Participatory Research of needs, main problems

and potentials in education of Roma population in Vojvodina

NSHC, in partnership with Roma Student Union (RSU) implements the project 'Participatory Research of the Roma needs, main problems and potentials in education in Vojvodina'. Project is financed by the Roma Education Fund founded as a part of Decade of Roma program. Our partners in the project implementation are Secretariat of Education and Culture and Secretariat of Regulations, Administration and National Minorities of Vojvodina, Roma Integration Council of Vojvodina, Roma authorities, local authorities and education and social welfare authorities.The main objective of this project is to contribute to the development of Regional and local policy and action plans for Roma integration by:

• Creating a clear picture on the situation of the Roma in different municipalities in Vojvodina (including identification of needs, specific obstacles and specific strengths and potentials, as perceived by Roma children and parents themselves and also by the professionals and representatives of local authorities) based on a participatory research approach;

• Increasing the level of awareness of the problems and obstacles that Roma children and youth face regarding education in the diverse local communities in Vojvodina;

• Involving a critical number of local working groups engaged in local strategy and action plan development, in a participatory way, in cooperation of the Roma community and municipal authorities, with the aim to improve the policy of Roma integration in the regular school system  and to  suggest an institutionalized  system of specific actions by local authorities and public institutions for overcoming problems and creating a conducive atmosphere for the improvement of Roma educational status in the future. This work will be  facilitated through the project at 3 select localities until the local action plan is developed;

• Empowering the Roma NGOs and students to take leadership in local strategy development and action research supporting the further implementation of the national, regional and local action plans, as well as its monitoring, and to increase the level of Roma participation in local policy creating. 

The project will result also in policy recommendations for the Vojvodina Secretariat for Education and Secretariat for national minorities, based on the participatory research conducted. According to the research results, the Provincial Secretariat of Education and Culture will take concrete measures which will improve the integration of marginalized groups in the education system as part of the overall process of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, and as part of the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy of the Republic of Serbia.

The project will achieve its aims by conducting a participatory research to identify barriers and potentials in the education Roma children and youth in Vojvodina, to make recommendations of possible solutions for overcoming the problems identified and to suggest actions to local authorities and public institutions for the improvement of their policies and programs. Two distinct methods of data collection will be utilized: focus groups and questionnaires.

The objective of the training organized in the period from July 10 to July 12 2006 was to increase capacities of Roma Students Union members to implement the participatory Research of the Roma needs, main problems and potentials in education in Vojvodina. 15 Roma students and 3 NSHC representatives participated in the training. The guest of the first day of the training was Mr. Srđjan Šain, President of the Roma Integration Council in Vojvodina who encouraged Roma students in their efforts to contribute in Roma educational status and living conditions improvement.

After the welcome, training participants  were met with the program of Decade of Roma by Mr. Šain, and with the Draft of the Strategy for the Integration and New Authorities to Roma by Mr. Đorđe Jovanović, Manager of the project. Participants wer, also, informed about the project and the plan of its implementation.

Afterward, training participants were met by the concept of participation, participatory approach and principles based on human rights. Special consideration was on the participatry researc, its method and twchniques of data collection.

During the training, participatory techiques were presented and worked out through the concrete work on topics and data collection related to the research and project such: Problems in Roma education; Research data sources; Criteria for the selection of Municipalities and focus groups participants. In that way, the research started at the training and Roma students gave its first inputs.

IMPLEMENTATION OF FOCUS GROUPS

In the period from October to December 2006,  NSHC and RSU implemented focus groups as the part of participatory research in ten municipalities in Vojvodina: Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Beočin, Senta, Apatin, Bač, Nova Crnja, Sečnj, Opovo and Titel.

Reserchers were NSHC staff and Roma students who participated in Participatory research training. Issues to research were: identification of obstacles in Roma education with special consideration on the work of municipalities, schools and centers for social welfares in order to provide information to asses  these institutions to improve their work.

18 focus groups were implemented: 6 with Roma children, 5 with parents, 1 with Roma authorities, 1 with province authorities, 2 with local authorities, 1 with education authorities and 1 with social welfare authorities.

The report of the research is made and it will be the foundation for the creation of the polici reccommendation paper on the province level and production of local action plans for Roma education status improvement in threee municipalities in Vojvodina.

NOVI SAD HUMANITARIAN CENTER 2004 - 2007