Amfiteatru Foundation has launched a new project aimed at the sustainable increase of the quality of life of Roma communities, contributing to the increased inclusion and empowerment of Roma in two marginalized areas of Romania – Belin commune, Covasna County, and the Ferentari neighborhood, Bucharest.
Part of the “Local Development, Poverty Reduction and Roma Inclusion” program, funded through the EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014-2021, the project “Avdives, khetanes” / “Today, Together” started in January 2021, will run for two years, and benefits from a financing amount of EUR 856,678.
The project responds to needs that the Amfiteatru Foundation identified following field research and communication with local institutions, as well as through the experience gained in implementing a POCU project started in 2018 in Belin, which aims to combat school dropouts. Multiple discrimination, low socio-economic status, high risk of dropping out of school, lack of access to information, material deprivation, lack of future prospects, and juvenile delinquency are just some of the problems characterizing the communities in Belin and Ferentari.
Through “Avdives, khetanes,” the Amfiteatru Foundation has set out to develop and ensure integrated services in the fields of education, health, and employment, training in Roma rights, advocacy, and inclusion, alongside a cultural empowerment and anti-discrimination program.
The project includes the provision of educational and health services for 300 vulnerable children, services for increasing professional preparedness levels and improving health status (respectively maintaining good health status) for 350 vulnerable adults from the Ferentari neighborhood, Bucharest, by providing an employment service and a medical service, supporting an empowerment cultural program for 400 Roma people, training 20 teaching staff in experiential pedagogy and inclusion, training 10 Roma inclusion specialists, and training 45 specialists and Roma leaders in advocacy.
Furthermore, through the proposed educational services and individualized actions targeting functional illiteracy and the knowledge required to graduate the 8th grade, as well as student motivation, self-esteem, and encouragement, the project aims to reduce school dropout rates and improve the academic standing of at least 100 students.
The actions initiated in Belin by the Amfiteatru Foundation (the empowerment program, the non-formal educational program, and specialist training) together with the Belin Community Development Association (educational service, target group training and retention) and those in Ferentari (employment and education services, empowerment program, and specialist training), carried out in partnership with the Sector 5 Town Hall (health services, target group training and retention, and contribution to activities) aim to increase inclusion and develop prerequisites for a better quality of life for the two communities, by increasing access to quality educational, health, and social services, reducing vulnerabilities, and offering future prospects for at least several hundred Roma people.