Supporting the Social Inclusion and of Young Roma Through Non-Formal Education

Roma are by a common account the most marginalized community in the countries of Southeast Europe. Approximately 70% of Roma population in Europe is concentrated in Central and South-Eastern Europe, and their vulnerability, which is to a large extent caused by the constant and severe discrimination they have been exposed to, is reflected in many indicators ranging across employment, health, education, etc.The practices of segregation, the high dropout rates, the generally lower educational attainment of Roma, etc. are all indicative of this phenomenon. Attainment statistics in EU and OECD countries show that “the share of Roma that do not complete primary or lower secondary education in many countries in Central and Southeast Europe is considerable” (UNDP, Roma Education in Comparative Perspective: Findings from the UNDP/World Bank/EC Regional Roma Survey, 2012: 18), which results in very high illiteracy rates among Roma adults later in life in the countries of the region.Roma non-governmental organizations have taken the role of non-formal education providers in their communities. They have designed and delivered educational programs ranging from literacy and numeracy, vocational courses, employability courses, entrepreneurship and business development programs, etc. A critical challenge to the education work with Roma has constantly been the lack of curricula and educational materials which are adapted to the specific Roma needs and are in Roma language. At present, the number of curricula and textbooks in Roma language, and addressing specific priority needs of Roma, is close to non-existent in the target countries of Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria.This is the key need that this project aims to address. The project partners, the Institute of Romani Culture in Albania (IRCA) from Albania, the National Roma Centrum (NRC) from Macedonia, and AKADEMIKA-245 from Bulgaria, will join their efforts to produce curricula and teaching materials which are adapted to the specific needs of the Roma communities in these three countries. The project partners have cooperated on a number of occasions in the past and they are in regular communication, and they agree that there are specific educational needs which are common to Roma in all of Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria.The proposed project represents an innovation in the field of education of Roma youth, particularly regarding the acquisition of basic and transversal skills among Roma youth. The project aims to develop innovative approach in addressing the problem of education for young Roma by developing educational curricula and non-formal educational materials tailored to the needs and specificities of the target group. The project is also innovative in the sense that it foresees capacity-building activities for Roma youth workers, for working with young Roma and facilitating their non-formal education and acquisition of basic and transversal skills, supporting their inclusion in society.