We showed Roma children that education is the way to employment

After two years, we have completed a project that aimed to increase social inclusion of marginalized Roma communities and build the capacity of local community service providers through proven and best practices and programs in the areas of education and employment. Did it succeed? We believe it has.

The project in numbers

The project involved 7 locations and 169 children during its two-year duration. There were 355 group activities, 156 activities in which we connected Roma and non-Roma communities and 6 student mini-projects. As part of the project, we published three methodological manuals, which are available to the general public and can be used when working with children and youth in community centres and primary schools. The publications are:

• Career Counselling: Service Methodology
• Methodology for Working with Volunteers
• Methodological Guide for the Implementation of Digital Skills

We have succeeded in strengthening the capacities of social service providers, not only in the area of career counselling, but also in the area of digital skills development for children from the MRK, as we have published methodological manuals focused on these topics.

Natália Glončáková, Project manager

We showed Roma children that education is the way to employment

Roma children from excluded communities face many obstacles on their way to education or careers. This is also due to the fact that they come from a less stimulating environment, which often leads to early school leaving or lack of interest in further education. They are thus trapped in a vicious circle of exclusion and poverty.

Our colleagues in the community centres are therefore trying to show these children and young people how important the education is and how it can help them in finding a job in the future. In all our community centres we provide them with career counselling. At the same time, we also develop their digital skills so that they will be able to actively search for information according to their own needs and acquire a skill that they will be able to use later in their employment.

We also consider the cooperation with the Primary School in Petrovany to be very beneficial, where Career Counselling has been taught for the second school year as a separate subject in the eighth year, helping pupils to find their way around the options available to them after school.

Closing Conference

Closing conference of the project was attended by more than 60 guests from Slovakia and abroad. These were mainly educational counsellors and teachers of primary schools attended by Roma children, but alsocommunity centres staff. Together we summarised the project and presented our methodologies. Representatives from the Norwegian organisation Fretex Pluss presented the career counselling practices used in Norway and visited the community centres in Roškovce and Petrovany, where we presented the procedures and activities that we do.

We are convinced that the aim of the project has been fulfilled and has brought specific improvements and appropriate educational practices to the work with the marginalized Roma community. However, it is important for us to continue in career counselling after the end of the project and also to develop cooperation with schools and educational institutions so that as many children from the MRK as possible gain access to specialised career counselling.

Natália Glončáková, Project Manager