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NGO Presentation : Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County

NGO Presentation : Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb. Utilizing Non Governmental Organizations to improve the day to day situation of the Roma

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NGO Presentation : Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County

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  1. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Utilizing Non Governmental Organizations to improve the day to day situation of the Roma national minority in the Republic of Croatia

  2. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Background: The Roma people are an indigenous nation without a home land. Thus, it is a specific situation, since the Roma live scattered throughout the world, with most of them in Europe, with their true numbers unknown. One can consider that in general, it would be about 10 million people ior more. Their way of life has predominantly been nomadic, and as such, the Roma have frequently been and remain subject of manipulation, deprivation of human rights as well genocide (in those times when genocide is possible). The Roma culture is specific, their tradecrafts range from trading to arts. However, due to the nomadic nature, the Roma did not achieve a more subtle role in what is considered western society. Their situation is different from country to country. The Roma differ much among themselves as well, depending upon the origin they come from. One of the main problems the Roma face is exceptionally high illiteracy rates. On the other end, the way the Roma see life, one could consider them as true citizens of the world. Long before there was the term “globalization” the Roma already lived in such fashion.

  3. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Roma in South East Europe: South East Europe and the broader area often described as the Balkans, were always an area where Roma lived and live. In more modern times, say the 20th century, the Roma Suffered significant casualties, especially in the times of World War 2. The Holocaust as recognized by the OSCE, happened to distinctive groups of people, and the Roma were high on the priority list for extermination. Unlike some other groups, the Roma were not able to acquire adequate post war compensations, since they posses virtually no legal skills and are not adept with public relations and lobbyist activities. Roma in the Republic of Croatia: After the break-up of the multinational federation known as Yugoslavia, the Roma faced another specific situation. Being a minority without a homeland, they started to rearrange and negotiate their rights and role in the newly created country. As democracy was the chosen form of governance for the new Republic, the Roma also started to learn how to use democratic tools for their own benefit. A new term entered the life of the Roma people: Non Governmental Organizations.

  4. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb NGO’s: By 2009, there are more than 80 registered Roma NGO’s in Croatia. The total number of registered NGO’s in Croatia exceeds 20.000. Of course, in most cases, all these NGO’s are not doing or accomplishing anything. However, certain numbers of NGO’s are of course different. In 1993, some 2000 Roma living in the Capitol Zagreb and the Zagreb County, started the Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County. At first, since it were war times, most of the effort went to take care and help the many refugees. As the war ended in 1995, it Became possible to start tackling the many other issues, from social questions, through education to the realm of nurturing the specific Roma culture, rites and music. Since 1995, the main NGO is publishing the “Romano Cacipe” (Roma Truth) quarterly Magazine, which is distributed to 2000 recipients, free of charge. This magazine serves as a communication tool between the simple Roma people, the institutions, and the many NGO’s. The magazine features different versions of the truth, allowing the reader to think and form his own opinion. Articles are in the Roma, Croatian and English language.

  5. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb

  6. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Focusing on specific needs: While the Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County has always been involved in many issues which require active cooperation with the institutions, both on the national level (ministries) and the regional level (municipalities). In the past 16 years, we had our ups and downs in terms of cooperation with the institutions. In general, the last 8 years can be seen as much more positive. Among others, laws have been amended, new regulations have been adopted, and in general, we consider the institutions to be quite cooperative, lately. As this is a long term, step by step process, we understood that we cannot help the current generation of the Roma people to improve their lives as they desire. But what is doable, is to Influence the young generations, and help them integrate into the society, and obtain both working and social skills, as well formal and non-formal education. Because of the need to focus, we launched 2 spin-off NGO’s that solely focus on the needs of the children and the youth. Starting cooperation and support came from the local school and ordinary citizens. Then we attracted donations and support from several embassies in Zagreb (UK, Swiss, Norway, Germany). Eventually, after results became evident, we obtained support from the Ministry of science, education and sports, and others.

  7. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Roma Youth Association Croatia Launched in 1998, the youth NGO is focusing on the folklore (Musical and Dance section), sports (soccer), education (supporting formal and providing non-formal educational programs) as well workshops that address the troubles of the young people (anti drugs…). One of the main problems for Roma children and youth is their poor performance in education (due to the predominant poverty most children are exposed to) which of course creates the basis for life-long hardships. First efforts came in the form of a “Little school for Information Technology” which started with several used Intel 486 generation PC’s in 2000. This provided additional content for the Roma children, when they are not in school. Cooperation with the local elementary school was crucial, and after some time, we were proud to understand that the school’s benchmarking showed that due to our activity, 30% more Roma children attend school, and those that do, have an increase in grades of 25%. We were encouraged with these results and have ever since, put emphasis on such work.

  8. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Folklore Workshops PC & Windows Education

  9. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Non-formal education: By 2005, through the important and unselfish donations and support of first, the UK Embassy, followed by the Swiss, Norwegian and German embassies in due course of the following years, it became possible to maintain a modern network of 15+ PC’s with all the needed peripherals and broadband Internet access. Further donations from the private sector provided for the adequate software (Microsoft, local SW developers). 5 days in the week, the PC Club (known as the Roma Youth Club) is open, free of charge to Roma children. There are about 70-80 registered children who are regular users of the facilities. Soon we recognized that it is time to move to the next level. Meaning, to provide something that the teenagers can use. Inspired by the European Computer Driving License Project (www.ecdl.com) we obtained the services of authorized educational companies, paid for by our donors, who started to provide non-formal education to teenagers and to youth up to the age of 25. One has to understand that many Roma never finish the elementary, nor the high school education, and are thus, actually without skills. And even if they posses skills, the local and regional economy is more formal than it is efficient. Thus, even if one has skills, if he has no certificates, he will hardly find any employment.

  10. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Current and present projection: As of 2009, we have managed to provide the required infrastructure to educate so forth 8 groups of 15 students each. These are semester groups, the education happens during the weekends, and with time and more cooperation with the private sector as well the Institutions, we are now in the position, where youth that successfully passes the exams, receive full certificates and diploma, recognized by the local and regional economies. More and more young Roma manage to find a slot for employment. Interestingly, in percentages, the better performers are Roma ladies. We have regular support from the Ministry of Science, education and sports, which covers ¼ of the annual fees for the professional instructors. We are always looking for donors, be it in terms of hardware (equipment is used 12 hours per day, 7 days per week) and as we upgrade our network with state of the art machines (educational companies mandate us to maintain latest operational systems and software packages, which again require fast PC’s) we donate the “old” machines to the best students we have. Our long term hope and objective is to provide real role models for the Roma children, which Means, real success stories of Roma integrated in the modern economy doing smart jobs.

  11. NGO Presentation: Roma Association Zagreb and Zagreb County Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Youth Club - Zagreb Summary: As presented, different levels of activity are best handled through focused groups, in our Case, focused NGO’s. The main NGO deals with basically political issues, and its president is well known and is also member of the Governmental committee for the oversight of the Implementation of the national program for Roma (which also correlates somewhat with the Trans-European project “Roma Decade 2005-2015”). The youth issues, which actually make a lot of difference for the kids and youngsters, are handled by the youth NGO’s. It is a lot of voluntary work, many people involved, and all the services provided to the end-users are totally free of charge. Also worth noting, about 30% of the users are not Roma at all. We’re an open-minded NGO, and children are children. Address: Roma Youth Association Croatia Roma Association Zagreb & Zagreb County President: Naser Mešić President: Alija Mešić Čemernička 17, 10000 Zagreb, Republic of Croatia, Europe Phone & Facsimile: +385.1.245.2554 E-mail: umrh@umrh.hr , URL: www.umrh.hr Zagreb, 20th March 2009.

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