDS, d.o.o, public company in Sentjernej, which was established by the SentjernejMunicipality, which owns 100% of the company. It is a public and non-profit organisation, which deals with maintenance of public surfaces. This status enablesthe company to employ people through the public work programme. Public work programmes are one-yearemployment programmes, which are regulated by the State. Each year there is a tender for these programmes atthe beginning of January and last until the end of the calendar year. The method and amount of payment forperforming this kind of work are regulated by law. The public company JP EDS, d.o.o., deals with all types of public utility services for the necessities of theSentjernej municipality, excluding waste disposal, which is the task of the Novo Mesto Community public utilityservice. The employees at the JP EDS, d.o.o., public company take care of maintenance of public surfaces andcommunity roads in the Sentjernej Municipality: sweeping sidewalks and roads, maintenance of road banks,collecting discarded waste, mowing grass in the summer, etc.In 2006, there were 17 people employed in this company, 5 of them were regularly employed, while the other12, out of which 8 were Roma, worked through the public works programme. They expect to employ 13 peoplethrough the public works programme in 2007.

In the last two years, the Sentjernej Municipality carried out two public work programmes:- public Surface and Community Roads Maintenance,- maintenance of public surfaces in Roma settlements.This type of work is a work of the 1st level of complexity, where concluded education is not required.Therefore, the Roma are suitable as employees in spite of their low level of education, since most of them donot have a primary education. In addition, Roma employment in public utility services balances the structuraldisparity in unemployment: in the Sentjernej Municipality the level of unemployment is very low, there are notmany unemployed people and they are not prepared to do public works. On the other hand, this type of work suits the Roma, since they do not want to work in closed spaces infactories and on assembly lines, for which they would have an opportunity, but - because of their way of life -working outdoors is better for them. Unemployed Roma in the Municipality are registered as employment-seekers at the regional office of theEmployment Office of the Republic of Slovenia. The JP EDS, d.o.o., public company also publishes a notificationthere, when they need a worker, and the Employment Office directs them to the JP EDS, d.o.o., company forwork. Beside the formal way, there is also the informal way of establishing contact between the Roma that seekemployment and the companies that need new workers.

The Roma know the JP EDS, d.o.o., company and also come to ask whether they have a vacant employmentposition. On the other hand, the employees at the JP EDS, d.o.o., company know the Roma who are willing towork, and thus a completely informal communication between the two parties takes place, which ends with theemployment of a Roma in the company, and subsequently with the fulfilment of formal criteria for employment. The Roma employed at the JP EDS, d.o.o., company are younger Roma -18-30 year old. They are mostly thesame people who have been working through the public work programme for a number of years, which indicatesthat they are reliable workers. In the previous years their working time was 40 hours a week, this year it is 30hours a week and they have one day (Friday) off. Their working day lasts from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The manager in the public utility service company organises the working process and gives directions regardingwork to the employees every morning.


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The Roma do not have any problems with respecting authority and following the rules. They are hard-workingand obey the rules, and carry out the work they are given with loyalty and accuracy - even more than someoneelse would, according to Mr. Janez Horvat from the Sentjernej Municipality.The satisfaction of the Roma with their employment in this company can be proved with the statement of Mr.Jurkovic: «I am 26 years old and I have been working in public services in the public utility company in ·entjernejfor 6 years. Here we take care of maintenance of the surroundings in the municipality: sweep roads, maintainroad banks, mow grass in the summer, collect waste material on the floor, and do other public utility services.At the moment we are doing maintenance works and cleaning the Roma settlement in the Sentjernej Municipality.We get along well with the manager, he tells us what to do every morning, and we follow his rules. The salary ishumble, but I am satisfied, especially because I can work outdoors.»

In spite of this, organising work with the Roma requires carefulness, since the Roma in this municipality aredivided in different camps. When organising groups for carrying out the work, there can be two or three Romain a group at the most, otherwise there might be conflicts between them. The Roma are also occasionally absent from work: especially on Mondays and Fridays the Roma simply do notcome to work without previous notice to the employer. At the JP EDS, d.o.o., company they are aware of this andtolerate the occasional unreliability of Roma workers, and regard these days as days of leave. It also happens that the Roma are absent from work during particular seasonal phenomena, which the Romatake part in - for example, when mushrooms grow or when they are collecting medical plants, which they latersell (for example, lime tree blossoms).

Those in charge in the Sentjernej Municipality and in the JP EDS, d.o.o., company are aware of the particularcharacteristics of the Roma way of thinking and they accept the Roma, who work in the public company, alongwith their differences. This way problems and conflicts, which arise when employing Roma, can be solved in ahuman way. Thus, we can conclude that it is encouraging that the Roma in the Sentjernej Municipality have beenworking in the public utility company for so long. We can see that accepting the difference of the Roma leads toan establishment of a contact between the needs of the public utility company on one side (need foremployees) and the wishes of some Roma on the other side (need employment), which is an encouraginginformation for Roma employment in other fields as well.


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Social inclusion

The issue of social inclusion is concerned with the cultural aspects of individuals who approach their bordersand come from different local or group cultures which at times are extremely different.Usually, the inclusion of a type of culture within another one implies one or more processes leading individualsto - first of all - interact (for example, traveller children who “begin” to attend school) and subsequently, in somesituations, reach the goal of communicating (i.e. exchange reflections and meanings based on the sharedexperience with both peers and adults).Inclusion can also be intended as the result of processes which lead to extending the fields of interaction - andespecially of communication - between travellers and the resident population. Indeed, housing policies provide astriking example of this: within the neighbourhood’s or the block’s “ecological niche”, differences are often anelement of daily life, imposing forced and contingent communication, and consequently mediation resourcesoften become necessary. Inclusion, finally, is a phenomenon that must be seen within the framework of the vast citizen rights/citizenshipfield. However, on this aspect inclusion policies clash with a very strongly felt (“resentful”) social conflict,consequently cities are less and less able to represent places in which the less fortunate and poorer subjectscan obtain compensation. Further, often underneath an extremely thin covering layer of giving recognition tomulticultural differences (valuing which is usually delegated to artistic events), a widespread opinion marketing -oriented towards guaranteeing individual safety and security - prevails.

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6.1 Education and training

DefinitionThe school integration of children is one of the first actions undertaken in favour of the nomadic population tohave been developed. In fact, schooling is certainly central to the social integration process of Roma children,and consequently helps their families to become involved in the community they live in.The enrolment of Roma children in “regular” primary and secondary schools is the challenge, trying to overcomethe disadvantage they have to face when compared to their Italian and Slovenian classmates, through theimplementation of inter-institutional projects and networking with the schools involved.The main goal to be reached is the child’s attendance at school, which is considered fundamental for theintercultural learning and exchange among children.Roma children could learn their mother tongue as a second language: this is to give their mother tongueimportance and, at the same time, to provide children with tools to communicate with their schoolmates in anactive integration process.These projects are often designed using a networking methodology and in close collaboration with local socialservices, associations, organizations and cooperatives involved in services and activities in nomadic campsites.Projects aimed at the school integration of Roma children have to be tailored considering the changes the gypsyculture is undergoing; it is important to highlight that nowadays many gypsies have been settled for many yearsand the generations that attend school today are children of parents (many of them young people) who arealready educated.Therefore, we should look at the cognitive, relational and organizational aspects that the gypsy children andtheir families meet when they join in a school community. It is moreover important to set up actions supportingthe attendance of young Roma in higher and vocational schools. Even though once they’ve obtained compulsory school qualifications they tend not to continue their education,we have noticed that this is a road some young gypsy people are beginning to undertake.


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“Educational city” - Reggio Emilia municipality

Subject Education - TrainingArea/location Reggio Emilia - ItalyInstitutions “Educational City” - Municipality of Reggio EmiliaType of document Project and activities report until 2005Project title Nomads Project: testing of positive actions addressed to young people based

in the Municipality of Reggio EmiliaTarget group Sinti young people living in the sites run by the Municipality.

Objectives a) Establishment of educational relationships with Sinti young people toagree on initiatives to reduce their discomfort, enhance their well-being and personal interests, by means of customised micro-projects using the locally available resources, such as LEG - Local Educational Groups -, the Job Guidance and Coaching project, sports, youth and leisure associations, social voluntary associations, parish recreation centres, playgrounds, etc. and by serving as point of reference for the enhancement of resources.

b) Guidance to the proper use of community services towards a more positive approach to problems in view of a greater independence.


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c) Setting up of a network of resources to provide young people withextra-curricular educational and training opportunities to reduce the highdropout rate and to integrate school work in a consistent context.

d) Removing obstacles and encouraging young people to attend school and extra-curricular activities (in terms of transport, educational materials, handbooks, etc.).

e) Building itineraries to foster learning and socialisation in collaboration withthe school establishment of the city. Educational curricula should bedeveloped in schools in co-operation with teachers; they should also include afternoon recreational activities especially addressed to Sinti children and co-managed with other promoters, such as in the case of the Afternoon Children’s Recreation Centre of Rivalta. Further complementary initiatives are addressed to build significant relationships within sites with Sinti children and young people’s families in order to establish alliances and to share experiences in the framework of customised individual and small group micro projects.

g) Awareness-raising of the young Nomads’ families and promoting theirco-operation in favour of school and extra-curricular activities, to foster a better mutual knowledge and consequently to reduce mistrust and prejudice, based on the awareness that change can be promoted through mutual knowledge and dialogue.

h) Collecting data and information on emerging and changing needs to knowhow to cope with and meet them, based on the awareness that that the analysis of specific needs should always take into account the general understanding of the changes occurring in the social system as a whole.

i) Documenting the activities carried out with children and young people in agreement with the Project partners to report to the Municipal Authority and to share opinions and decisions to promote change in line with the ongoing social changes.

Actions developed 1. Mapping and analysis of the specific situation within the sites and study ofthe context in which young people live through regular non structured interviews with the (significant) actors of every site.

2. Gradually involving beneficiaries in a process that takes into account the real life conditions of young people and adolescents within each site. This will favour a gradual process towards the strengthening of relationships and building of trust relationships. A favourable atmosphere is conducive to mutual trust and i twill allow educators to design educational activities that take into account both “education” and “social” needs.

3. Designing and working according to action/research methods, by highlighting the educational significance of proposals and initiativesput forward.

4. Building and strengthening relationships with other community social and education workers, with Sinti families, Sinti representation organisations (Opera Nomadi).The local networking plays a key role in this methodological approach.

As for the “social relevance”, the following questions arise, such as:- group dynamics and their consequences on the pre-existing balances and

imbalances,


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- family dynamics triggered off by the changing young people’s self-image and the reflection of their image around them, in the eyes of their family, friends and others,

- repercussions on the social context, on the school and social environment,- the attitudes that might be taken up by young people after these various

educational actions.

The choice of activities must therefore be well conceived and made within a training process that should also take into due account the above-mentioned dynamics.

Project staff 1 Co-ordinator2 Educators

Project length 2004-2006

The project, which was carried out in the 2004-2005, is aimed at the follow-up of activities started during theprevious years, with a special focus on a few relevantly moot points. In a few significant cases, actions have beendesigned and developed to achieve effectiveness and efficiency. The aim whas to address the individualproblems by means of specific tailor-made solutions, such as micro projects, designed in the more generalframework where they take place and with which they interact. Specific actions are therefore designed suit toindividual situations, contexts, life stories, whilst taking into account the various interrelations and consequencesthey might have on other project aspects. The project starts from the idea of bringing about change through aset of positive actions carried out in the more general reference framework. It takes into account theinteractions between Sinti children and young people and the Gadje population in the Municipality of ReggioEmilia, as well as the integration processes to be promoted and supported. It also highlights the marginalisationprocesses that must be identified and understood in order to redesign and implement the activities.The work done over recent years is the continuation of that done previously and implies further work that willbe done in the future, in a sort of continuum. Integration requires understanding, interpretation, mediation,exchange, search for new ideas, spaces, time and actions to be shared in the daily life (which is full ofcontradictions, obstacles, unexpected progress and setbacks, etc.). It is a process that requires a long time,continuity, ongoing monitoring to redesign new projects in line with the changes occurring in the social, culturaland political conditions. Such work is oriented towards the promotion of well-being, in a broader frameworkgeared towards prevention, thus also including other types of action undertaken by the Municipality of ReggioEmilia addressed to children and young people.One last consideration concerns the quantitative data obtained by the project year after year: it is notnumerically significant at all. In the educational field, whatever its objective may be, work can only be fruitful if itis based on building significant interpersonal relationships, which are the prerequisite of a shared personalgrowth project. Such a project does not only require the beneficiary’s personal commitment but also thesupport of the family and environment. Such a complex network of people with which any process or itineraryhas to be negotiated and agreed with is an important asset towards the success of the operation but it can alsobecome an insurmountable obstacle if steps are taken without a proper involvement and mediation. Hence,every action, even the smallest one, absolutely requires a lot of work, time, patience and expertise. This is theprerequisite towards successful results.To carry out this network-based work, a real web of relations must be woven with the members of the site,through continuous encounters and dialogue with the Sinti families, with children and young people, both boysand girls; such a web is woven through interactions with schools, meeting people in social meeting places, andby involving health and social workers or other stakeholders as well. Furthermore, the difficulties encountered bythe majority of the Sinti population that hardly knows how to write should not be forgotten.

Weaving such a network requires the involvement of many stakeholders, like educators, street educators, whoknow the community well and who are well and specifically trained for this, who know how to cope withcontradictions and different attitudes, deriving from a different value system.Educators must be ready to accept diversity by listening to others, understanding them and providing theirsupport, guidance and mediation.

Three female educators have been involved in the project. These educators have worked within schools and in an extra-curricular framework by means of educationalactivities, free expression and cognitive laboratories, in small workgroups. Projects have been based onsocialisation, integration between Sinti and Gadje children and on school remedial actions. An awareness-raising campaign has been launched within the community to stimulate and foster theparticipation of children aged between 6 and 14, especially in remedial activities in doing homework, inlaboratories and recreational initiatives organised by various local associations and facilities and addressed toall children and young people (children’s recreation centres, sports clubs, after-school activities centres,afternoon educational groups). Furthermore, the Rivalta after-school centre has been strengthened. It is opentwo afternoons a week and it provides remedial actions to help the Rivalta elementary school children and, inparticular, the Sinti children coming from the sites in via Strozzi, do their homework.This project is designed and implemented in co-operation with the Don Borghi Institute and with the ComunitàEducante and Gancio Originale associations. Voluntary workers and teachers come from Istituto Matilde diCanossa, from Istituto don Z. Jodi and from Istituto del Tricolore. Activities are led by two female educators fromthe Nomads Project.Customised projects must often be designed in the framework of extra-curricular projects to take into accountspecific situations, difficulties and needs. Such a customised approach allows us to involve all children, bothboys and girls, who would otherwise be left out due to their specific problems and their social or familybackground.During summer time special efforts have been made to integrate Sinti children in playgrounds (in particular,those led by the parish children’s recreational centres of Pieve, Don Bosco and S. Rigo); they play an importantrole as socialisation places where all Sinti children, both boys and girls, can meet and play together and makefriends with other children outside their sites. In this way we can facilitate the building of relationship andmutual knowledge. Knowing each other better is the key to overcome mutual biases, prejudice and mistrust, tosocialise and to lay the building blocks for a future relationship. H’s also useful to offer the opportunity to playtogether after the end of the school period, when the lives of Sinti young boys and girls tend to separate fromthose of their Gadje peers. As far as co-operation with schools is concerned, a project has been launchedalready over the last few years to collect handbooks for Sinti pupils, through a second-hand and new bookmonitoring/collection/re-distribution and purchasing system. This initiative allows all Sinti students to take partin school activities equipped with the necessary basic material, thus eliminating one of the first discriminationcauses, even though this is not yet enogh. Initiatives are also undertaken to organise a school and extra-curricular transport system aimed at promotingthe attendance of school and the involvement of children in after-school activities. The transport service is anabsolutely necessary means to guarantee the regular presence of Sinti children at school. This would nototherwise be possible because their parents are not usually able to tune their needs to service and schooltimes. Generally speaking, a daily networking is necessary to guarantee children’s access to services andcontinuity in attending school. This requires regular meetings and interviews with the young people’s families, inorder to discuss and analyse the problems and to identify strategies to address and overcome them.Networking should also involve the Roncocesi site educators, the civil servants working in the Council forimmigration issues as well as the after-school centre educators, in order to agree on the approaches to welcomechildren and young people, to design specific projects for them, to hire voluntary workers to help educators intheir work, to organise the necessary transport service, to provide the educational material, and to supporteducators themselves inside and outside the school every time problems emerge that run the risk of hinderingor undermining the project, etc.

Report to be drafted by the project co-ordinator at the end of 2005.


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Training course for teachers working with Roma and foreign childrenTorino Municipality

Subjects Education – TrainingArea/location Turin - ItalyInstitutions Municipality of TurinProject title Teaching Italian as second language (L2 course)

Training course for teachers working with nomadic and foreign children.Target group Council teachers assigned to projects working towards the integration of

Nomads and Foreigners in nursery and primary schools. Objectives - Achievement of tools for the initial literacy in the Italian language

addressed to foreign students;- Training teachers on welcoming and receiving foreign students in their

class and on teaching Italian as a second language;- To study in depth and consolidate an integrated network working model -

in order to try and reach really significant results able to bring changesconcerning the serious problems that nomad children face with schoolingthrough valuing resources, knowledge and competence as well as passingon the experience of those already working on projects, actions orservices for nomadic populations.

Actions developed Sessions and focus groups verging on four specific subjects:1. Managing school life considering the daily problems gypsies have to face

when dealing with replies and procedures that are often standardized. 2. School culture: implicit and explicit rules. Comparison between the Italian

and the gypsy educational systems. Generalized student classifications. 3. Which stereotypes and prejudices follow a gypsy child along his

educational experience, within school and in his community.How student identity grows and what it becomes.

4. Training and life projects: going from attending primary school to attendinglower secondary as an investment for both the student and his family. Similarities and differences with Italian youths and growth milestones.

Project staff - Council teachers and some state teachers involved in projects for nomadswithin the schools attended by children living inside the Arrivore campsite;

- Staff from the World Office (Council Division for educational services), Cultural mediators and staff from both city district and central Social services offices;

- Pediatric staff working within the local Health Service Unit ASL 4.Project length School year 2004 - 2005.


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Training Course for Teachers in charge of nomadic and foreign childrenSCHOOL AND EDUCATION SERVICESEDUCATIONAL INTEGRATION DEPT. - DESIGN OFFICETEACHING ITALIAN - L2 COURSE

School year 2004/05

The course is designed for the acquisition of tools for the initial Italian language literacy of foreign students.MotivationsAttendance of foreign students and likely new arrivals over the coming years.Target groupCouncil teachers assigned specifically to projects working on the integration of Foreign and Nomadic childrenwithin nursery and primary schools. ObjectivesTraining teachers on welcoming and receiving foreign students in their class and on teaching Italian as a second language.ContentsCognitive, affective and relational aspects of the migrant pupil.Identification of the specific educational and linguistic needs.Evaluation upon arrival and during the school year. Learning a second language; suggestions for oral activities.Learning to write a second language; suggestions for differentiated work. Links to the class activity: illustration of examples.Specific indications Total number of hours: 24 hours of teaching + 6 to prepare required material3 sessions during the first week: theoretical phase4 monthly sessions: operational phaseDuration of each session: 3.5 hoursEquipment needed: video projector for PC, overhead projector.Verification and evaluation methodThe project is open to suggestions from teachers and is flexible. Each phase of the project will be adequately documented and the correctness of the procedure verifiable at anyone moment: appropriate final reports will be drafted presenting a synthesis of results reached. Sessions1st part intensive: theoretical–methodologicalWelcome. Initial data collection. Allocation to groups.Educational project. Learning the language. Suggestions for oral activities.Preparatory activities for reading and writing. Evaluation in progress.2nd part: operational and monitoring phase From theory to practice:- Identification of the initial data. - Allocation to groups.- Activity planning. Precise indications and suggestions:- Integrated activities.- Monitoring of all learning.From theory to practice:- Examples of integrated activities.- Monitoring of all learning.Precise indications and suggestions:- Use of authentic material during didactic activities.- Differentiation of the various suggestions and teaching approaches.From theory to practice: - Analysis of materials and tools collected.- In groups: brainstorming to design differentiated activities.Analysis of the activities implemented with students.


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Strategy for education and schooling of the Roma in the Republic of Slovenia

Subject Education and TrainingArea/location SloveniaInstitution Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of SloveniaProject title Strategy for Education and Schooling of the Roma in the Republic of SloveniaTarget group The RomaObjectives Improving the Roma’s education levelDeveloped actions - Striving for an early inclusion of Roma children in pre-school education

- Learning Slovene and Roma language with a consequent early socialization - Training Roma assistants for classes with Roma children- Non-obligatory learning of Roma language- Constant professional training for the teachers- Non-segregation of Roma pupils

Project length The strategy was adopted in 2004 by the Ministry of Education,Science and Sport

Slovenia is putting a lot of effort in the inclusion of Roma children in preschool and mandatory school, and intheir integration in the majority culture. Preschool Roma children are included in Slovenian preschools in threeways. The majority is integrated in regular sections. The low percentage of Roma children in preschool is verycharacteristic.The state separately deals with and acknowledges privileges to schools for the education and schooling of Romapupils: it provides additional financial means for individual or group work with Roma pupils who attend school,has more favourable standards for sections with Roma pupils, finances food, books, excursions, etc. The stategrants scholarship to Roma students for all types of education, and it also financed the preparation of the firstworkbook for teaching Roma language. Within the framework of the Institute for Education of the RS, there is astudy group of teachers, who teach Roma pupils. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Roma pupils drop out ofschool already in primary school. The basic problem is the lack of knowledge of Slovene followed by an irregularattendance and missing classes, and a consequent unsuccessful learning.The low level of education of the Roma, combined with different life habits and conditions, does not enablesimple solutions in the area of the educational and schooling system. The percentage of children that finishprimary school is still low, which affects the need for adult Roma education.The key problems that still remain unsolved are the following:Inclusion/insertion vs. segregation: language, culture, identity; inappropriate work organisation; expections ofRoma children in school (attitude towards education); no-consideration of social, cultural and othercircumstances; integrating Roma children in schools with an appropriate programme.The basic principle of this document is that of equal opportunities.The following principles and goals are also taken into consideration:• ensuring education and schooling, which enables the achievement of goals and knowledge standards that are

defined in the pre-school curricula and school curricula (solutions, where there are deviations from the goals, defined in pre-school and school curricula, are unacceptable, as well as the solutions, where the minimalgoals and standards are the only and final goals in the inclusion of the Roma children as an ethnic group);

• promoting the right to preserving respect of the Roma language and culture in education and schooling;• inclusion in society in such a way that education and schooling ensure the takeover of functional requisites

of the society, as well as accepting their difference (and identity);• inclusion in society through education and school curricula ensuring principles and values of equality in

connection with social justice (fighting prejudice, learning to accept universal values, respecting othercultures and languages).

According to the educational and schooling vertical, the document pursues the following principles and goals:• principle of the open curriculum,• principle of autonomy and professional responsibility of workers,• principle of equal opportunities and consideration of differences between the children, and the principle of

multiculturalism (respecting the specific nature of the Roma culture),• principle of cooperation with parents,• ensuring conditions for the acquisition of goals and knowledge standards,

in the field of adult education: the principles of lifelong learning, functionality, democracy, volunteering,diversity and dynamics, integrity, active participation.

Most important solutions:• Early inclusion in education and schooling processes: inclusion of Roma children in preschool education at

least two years before starting primary school (at the latest at the age of 4); the purpose is mainly learningof the language (Slovene and Roma) and socializing in the education and schooling institute, which mediatesexperience and patterns that enable an easier inclusion in primary school for children.

• Roma assistants: the lack of knowledge of Slovene and the unsuccessful inclusion of Roma childrencan be resolved or alleviated with the introduction of a Roma assistant, who will help the childrenovercome the emotional and language barrier, and will represent bridge between pre-school orschool and the Roma community.

• Substantive adaptation of programmes: in primary school, the introduction of non obligatory Roma languageclasses, Slovene language classes, identification of goals (for example, multicultural approach) or knowledgestandards in the curricula, which are achieved with contents of Roma culture, history and identity.

• Constant professional training and educational programmes for professional workers,• Special forms of organisation and material conditions: maintenance of currently valid standards at least,

continuation of financial support and assistance by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.• Non-segregation, normally non-homogeneous sections; using the already legally prescribed forms of

individualisation, inner and flexible differentiation, and stream classes.• Different forms of learning assistance, establishing trust in school and dismissing prejudice (special plan with

which the school defines communication and cooperation activities with Roma parents, and a plan forperceiving and continuous dismissing of stereotypes and prejudice that appear in the majority populationand are directed towards Roma pupils).

• Roma pupils as an ethnic group are not regarded as pupils with special needs (the pupils’s unsuccessfulness,deriving from lack of language knowledge or the specific nature of the Roma culture, cannot be the basis forplacing pupils in programmes with a lower educational standard).

• Adult education: the starting point for determining educational goals for adult Roma are the fundamentalgoals, determined in the National Programme for Adult Education in the Republic of Slovenia until 2010(increasing the general level of adult education and succeeding at it, where the 4-year vocational educationis the fundamental educational standard, increasing employability and the participation of adults in lifelong learning). Special attention will be dedicated to the education of adult Roma, in order to increase the level ofeducation and develop the labour force, to the development of counselling centres or networks in areas,where the Roma live, to the Roma Coordinator institute, as well as to special standards for programmes inwhich the adult Roma are enrolled and ensuring means to enable a free participation in the programmes andfree learning assistance.

In addition, it must be said that the both the opportunity and quality of education of Roma children are influenced bysociety’s specific identity and culture, and also by their living conditions, on which preschool or school cannot have adirect influence. Therefore the coordinated operation of relevant national institutions is necessary for theimplementation of the education and schooling strategy and for the improvement of the position, where it is notsatisfactory. For the solution of issues, which go beyond the issue of education, but do not affect education itself, theMinistry of Education, Science and Sport (in the following: the Ministry) will cooperate with other ministries, especiallywith the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health.


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Experience of the Roma preschool in Murska Sobota

Subject Education and TrainingArea/location Slovenia, Prekmurje RegionInstitution Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of SloveniaProject title Addition to the Curriculum for Preschools for Working with Roma Children

and The Experience of a Teacher in the Roma Preschool in Murska SobotaTarget group Roma children in preschoolObjectives Assisting the managers and the professional workers in preschools in creating

conditions for ensuring Roma children’s right to equal opportunitiesDeveloped actions - A more intensive cooperation with Roma parents

- Creating a sense of confidence of Roma families towards the educationand schooling institutions

- Present the importance of education and schooling to the Roma- Encourage the advantages of bilingualism and biculturalism - Emphasizing the importance of Roma culture preservation

Author Primoz Gjerkis, Alianta, projektno svetovanje, d.o.o.

On the 54th session of the Council of Experts for General Education on December 19, 2002, the Ministry ofEducation, Science and Sport adopted the Annex to the Curriculum for preschools and working with Roma children.6

The purpose of the Annex is to assist the managers and professional workers in preschools at creatingconditions for a successful realisation of Roma children’s rights to equal opportunities. Working with Roma children is definitely a form of education, which demands specific strategies, since we aretrying to integrate two cultures that do not have many characteristics in common and have been trying tocoexist for centuries. It is a special form of intercultural education, which demands the cooperation of bothcultures, the majority and the Roma, for achieving an agreement for the elaboration of a minimal programme ofthe multicultural curricula. This means that we must find those cultural characteristics, which the two cultureshave in common and work on them. The rights of the Roma to be different, to communicate in their languageand to preserve their identity must be observed. Because of an obvious economic, social and cultural deficiency,the Roma in Slovenia do not have a special attitude and respect toward their tradition and culture.Therefore, Roma children in education and schooling institutes must not only be integrated in the Slovenianculture, but also be taught about their own, Roma culture.For this purpose, parents, older brothers and sisters and other adults from the Roma community must be invitedto cooperate in preschool activities. When introducing Roma children to preschool, the cooperation with the

The Ministry will cooperate with the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs especially in the followingareas: opportunities for acquiring social and family assistance in a functional form, granting scholarships, publicwork programmes in connection with education, and training programmes for professions. The Ministry willcooperate with the Ministry of Health especially in the following areas: preparing prevention programmes,preparing educational programmes for nurses and health visiting, examining and potential updating of legal basisfor keeping the necessary records, co-financing researches on the connection between the way of life, healthand education. For the implementation of concrete activities, the Ministry established a connection with otherinstitutions as well (Institute of the RS for Education, Centre of the RS for Vocational Education, AndragogicCentre of RS, Institute of Public Health, Health Protection Institute of the RS, Employment Office of the RS,Slovenian Chamber of Commerce, etc.). It will also continue to support those research and developmentprojects, which support the measures in accordance with this strategy. The Slovenian Roma Associationcooperated in the whole process of drafting the strategic document.It will also cooperate in teaching and learning Roma language, history and culture, in preparing the material, aswell as in other forms and types of education.

Roma mothers and other female members of the Roma community do not have enough knowledge abouteducating and taking care of children, which is ironic, since the Roma have a lot of children in comparison to themajority population.As an example of good practice with Roma women, we would like to indicate the training programme for Romawomen Educating and Taking Care of a Roma Child, which the Institute for Adult Education in Kocevje carriedout in the Kocevje Municipality in June 2004, specifically in the Roma settlement in Zeljne near Kocevje.The training programme, which lasted 11 days, was carried out three times a week for three hours. In the workshops we touched different social, family and health topics, which are current for the Romapopulation. Roma women were introduced especially to education measures, different types of birth control,importance of personal hygiene, healthy eating and childcare. They also got acquainted with the options forpreventing contagious and non contagious diseases and the problem of addiction, with emphasis on drugs andalcohol, and first aid assistance in case of child injury.The women were interested about caring and educating a child. Roma children are often exposed to negativeinfluences by their own social environment, especially because of their parents’ lack of knowledge in the fields ofhygiene and education.Participants acquired knowledge about taking care of a baby and of a child, child diseases, development ofchildren’s abilities and the parental influence on education.


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Adult education: training and literacy activities in Slovenia

Subjects Education and Training. Health Area/location Slovenia, the SE Dolenjska region, the area of KocevjeInstitution Institute for Adult Education in KocevjeDocument Evaluation Report Project title Roma Integration, Training and Literacy Activities Objectives Training female members of the Roma ethnic community for cooperating with

the majority population, broadening their knowledge about hygiene, birthcontrol, child care and education measures and types

Developed actions Implemented activities in the sectors: basic personal hygiene, housework,hygiene of the living area, prevention of diseases, education and care of aRoma child

Project staff Lilijana Stefanic, prof.Marionet Adamic,

Project length 11 days, from June 7, 2004 - June 30, 2004 Author Lilijana Stefanic, prof., Institute for Adult Education Kocevje

parents is very important. The families need to learn to trust education and schooling institutes, and they mustunderstand that the purpose of including their children in preschool is not to change them and “steal” them. They must acknowledge the importance of education and schooling for their children’s further life, theadvantages of bilingualism and biculturalism, and the importance of preserving their own cultural identity, whileintegrating in the majority culture. Roma children are capable - in all areas - of learning, progress and achievingimportant goals like the other children. Roma children need to be ensured the opportunity to enrol in al the activities from the curriculum, andespecially need to be encouraged and supported in those areas, where they experience most problems - due totheir cultural and language differences - and offered the opportunity to be successful in those areas for which they are talented, which are music, dance and social skills.


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The thematic units of the workshop were the following:• Baby care.• Preparation of healthy food for children.• How to treat a sick child - visiting the doctor.• Role of parents in education.• Child speech and development of children’s abilities.• The effect of education on the child’s development and his social behaviour.

Our goal - broadening the horizons of Roma women in the fields of hygiene, birth control, child care, educationmeasures and types, and helping the endangered group of Roma children with informing and training and enabletheir gradual integration in the wider circle of the community - was achieved.

Without the mutual cooperation and motivation by the Roma women, work would have been impossible. Eventoday we are happy to see that Roma women have a big desire for new knowledge and a better life, both in thecircle of their family and in wider society. Some of the participants described above even decided to enrol in the primary school for adults at the Institutefor Adult Education in Kocevje, which is an additional indicator of the fact that Roma women and their childrenare moving towards having a better future for their ethnic group and consequent for the majority population inthe Kocevje Municipality.

6.2 Housing integration

Definition The subject of housing and settlements is central to the social integration of travellers. Indeed, just the simplepresence of a Roma settlement, whether permanent or only short term, not to mention the assignment ofcouncil housing to them, inevitably creates social tensions within the resident population.Further, the housing’s quality level heavily conditions the employment prospects of the Roma population.For instance, often the lack of minimal hygiene conditions (e.g. running water, sewers and toilets), generatesdifficulties that are a real problem to overcome when searching for employment or even simply attending aninitial interview. Our experience has been concentrated upon those people, and consequently those family units,that have been recognised as entitled to the assignment of a council flat. At this point, it’s essential to point out that the traveller families living in council flats have undergone - at thetime of the assignment - several specific interviews with the council offices managing housing to assess, first ofall, whether they actually like the idea (indeed, often family units refuse council housing because it impliesmoving too far away from the camp and also changing their habitual lifestyle and abandoning social tiescharacteristic of nomad camps), and secondly to illustrate to them all the deriving duties (payment of rent andutilities, use of shared spaces, respecting the block of flats’ regulations). The process leading to traveller families living in council housing consists of three phases:1. relations with the managing agency for all necessary documentation and procedures (utilities, rent etc.),2. mediation with the Rom family unit aimed at their correct use of common shared spaces and the respect of

regulations in force, 3. mediation with neighbours and more widely with the local area.

The initial phase aims to maintaining the agreement made with the flat’s assignment and therefore requiresexplaining to the family - as they gradually arrive - the reasons and necessity for all the various duties, e.g.differences between the utility bills and also some suggestions for containing consumption. explains. Many ofthe things which may appear obvious are not so for people who’ve spent most of their lives in a camp. Indeed,when talking about rent often the Roma family will see it as their only and all encompassing duty, on the other


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Draft regulationArticle 1 - DefinitionThe residential unit, based in via Argine Po in Guastalla (Reggio Emilia, Italy), is known as Sucar Plaza (whichmeans beautiful square in the Sinti language). The residential unit is owned by the Municipality. It is intended tohouse Sinti families that have settled in Guastalla since a long time. It is designed as a permanent and safehousing facility in close relationship with the rest of the Guastalla community.The residential unit is made up of six lots. The whole block is designed to host the Sinte families that are legallyentitled to it.

Management and use of the “Sucar Plaza” residential unit in Guastalla

Subject Housing integrationPlace Municipality of Guastalla (Reggio Emilia) - ItalyInstitutions Emilia-Romagna Region

Municipality of Guastalla (Reggio Emilia) - ItalyType of document ProjectProject title Management and use of the “Sucar Plaza” residential unitTarget group Six Sinti families from GuastallaObjectives Setting up a residential micro-area for Italian Sinti.Occupational profiles Technical office of the Municipality of Guastalla,involved Sinti cultural mediators of Guastalla,

Sugar Drom association workers.Duration 2000-2005Documents Draft regulation (December 2005)

hand it is true that one cannot precisely predict the cost of ordinary maintenance before it takes place.Secondly, the goal is to mediate with the managing agency not in terms of advocacy, but to clarify to tenantsthe origin of demands and to agree with both parts about making available those tools which could help resolvefuture crises occurring (payment by instalments, access to hardship fund if possible etc.)The second phase is geared towards the family unit, to support their correct use of all available equipment andtheir cleaning. It is vital to underline the importance of respecting common share areas since nomadicpopulations have always tended to make a very intense use of them. Indeed, open spaces are used for specialfestivities (weddings, funerals, traditional events) and also for parking the bulky vans they use for work, not tomention all the space needed to divide the scrap metal collected. Further, the size of family units is oftenconsiderable: their overall number can reach as much as sixty. Therefore, its easy to imagine how difficult it canbe for them to understand and respect the regulations governing the use of shared places during a meeting of50 people with their transport means. This problem often reoccurs also with urban police regulations and publicsoil occupation rules, given that the blocks of flats often don’t have enough available common space. Thesolution can only be the attempt to - on the one hand - limit these behaviours, while on the other look forpossible compromises that may also require applying to local institutions for special permissions. These resultsare\ often reached independently by the Rom groups who decide to keep their social life within their originalsettlement and thus organise all their activities there. However, this solution may well turn out to be an obstacletowards the integration process because it tends to keep the family in an exclusive relationship with the originalcommunity. The third phase, certainly the most wide scale one, involves the entire surrounding area. There is nodoubt that housing nomad families in council flats does bring discomfort to the resident population bothbecause of the size of their family units and because of their initial difficulty to understand and follow rules.However, the response is often more emotional than linked to actual difficulties, and is caused by the heavystigma accompanying these populations. Therefore this phase needs to include organising public debates,arranging mediation meetings to solve quarrels with neighbours, preparing street fairs and festivals as well asworking with voluntary associations to bring together nomads and residents.


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Article 2 - StructureThe residential unit is made up of six independent lots.Every lot is assigned to an individual family. It includes a daily housing unit, a site for night housing facilities anda green area. The whole block belongs to the Sinti families. The six independent daily housing units areequipped with a living room/kitchen and a bathroom. Every daily housing unit has its own independentelectricity, drinking water, natural gas and sewers connections. Every site for night housing facilities is paved andequipped with independent electricity supply. Every green area is equipped with a common well for water supply.The residential unit is equipped with a common car parking place and sanitation facilities for the host families.

Article 3 - Assignment of lotsThe six independent lots are assigned to the six Sinti families living in Guastalla, based in municipal property.Every lot is identified by its street number and is designed to host only one family, who will therefore take itsofficial residence in via Argine Po, at the residential unit.Every family will sign its own rental contract with the Municipality of Guastalla, which lays down the maincharacteristics of the building, of the night housing facilities, owned by the assignee, which can be installed inthe site close to the housing unit, only if it is in full compliance with electricity supply rules. In case a family decided to terminate the allotment contract, it could do so by prior notice to the Mayor, theTechnical Office and the Social services Councillorship of the Municipality of Guastalla.

Article 4 - GuestsEvery family is allowed to host one or more host families in its own lot, for limited periods of time, providedthat prior notice is addressed to the Mayor, specifying the length of stay of the guests. Every family takes onthe responsibility for any material damage caused by the host families.

Article 5 - Responsibilities of the assignee familiesEvery family is held directly responsible for the proper management, cleaning, hygiene and ordinary maintenanceof its lot and equipment, for the repair of any damage caused by the assignee or host families.Any new building, even temporary ones, must be previously authorised by the Technical Office of theMunicipality of Guastalla. No unauthorised buildings are allowed. Vehicles must be parked within the parkinglots. Motor vehicles must be driven at low speed within residential units for safety reasons. Every family musttake care of separated waste collection, by using the appropriate bins. Any large-sized waste material must be disposed of into the authorised landfills directly by residents at theirown expenses. The Sinti families are jointly liable for the proper maintenance of facilities and equipment and theproper use and cleaning of all the common spaces and services reserved for guests.Anyone who discharges waste in the area or in its surroundings will be punished according to the law in force. Resident families shall notify to the Municipal Authority the name of a representative in charge of the residentialunit who shall have the duties and functions set by the law. If any damage is caused by unknown authors, therepair expenses shall be charged to all the families living in the residential unit.

Article 6 - Charges of the assignee familiesEvery family shall enter its own contract for the supply of electricity, drinking water and natural gas in eachindividual lot. The committee (article 8) shall verify the economic ability of each family to pay the bills for thesupply of the above mentioned services on a two-monthly basis during the first year and twice a year during thefollowing years.

Article 7 - Role of the Sucar Drom AssociationThe Sucar Drom association, which has been set up by the Opera Nomadi Section of Mantua, shall support theMunicipality of Guastalla and the individual Sinti families, by means of cultural mediation, in the management ofthe residential unit and shall report any problems to the department in charge within the Municipality ofGuastalla and shall co-operate to solve them. The association takes part in the Management Committee of theresidential unit.

Article 8 - Role and duties of the Municipality of GuastallaThe Municipality of Guastalla recognises the Sinti Ethnical Linguistic Minority; it is committed to the protectionof its cultural heritage and it promotes access to public and private services for a better health protection, forthe promotion of their social well-being, of their economic independence and social freedom.Cultural mediation is considered to be a fundamental activity to foster contacts and to build relationshipsbetween the Sinti and the public and private bodies, and the local Guastalla community as a whole, towards abetter mutual understanding, knowledge and dialogue based on a responsible recognition of mutual rights andduties. The Municipality of Guastalla has set up a Management Committee of the Residential unit, chaired bythe Mayor and made up of a Representative of the Technical Office, a Representative of the Social servicesCouncillorship of the Municipality of Guastalla, a Representative of the Sucar Drom association and aRepresentative of the Sinti community, that will be in charge of the management of the residential unit.The Municipality of Guastalla shall financially support families having difficulties in paying their services bills,prior to the favourable opinion by the Management Committee.The following Municipal departments are involved in the management of the residential unit: Social services andPublic works. The Public Works departments shall take care of the extraordinary maintenance of the residentialunit and road access. The Municipality shall pay for sewerage and electricity expenses for public lighting withinthe residential unit. The Municipality shall support families in ordinary maintenance operations (with specialreference to the sewers) and for improvement of the residential unit. It shall take care of pest control anddisinfestation operations, also through subcontractors.The Municipality of Guastalla commits itself to creating a new road access to the residential unit from via RosaLuxemburg. At any time, the Municipality of Guastalla may carry out controls to make sure that housing unitsand facilities are properly held and that the rules and regulations in force are complied with.


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Projects Where the wind blows and Cromie in Torino

Subject Housing integrationArea/location Turin - ItalyInstitution Turin Municipality (city district VI)

ATCCooperative StranaideaCooperative Animazione Valdocco

Document Project reportProject title Where the wind blows and CromieTarget group 15 Roma familiesObjectives - To provide assistance to the Roma families living in the council flats run by ATC;

- To mediate with services, neighbourhood resources (school, health, socialservices) and inhabitants.

Actions developed - Accompanying to offices and information desks, search for and provision ofinformation, monitoring health conditions of particularly weak subjects likethe elderly, mediation and dialogue between health service offices and Romusers (opening times, drug prescription, periodic health checks etc.);- To “get hold of” youths and adolescents who have completed the 150 hour

educational process and obtained the lower secondary diploma. Project staff 1 Turin Council social worker

1 Turin Council social developer 2 social developers from the Cooperative Animazione Valdocco1 home assistant “Servizi Tutelari” of the Cooperative Animazione Valdocco

Project length March - December 2003


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Projects Where the wind blows and Cromie in TorinoThe provision of public housing flats to several Roma families coming from the Arrivore settlement and itsforthcoming transfer to Via Germagnano will have remarkable consequences on a social level and relevant side-effects on the Social Services’ work.As a matter of fact, the chance to actually live in a flat and the perspective of a new home have widened theborders of interaction between the Travelling people’s community and the city’s territory, modifying the natureand the quality of the relationship with the rest of citizens and with public services, changing the typology ofthe needs and demands and conditioning efficiency both in terms of definition and methodology of intervention.At the moment conflicts are increasing because of a more and more pronounced degradation, visible, forinstance, in the fires produced by burning waste material or abandoned cars and vans around the Travellers’settlement area.Today, unlike the past, as far as the breakdown of the family clans at the campsite and the socialtransformations are concerned, there is no reference system able to interact positively, therefore the mediationrole is totally reserved to those institutions and associations operating in this sector.Besides, from 1998 to date, the travellers, with the provision of public housing flats (ERP), have spread fromtheir campsite to the entire area of this city district, especially in the Falchera and Regio Parco neighbourhoods.These recent events are significantly changing the community’s life spaces, socio-cultural features and identity,and, consequently, also their communication and relationship with the rest of society.For these reasons, we designed a continuation of the projects Dove ti porta il vento Project (Where the WindBlows) (April - November 2003) Cromie, consisting in running summer time events, from June - September 2003which our cooperative implemented.This new project entails an expansion of the “housing mediation” to all the travellers living in the blocks of flatsin the VI city district, keeping the (macro and micro) objectives outlined in the Dove ti porta il vento (Where theWind Blows) project, which are:- supporting and enhancing a network of formal and informal services- supporting families in order to keep them in conditions of legality- housing counselling- mediation of conflicts- supervision of school activities - ensuring access to crèches and nursery schools- ensuring access to sports and recreation facilities and to summer camps- registration at CPT (temporary holding centres)- monitoring abnormal behaviours- liaising with the services and agencies working in the area in order to encourage their familiarity and access

by travellers- planning of specific projects for the most troubled families.As for the new Travellers’ settlement in via Germagnano we consider it essential to plan integration andmediation actions between the Romany Gypsies living at the campsite and the new area housing them, both inrespect to services (health facilities, schools...) and to the local community (associations, voluntary workersand the resident population). An area mapping will be needed in order to identify the urban and population areas that are affected atdifferent levels by the Romany Gypsy settlement; afterwards it will be necessary to choose “goals” andconsequently, communication strategies that will help overcome conflicts and foster knowledge andcommunication between the settled community and the Travellers from the new campsite.We are not thinking of overtly “racist e xenophobic” people (it would be really difficult to communicate with them),but of that large group of “civil society” who “does not like the Gypsies”, due to prejudice and poor information.

Informal targets- neighbours- parents of the children who are schoolmates with the Travellers’ children- shop-keepers, trade business managers


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- women who usually go to street-markets and shops...- youths and adults who usually hang around squares, parks, cafés and church play areas

Formal targets- primary and secondary school teachers- local personnel involved in social work - advisory services- associations of practitioners- kennel staff- parish priests, church play area leaders.

Apart, obviously, from the Romany Gypsy families who are going to settle in the new campsite.For this double mediation and integration intervention (Travelling People in the housing flats and in the new site)we have planned a series of actions:

- mapping and identification of targets- mediation Romany Gypsies - Services (school, health facilities, social services)- creation of a front office for the Romany Gypsies who have been given a flat- planning periodical inspections of the Romany Gypsies’ housing flats- organising a series of cultural events at the new site and on the Area/location (concerts, plays /dancing

performances, photographic exhibitions, film forums, etc.)- creating information material about the Romany Gypsy culture (music, cuisine, traditions and so on) and

about the district’s educational, sports and recreation opportunities- using peer-education practises in order to involve other pupils after positive experiences had by single

Traveller children- training teachers from the schools in the vicinity of the new campsite to learn about the culture, the

needs and the characteristics of the Romany Gypsy childhood.

Envisaged actions for the promotion of the initiative and the integration of the recipients. We have planned the publication of information material about the Roma culture, sports and recreationopportunities, as well as the cultural events described in the project.Identification of paths and processes that promote the evolution and the continuity of the initiative.The evolution and the continuity of the initiatives related to the planned activities find their natural place in theimplementation of the Autoromia strategies. The boost given by this project is essential to the creation ofnetworks of liaison with the most concerned actors (teachers who will have Traveller pupils, tenants, operators ofservices that are not operational yet...) who, given the settlement of the new campsite, will need specific culturaland operational support in order to decode needs and meet them with suitable responses.

Expected resultsThe expected results focus mainly on a mutual relationship of knowledge, mediation and information exchangebetween the team, users and the local territory.

- Promoting the services within the district by getting in touch with as many families as possible and byraising awareness among the formal and informal resources of the neighbourhood about the existence ofa “virtual” front office to resort to;

- Giving custom-made responses to the users, by activating support and autonomy interventions. Thesupport given to users does not have the purpose of “taking charge” of their needs but aims ataccompanying them in the acquisition of information or skills and then encouraging them to continuetheir path autonomously.

- Enhancing the integration and relationship with domestic householders and in the working environment- Achieving notable improvement in the most difficult socio-economic situations.- Promoting a mediation able to raise the families and the individuals’ awareness about some aspects of

our society which offer interesting useful suggestions aimed at improving integration and living togetheron the earth

- Providing the neighbourhood householders with information about the Roma culture and traditions.


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Achieved resultsThe formal and informal local resources have begun to get to know our service and to turn to us following therequest from some neighbourhood traveller families. We have also raised awareness among the neighbourhood’sSocial Services about the need to join our efforts in cases overwhelmed with problems.About 90% of the Roma families we got in contact with have acknowledged and benefited from the help andmediation support given by our teamWe have raised awareness among a group of about ten Traveller adolescents about the advantages and theopportunities of a vocational training.Through mediation we have fostered a better and more suitable use of offices, services and resources in theneighbourhood (Health Department, the Electrical Company, schools, ISI, Local Health Authority etc.) withmost of the Romany Gypsy families we contacted.We have collected and shared with the Romany Gypsies data and information about life and opportunities givenby the discrict; thus a large number of families have benefited from them.

Evaluation methodsThe evaluation of our work, our doubts, difficulties and headway was constantly monitored by two supervisorswith whom we had weekly team meetings.

Project’s aspects of good practiceIt is undoubtedly an aspect of good practice for the VI Discrict Services to have a privileged observatory on thesituation of quite a significant ethnic group such as the Travellers’ community - significant not numerically butbecause of their socio-cultural impact. The practitioners feedback on the problems they had to tackle concerning the families and the individuals in theform of reports and documentation which, on the one hand, proved their job was carried out and, on the other,offered tools to better understand the social and cultural situation of the involved families, their relationshipwith the settled community and the Social Services’ ability to take charge of the situations which need mostattention. Further they provide people working in the neighbourhood, church play areas, schools and HealthServices with the skills achieved, attained over time, to understand the dynamics and problems of the travellerswith whom they establish formal professional relationships, or informal human ones.In some cases and/or social work situations being able to rely on “street” practitioners is particularly useful andeffective: they are able to face and/or monitor aspects which would otherwise remain neglected and not betaken care of by the Services.The relationship with people contacted not only in the Services’ offices is established above all inside thoseinformal places that allow more relaxed conversations and mutual acquaintance especially for users who are stillhighly suspicious of the official structures.For example, visiting people’s houses, going to a café together, meeting for a snack at the park or at the marketare all actions that promote the communication of discomforts, problems and requests.As a matter of fact “street mediation” Services have been created everywhere in recent years, as pilot projects.This shows that bureaucracy, the lack of resources or the high number of requests the Services have to deal withoften makes it impossible for certain population groups – such as the weak, the foreigners – to turn to somesort of “front office” (even a virtual one) or to a professional who is able to stop and listen to them.The presence in the working team of a cultural mediator who can speak their language is particularly important:this person will be able to interpret and listen to those who have not learnt our language or who find it difficultto express their feelings, needs and difficulties using our language.

Developement perspectives of the project after its implementationDeveloping this project means creating an effective monitoring system of the social situation of the group takenin charge, within the neighbourhood and city district, considering the problems, the discomfort and the need ofempowerment and richness.However, not only and assistance must be taken into account: in addition to the essential listening and supportactivity, we deem necessary to carry out a “promotional” activity about the Roma culture which would help tobuild a network of relations, listening and dialogue with the settled community.

This represents an advantage for the Roma who will learn to know, to relate to and communicate with thecitizens and an advantage for the latter who will form a different opinion on the Roma culture, detached fromprejudice and fear of diversity.Development in this sense could be boosted by increasing the working hours of the practitioners, who could, inthat way, contact and involve more families and/or individuals.Furthermore, this could help the creation of more effective promotional activities concerning the existence ofsuch a project on the territory, with the advantage that all social practitioners in the neighbourhood could getin touch with a competent working team, in case they were called upon for assistance by the Roma living in theneighbourhood.It would be indispensable to create a concrete, recognizable front office on the territory, which Roma orneighbourhood's citizens or services’ practitioners could resort to at specific times in case of need.Therefore, the front office would be a place of listening, gathering information, promoting dialogue andmediation. The chance of having more hours on hand, together with an increased financial availability, would givethe working team the possibility to organize a series of events such as concerts, cinema showings, exhibitionsand so on with the purpose of raising the neighbourhood citizens’ awareness about those aspects of theRomany Gypsy culture that normally remain forgotten, hidden by ignorance, fear and incomprehension.A wider range of resources would also help spread the project beyond the borders of the district, offeringsupport, mediation and promotion activities to other city areas.


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In the areas of Kocevje and Ribnica there is a large population of Roma, which are mostly unemployed and lackknowledge about the basic housework, care and education of children and adolescents, and have weakknowledge about the organisation of the state and the employment policy in Slovenia. As an example of goodpractice we would like to point out the Roma training programmes, which the Institute for Adult EducationKocevje carried out in the Kocevje and Ribnica Municipalities. The programmes were classified in different units,taking into consideration the male and female population. In April 2006 we carried out training groups for unemployed Roma in the Ribnica area. 16 people participatedin the training, out of which 8 men and 8 women.

Housing integration in Slovenia

Subject Social IntegrationArea/location Slovenia, the SE Dolenjska region, the area of Kocevje and Ribnica Institution Institute for Adult Education KocevjeDocument Evaluation Report Project title Roma Integration and Socialisation Target group The Roma Objectives Introducing the arrangement of the living area and the maintenance of the

social environment to the Roma, and encourage the Roma families to keeptheir living spaces tidy, do house chores and live a healthy life, as well asmotivate them for computer literacy

Developed actions Implemented activities in the following sectors: healthy life, housework, firstaid assistance, learning about the social arrangement, computer basics

Project staff Lilijana Stefanic, prof.Mirjana Lilic Juznic Damjana Derzek

Project length April 4, 2006 - June 21, 2006 Author Lilijana Stefanic, prof., Institute for Adult Education Kocevje


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The first training unit was intended for acknowledging the importance of healthy food and a healthy way ofliving. The participants learned about different types of food, the importance of vitamins and minerals, theimportance of fruits and vegetables and diet food. Within the framework of this topic we also visited a store inRibnica, where healthy food was presented to them, and visited the Library in Miklova House in Ribnica, wherethey were shown different types of literature about healthy food.The basic part of the training was carried out in practice as well, in the Roma settlement Gorica vas in Ribnica.The Roma learned about the importance of hygiene and healthy life, had a first aid course for cases of burns,scalds, wounds, fractures, asphyxiation, drowning, clinical death and other types of incidents.They also cooked and baked different types of food under the supervision of an expert.Within the framework of the other topic, Roma integration and socialisation, the participants of the trainingprogramme introduced their families to the other participants, and presented their ideas and expectationsregarding the training. They visited a number of Roma camps with the mentor, got to know the Roma populationin different areas in Slovenia, and watched a film on the well-regulated Roma village of Pusca in the Prekmurjeregion (NE part of Slovenia). In the discussion, the Roma learned a lot of different things, and also those forwhich the training was intended, regarded this as a positive experience for a better understanding of theirbehaviour. We achieved a relaxed conversation about their way of thinking and their way of life.The Roma learned about the basic manners, from greeting to realising that they must come to class clean andtidy, as they should be every day, especially when having contact with public and professional services.They also learned when and how to engage in conversations.They learned the basic citizenship culture, consolidated the knowledge and sense for communication with theexpert public (for example, they were introduced to the police work - especially in regard to working with theRoma population), learned who is responsible for what, and where to look for particular information.While the women were cooking, the men were at the head office of the Institute for Adult Education in Kocevjein the computer basics class. With the implementation of the training, we wanted to point out the special features of the Roma communityand the issues concerning the Roma community, and improve their social integration, starting with their families.This goal was achieved in an even greater extent than expected.The Roma cooperated with a lot of interest and showed great will power and desire to improve their livingconditions. Half of the Roma included in this project is enrolled in further education at the Institute for AdultEducation in Kocevje. Through conversation, watching the movie, mutual listening to one another and equalrelationship between the Roma and the implementers of the training, we managed to establish authority andmutual respect. The result of good cooperation is that the Roma understood that they will have to start getting employedbecause of decreasing social transfers. And for an employment that will ensure them a basic minimal salary, theyneed particular skills (at least a completed primary school education) and additional knowledge for particulartypes of work – therefore, we welcomed their desire for re-enrolling in education.Out of 16 Roma, 8 are enrolled in the primary school programme at the Institute for Adult Education in Kocevje.

6.3 Health services

DefinitionThe hard living conditions in which greater part of Roma population lives, influence strongly on the health ofthese citizens. Nowadays, the health actvities aim to promote vaccination campaigns (polio, diphtheria, tetanus,whooping cough, hepatitis B HBV, Hib, measles, mumps, Chim mainly for those under the age of 14.The vaccination of the nomadic population is a public health priority.Because of their movements (although no longer frequent) and their insufficient access to the sanitary services,this population suffer an elevated risk of transmission of the infectious diseases.

On the other hand, health aids to cure specific pathologies that worsen with age and hit adults and youths areless frequent and not planned systematically.Often the daily housing conditions are unhealthy and cause diseases that are frequently chronic.It is also important to implement actions against addictions (in particular alcoholism) that often negativelyaffect health conditions and cause further difficulties in their integration process (social, working, etc).


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Project Autoromia in Torino

Subject Health servicesArea/location Turin Municipality - ItalyInstitution Turin Municipality (city district VI)

Social ServicesCooperative Animazione Valdocco

Document Project description and verificationProject title AutoromyTarget group Minor and adult Roma resident in the Arrivore and via Germagnano nomad campsObjectives To satisfy the need for decentralizing Social Services involved in the work

with Roma minorsProject staff 1 social worker from Turin Council

1 social developer from Turin Council 2 social developers from the Valdocco Cooperative 1 Home assistant from the protective services (Servizi Tutelari)of the Cooperative Animazione Valdocco

Project length From the autumn of 1995 Documents produced Project description and verification can both be downloaded from the website:

http://www.comune.torino.it/autoromia/index.htm

6.4 Culture protection

Definition The social integration of the Roma and Sinte populations should be intended exactly in the same way as for allother citizens: the application of relevant Constitution articles and thus the opportunity of living like everybodyelse, of being recognised as dignified human beings, of living in decent housing, of accessing permanentemployment, of participating to the social, cultural and political life, being given the possibility of accessingsocial services and resources with the same rights and opportunities. We could add “being able to express an active citizenship wherever they live”, thus receiving recognition for theirsocial role, consenting them to make or at least take part in making choices concerning their condition, andespecially respecting their right to express their cultural identity at its best, remembering that theft and beggingaren’t part of their intrinsic culture. We need to bear in mind that the right to citizenship is a concept whichdoesn’t imply cultural protection in that everybody is free to claim it. Instead, it’s something else to be able tolive a “different” culture like the romanì one. The protection of their cultural heritage is quoted many timeswithin both regional and European legislation, “their culture and language have been part of the community’scultural and linguistic heritage for over five centuries”.However, for the romanì community integration has no enriching value, to the contrary it represents the loss ofwhat they consider important and that indeed characterises and differentiates them from most of society.


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Project Roma bridge

Subject Protection of Cultural HeritageArea/location Slovenia, Municipality of Crensovci Institution Municipality of Crensovci Document Project Project title Roma BridgeTarget group - Roma Women, Young Roma, Other long-term unemployed Roma, Roma Children

- Young, unemployed people with the 4th and 6th level of education and students- Tourist economy- Civil Society Associations - Civil Society Organisations- Artists, literates and sculptors - Local population- Tourists

Objectives - Development of natural talents, social skills and working habits- Training Roma for carrying out concrete activities (growing, collecting and

selling medical herbs; production and sale of typical Roma tourist souvenirs;demonstration of traditional Roma crafts for tourist purposes, etc.)

- Establishing the basis for atypical forms of operation, thus entrepreneurial engagement of the Roma, adapted to the characteristic features of the Roma way of life

Project length One yearDeveloped actions - Two new, authentic Roma tourist souvenirs

- Promotional brochure about the tourist offer of the Klemenci Roma settlement- Art, sculptures and photographs made by the Roma- 3-5 sculptures erected in the Roma in the Kamenci Health Resort- Establishment of a Roma Health Resort - Elaborating a complete graphical image and a sign of the Kamenci Roma

settlement, as well as a certificate and packaging for Roma tourist souvenirs- Research study: Identification of needs and wishes or primary target groups

for further education and training- A signed letter of intent to establish a permanent (institutional) form of the

“Roma Development Partnership of cross-border regions”- 3500-4000 tourists and participants in events in Kamenci- Purchase of an event tent and computer equipment- Implementation of education and training programmes for the Roma,

international sculpting excursion, international multinational literary eveningsand international Roma camp Kamenci 2006

Author Primoz Gjerkis, Alianta, projektno svetovanje, d.o.o.

In 2003, the first Roma museum was opened in the Kamenci settlement in the Crensovci Municipality. Alongwith the museum, the project entitled “The Roma Bridge was implemented in the same settlement. Thanks tothe museum and the project, the Roma are engaged in the tourist activity of presenting the Roma culture to awider public. The Romani Pejtausago Roma Association is one of the most active associations of this kind inPrekmurje. In 2006, the Kamenci Roma settlement was visited by over 5,000 tourists from Slovenia and abroad,which attended the presentation of the Roma culture or one of the other events, which is organized by theRoma association. For organized tourist groups, the association is preparing a presentation of Roma history,settlement and museum visiting, demonstration of traditional Roma craft and a cultural and artistic programmewith Roma music and dances.

Guida transnazionale di pratiche di inclusione lavorativa e sociale

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Full exercise of citizenship

7

With the broadening of the European Union the problem with Roma populations has become more urgent. Thehuge difference in lifestyle between populations of members countries and Roma minorities coming from theEast European countries is creating a strong migratory pressure towards the West. Such phenomenon adds ontothe already complicated situation of the Roma currently living in the E.U.Some Roma families have been living in Italy and in other European states for decades by now and young peopleare born in these countries. Nevertheless, as far as their citizen rights are concerned, the same regulations andcriteria used for other immigrants are equally applied.Discussing integration also implies consenting these people to enter and be part of modern society, beinginvolved without loosing their own identity.Roma often are considered intruders and their citizenship rights are nonexistent. In spite of the centuries that have passed some continue to speak about their Indian origins denying them anyform of belonging in the area where they live.At the moment no actions for the support of this right exist, but it’s important to develop strategies for thispopulation no longer nomadic but settled.


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Notes

1Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Office for National Minorities.Available: http://www.uvn.gov.si/si/manjsine_oziroma_narodne_skupnosti/romska_etnicna_skupnost/(20 Dec 2006)

2Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Office for National Minorities.Available: http://www.uvn.gov.si/si/manjsine_oziroma_narodne_skupnosti/romska_etnicna_skupnost/(18 May 2007)

3S.W.O.T. Analysis of Equal Employment Access. State of the Art in Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia, 2006.Transnational Cooperation Agreement Nr 4456 - Different Cultures for Equal Development.

4Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Office for National Minorities.Available: http://www.uvn.gov.si/si/manjsine_oziroma_narodne_skupnosti/romska_etnicna_skupnost/(18 May 2007)

5Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Office for National Minorities.Available : http://www.uvn.gov.si/si/manjsine_oziRom_narodne_skupnosti/romska_etnicna_skupnost/(18 Dec 2006)

6Annex to the Curriculum for preschools working with Roma children, Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia.Available: http://www.mss.gov.si/fileadmin/mss.gov.si/pageuploads/podrocje/vrtci/pdf/vrtci_Dodatek_-_ROMI.pdf(20 Dec 2006)

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