One of the most vulnerable groups in Romania in terms of social exclusion and discrimination are the Roma. According to the last census in 2011, interim results evidenced 619,000 people declaring their Roma ethnic affiliation. Other researches estimate the real number of Roma living in Romania at around 1.5 million.  An important number of Roma in Romania are at risk of social exclusion and discrimination in crucial areas of social life, such as education, healthcare, housing or employment.

Members of Roma communities and vulnerable groups are capacitated to actively participate in the social, economic and political life and to lead a life in dignity. This overall goal is pursued by the following specific objectives:

• Members of Roma communities and other vulner-able groups have the capacity to access existing resources to improve their situation
  
• Children and young persons are participating in the public educational process appropriate for their age and specific needs, obtaining knowledge and abilities foreseen by the Romanian educational system and developing their capacity to be an active member of society
  
• The vulnerability concerning health risks of mem-bers of Roma communities and other marginalized groups is reduced
  

2300 Members of Roma com-munities and other disadvan-taged groups in the region of Satu Mare and Maramures:

• children at the age of 3 to 15 years
  
• young persons: 15 and older
• pregnant women and moth-ers with small children
  
• families of the children se-lected for the centres
  
• other members of the com-munities
  

For the community development component, initiative groups will assess the situation and elaborate strategies for the development of their communities. Community-based ex-pert will be present in every community and coordinate project activities, mobilize people and maintain a network to other stakeholders and important partners. The activities in education planned in the program are de-signed as a development and extension of existing pro-grammes (kindergarten groups and afterschool programs, combined with social support, consultancy). A vocational training programme will be set up and a network with local economic actors will be established to provide traineeships and jobs. Local health care teams and health activity groups will develop recommendations to improve the access of the members of the local Roma communities to health services and will put the recommendations on the authorities’ agenda. In parallel health promotion activities like information and health education programs, consultancy and support will be implemented. Local networks of health service providers will be developed.

Achieved results:  

• A total of 819 children benefited from educational programs
• 157 former participants of different forms of vocational training (school or training for adults) and “access to employment”-programs are employed in a regular job
• 114 kindergarten and primary school teachers trained and implement the new methods in their teaching

Health:

• 85% of the children born in the three communities (Ardud, Turulung and Craica) have received all vaccinations that are included in the national vaccination program
• 176 pregnant women and women who have given birth during the last year are participating in a support and monitoring system in accordance with the public health protocol
• 117 persons had access to medical specialists
• A permanent counselling and mediation service on health issues was used by 1386 members from the three project communities

Community Development:

•  13 local initiative groups established out of which 50% are still operational after the project finalization
• 3 youth groups established
• 53 micro-projects implemented in 10 communities for 2170 beneficiaries of the Roma communities

Phase 6 01.01.2014 - 31.12.2017   (Completed)