The Open Society Roma Initiatives, a group of coordinating, grantmaking, and operational programs within the Open Society Foundations, are dedicated to promoting the equality and integration of Europe’s largest ethnic minority. The Roma Initiatives build upon the Foundations’ many years of support for Roma communities, and facilitate dialogue and exchange to enhance the grantmaking and knowledge of Open Society programs that work with Roma communities.
In addition to coordinating the Open Society Foundations’ wider Roma-related efforts, the Roma Initiatives provide general institutional development grants to Roma nongovernmental organizations and grants for specific projects addressing the priority focus areas in countries covered under the current Roma Initiatives strategy.
The Roma Initiatives partner with nongovernmental organizations from the relevant countries to carry out operational and seed projects. These projects work to test new methodologies and to strengthen advocacy efforts related to the priority focus areas.
In all areas of their activities, the Open Society Roma Initiatives seek to foster and promote the principles of democracy, accountability, human rights, gender equality, and active Roma leadership and participation in public affairs.
In partnership with other stakeholders, the Open Society Roma Initiatives run a number of operational and seed projects to test new methodologies and to strengthen advocacy efforts related to priority focus areas. Recent programs include:
Chachipe: Online Photography Competition
The Roma Initiatives and the OSA Archivum run the online photography competition and travelling exhibition series Chachipe (which means “truth” or “reality” in Romanes). Chachipe aims to present more complex and less stereotyped depictions of Roma lives and has exhibited in prestigious international cultural centers and village community halls across Europe. The 2009 Chachipe Youth exhibition will be followed by Chachipe Map, the third exhibition in the series. Chachipe Map emphasizes the geographic spread and diversity of Roma lives and culture, and the importance of locale and neighborhood in mapping the priorities of Roma communities.
Read with Us!
Read with Us! is a project that promotes reading among families from disadvantaged regions in Hungary. The project uses books and reading as tools to create opportunities to stimulate social dialogue and promote reconciliation within society. The main elements of the campaign are: continuous book collection; dissemination of books to schools and communities in target areas; and involvement of celebrities and opinion makers who spend a full day in a school reading and talking with the children. Many of the stories carry messages on acceptance of diversity, different communities living together, and friendship. Parents and school teachers also actively participate in the event. The year-long campaign resulted in donations of more than 17,000 new and used books; direct involvement of approximately 1,500 children from 30 locations; and the participation of 40 celebrities in local events, which helped generate widespread media coverage of the campaign.
Roma Youth Leadership Program
In partnership with the Belgrade Open School, the Roma Youth Leadership Program was designed to strengthen leadership capacities among 20 young Roma in Serbia who could later work as community organizers, advocates, monitors, and public officials. The program combined academic coursework on themes such as human rights, identity, community organizing, democratic societies and political systems, and gender equality and EU integration. The program also provides training for young leaders in skills such as advocacy, policy writing, public speaking, civic journalism; and conducting practical research.
Mother Centers
In cooperation with various partners, the Roma Initiatives are supporting the establishment of Mother Centers in disadvantaged settlements with a high number of Roma inhabitants. Operating as self-help clubs, Mother Centers facilitate access to public services, while contributing to greater self-organization and active citizenship among local community members. The activities of the centers are organized and carried out by their members. One of the key features of the centers is that mothers can come to the center with their children, who will be looked after by other club members in turns. The activities, discussions, and lectures taking place in the centers are all based on the needs, interests, and problems of the members, which gives each Mother Center a unique program and profile.
Community Organizing
In this operational initiative, Roma are recruited, trained, and supported to serve as local community organizers who build relationships and turn a community—people who share common values or interests—into a constituency—people who can act on behalf of those values or interests. Community organizers build an organizing culture and set of practices, while ensuring processes for cultivating local leadership. The role of community organizers is different from that of local leaders, in that leaders take responsibility for representing the community; for taking decisions on how to solve particular problems; for being accountable to its members; and for developing leadership in others. In contrast to other approaches, community organizing assumes a need to change existing power relationships by organizing communities to take action and exert influence on decision-makers.
Roma Pride Summer Camp: Barvalipe
The Roma Pride Summer Camp aims to strengthen Roma identity and pride among young Roma who have participated in academic, internship, and scholarship programs supported by the Open Society Foundations. The camp includes interactive sessions on Roma history, language, and achievements; practical debate exercises to equip participants with the confidence and knowledge to respond to anti-Roma rhetoric; and a study visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. The international camp functions as a powerful experience that aims to inspire more young Roma to become future role models, political leaders, and civic activists advocating for the rights of Roma.
Equal Chances Against Cancer
Run in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, this initiative provides breast cancer screening for thousands of women, Roma and non-Roma alike, in areas that are poorly-served, geographically isolated, and socially disadvantaged. Local partners are often either Roma civic organizations or Roma mayors. The participation of TV actors and other well-known performers who have worked as program volunteers or given free performances has helped generate significant media coverage for the initiative.
Roma Mentor Project
The Roma Mentor Project, supported by the Roma Initiatives and the Open Society Arts and Culture Program, connects successful Roma individuals with public schools and after-school learning programs, where the majority of children are Roma. The project draws on a network of Roma volunteers who mentor and inspire children by working with them and communicating a philosophy of Roma emancipation, pride, and self-assertion. In 2010, mentors drew upon their personal experience, education, knowledge and cultural heritage to interact with children from 50 schools in 38 locations across five countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, and Slovakia). While improving the self-esteem of Roma children, the project also raises motivates children to go to school, study well, and develop their skills and talents.
