National Roma Centrum

Support for the pupils in preparation of their masks

nrc — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:28:46 +0000

The activity was realized in the frames of the project “Promotion social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities”.

In the beginning of May, the moderators from the Center for support of the communities, together with the parents and the teachers, participated in the preparations and making of masks for the pupils in the 3^rd grades at the primary school “Braka Miladinovci”. The activity was realized in the frames of the project “Promotion social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities”.

The masks were made on the occasion of the tenth Jubilee masquerade “Batko Djordjija”, which was held on May 10^th 2013. The festival had many participants, such as children from the kindergartens, pupils from the primary and high schools and guests from Strumica. There were more group masks than individual ones.

The masquerade “Batko Djordjija” is being held for the tenth year in a row under the patronage of the mayor and the Council of the municipality of Kumanovo.

Training on the subject “STOP for the enrolment of Roma children in special schools”

nrc — Thu, 09 May 2013 10:07:35 +0000

On 03 and 04 April 2013, the National Roma Centrum (NRC) and European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) held the training “STOP for the enrolment of Roma children in special schools”. The training was attended by 35 people from 12 Macedonian cities (Kumanovo, Skopje, Ohrid, Veles, Gostivar, Tetovo, Stip, Kocani, Pehcevo, Prilep, Bitola and Delcevo).

The statistics of ERRC clearly show that there is a big presence of Roma children in the schools in Macedonia which are for children with special needs. In the regular schools which only have two classes for children with special needs, the statistics show that around 50% of the children in those classes are Roma. Djordje Jovanovic presented the video “No to Special Education for Roma”. The aim is to reduce the number of Roma children which are in the classes for special needs and don’t belong there. Those children are marked for the rest of their lives; they won’t be able to go to the desired high school or university.

Ljupco Spasovski, the previous manager of the Sector for primary and high education, pointed out that the children are categorized by the Ministry of health, and the Ministry of education enrolls them in the adequate school. There are no measures to return the children and to provide them with help so that they would continue their education in regular school. He said that we should talk about children with SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS, which differs from CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.

The presentation was interactive, with many questions from the attendees to the presenters.

Through the presentation of Elena Gotovska from BASME, they discussed about the right ways to communicate, communication barriers, conflicts and dealing with them, perception, stereotypes, techniques for representing and lobbying.

The suggestions that emerged from this discussion were that the activists should go on the field and explain to the parents about the information that they provide with the brochure and that they shouldn’t look for a benefit if their children go to classes for children with special needs, and they should convince the parents not to send their children there.

Field visit to Liga Pro Europa from Romania

nrc — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:53:48 +0000

On 17^th – 18^th April 2013, the representatives from the National Roma Centrum, and coordinators of the project “Promoting social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities”, Irfan Martez and Anita Dimitrievska, together with the representatives from the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe”, went on a field visit to Liga Pro Europa from Romania. The visit took place in the headquarters of Liga Pro Europa in Tirgu Mures and in the Romanian village Glodeni.

The representatives from the National Roma Centrum and the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” had a round table discussion on the theme “Combating social exclusion of young Roma people – risks and opportunities of employment on the Romanian labor market” at the office of Liga Pro Europa in Tirgu Mures. The subject was discussed by the before mentioned representatives and by representatives from: the County agency responsible for labor and employment, Public health directorate, County school inspectorate, Prefect’s office, and by formal and informal leaders.

The lack of education leads to unemployment. The program “Second Chance” works on professional development through the 19 different trainings which it offers. The problem is that many people have no education at all so they cannot be included in the projects for professional qualification. Many people don’t have personal documentation, but this is a solvable problem. Around 2% of the unemployed people from the area declare themselves as Roma, although the assumption is that there are more.

On the meeting we also heard a motivational speech from Rudy Moca who said that if the people want to be active in the fight against stereotypes and prejudices, then they should become competent to do so, and that can only be achieved with education. Education should begin at the earliest age and is the only way to self-realization. Denying one’s own ethnicity leads to undermining oneself in the eyes of the others. Poverty is not an acceptable excuse for being and staying illiterate.

There are 36 health mediators in the area of Tirgu Mures. All of them are Roma, who have at least primary school education. They are hired by the municipality, coordinated by the Direction for social health and paid by the Ministry of health. They work in 55 districts with 18000 citizens. They work in the fields of hygiene, vaccination, contraception, pregnancy, etc. The mediators have been on a specialization program for medical assistance.

The second part of the meeting was reserved for the presentations from the teams from Amalipe and the National Roma Centrum.

This day was planned for a visit in the nearby village Goldoni. There we visited the local primary school, the kindergarten and the people in the village who showed us their wonderful handicrafts.

May 9th – Europe Day

nrc — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:40:07 +0000

The integration of Roma is a process, not an event!

There are many reports and many ongoing initiatives. There are no results, and the anti-gypsyism is spreading. Less and less institutions and foundations stayed active (SOROS, World Bank, European Commission, ERTF, ERRC…) in their commitment to improve the situation of the Roma.

The life of Roma is getting worse every day. The National Roma Centrum (NRC) from Kumanovo is hoping for mutual efforts and support for the current situation from the institutions responsible for the creating and implementing the politics. The aim is to have visible results, to have Roma with personal documents, Roma with the freedom of movement, Roma with legalized homes, better health and a higher percentage of employed Roma.

The executive director of NRC, Asmet Elezovski, gave this statement for Europe Day:

„The advanced ideas from the past, are valuable for the development of every nation and country. I ask, as a European citizen, all previous efforts from the institutions and the citizens to be directed toward the breaking down of barriers in order to have a real inclusion of the Roma in everyday life. The politics of the countries-candidates and countries-members of the European Union should be visible and practical with the funds directly aimed toward the stabilization of the living standard of the Roma“ and adds:

„The rights of freedom of speech and freedom of movement should be the key toward the process of implementation of the Roma strategy 2014 – 2020, and at the same time we should not neglect the four important objectives (housing, health, employment and education) of the Decade of Roma 2005 – 2015. The Roma are citizens of the country where they were born, but above all, they are European citizens and it is urgent to seriously accept the Roma issue as an political problem, because that is the only way to find the right solution.”

This is not a wish. This is an urgent and real need!

The National Roma Centrum congratulates the 9^th May, Europe Day, to the citizens, with the appeal for mutual respect and efforts for the development of tolerance and humanity.

Tenth Roma Children Festival “Open heart”

nrc — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:18:55 +0000

A dream come true for art and beauty!

For the tenth time Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” in partnership with the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo organize Roma Children Festival “Open Heart”. Anniversary edition of the festival will be held on 8 and 9 June in the park “Marno pole”, Veliko Tarnovo. It will be attended by over 900 students from different ethnic backgrounds from around the country involved in the group for an elective (EPA) “Ethnic Folklore – Roma Folklore” or extra-curricular activities for school integration.

The festival aims to give children from different ethnic groupsthe opportunity to express themselves and to encourage them a lasting interest in the learning process as a whole. The program includes elements of traditions, crafts, music folklore, history, life and culture of Bulgarian, Romani, Turkish and other ethnic groups in Bulgaria.

Along with the stage program during the Festival will beorganized a Workshop on extracurricular activities and applied arts, aimed at educational integration within which each school may submit work in the form of exhibitions, posters and other materials that students have made during the school year. Part of the materials can be manufactured locally. For this purpose, this year will be organized different workshops in which children and teachers will be able tomake objects from different materials at hand, to draw, to henna, to try on costumes from different ethnic groups, craft workshops, and many other surprises.

A retrospective exhibition of photographs that capture the highlights of the festival over the years will be presented on the anniversary edition.

An exhibition of the works of the best competitors in the “Legacy of the master through my eyes” Will be presented a day before the opening of the festival.

The festival aims to bring together on one stage children from different cultures and ethnicities, to prove that diversity unites usand it can be a catalyst for building a tolerant and respectful society free from prejudice! This festival carries out the urge for creative expression for children of different ethnicities. It takes place in two days in the town of Veliko Tarnovo.Interesting cultural events will be providedfor participants that will help them to know the history of the old capital of Bulgaria – Veliko Tarnovo.

Children from all over Bulgaria will fill the air of the beautiful city of Veliko Tarnovo with their singing, dancing and free mood. Our city will become the capital of tolerance, friendship and children’s smile. Joy in children’s eyes, the colorful folk costumes and musical performances have made Roma Children’s Festival “Open Heart” an unforgettable experience!

When a child dreams, this is just a dream.

When many children dream – this is the beginning of a beautiful reality!

From pilots to outcomes

nrc — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:08:41 +0000

On March 15^th 2013, NRC took participation on the Closing conference of the Roma inclusion pilot project “From pilots to outcomes”

The conference was organized by the United Nations Development Programme BRC in collaboration with European Commission Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy and the World Bank, and was focused on evidence-based lessons on the socio-economic inclusion for Roma communities.

The conference was focused on evidence-based lessons on the socio-economic inclusion for Roma communities.

The conference presented the results of the three-year pilot project decided by the European Parliament targeting Roma socio-economic inclusion and implemented in the fields of early-childhood education and care, self-employment through microcredits, information and awareness raising, data collection and monitoring and evaluation tools in five European Union Member States and Macedonia.

Ashmet Elezovski had the opportunity to hear the presentations and discussions, as well as to present his opinion on this conference. He gave a positive comment on the presentation of Mr. Zeljko Jovanovic, director of the Roma Initiatives office, Open Society Foundation, which was supported by his other colleagues who were participants on this event: Nadir Redzepi, Costel Berkus, Valeriu Nicolae and others.

“The analysis and the presence of the experts and deputies are good, but: why are there no visible results from this work in the Roma districts? The problems increase as well as the barriers toward the Roma community from the earliest age, the health condition is getting worse, there is a selective discrimination with the freedom for movement, the discrimination is visible and getting worse, the anti-Gypsism toward the Roma is very painful. When will the activities and effects of the projects take place with an implementation of 80% directly in the Roma communities? I am not saying that there aren’t results now, but it is time that we are taken seriously, because it is time that the Roma become true experts in the search for correct and professional job which can contribute to the necessary results for the better future of the Roma.”

Chachipe Map

nrc — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:57:01 +0000

Chachipe Map is an international contest, held for the first time in October 2011, organized by the Open Society Foundation and OSA Archivum.

On April 5^th 2013, the Embassy of Hungary in Skopje and the Open Society Foundation organized an exhibition of photographs in the gallery OSTEN, which will mark the April 8^th – International Roma Day. The exhibition goes under the name Chachipe Map and is the third Chachipe contest in photographs. Chachipe Map is an international contest, held for the first time in October 2011, organized by the Open Society Foundation and OSA Archivum. For the interested, Chachipe means “truth”, “right” or “reality” in Roma.

The exhibition was opened by Dr. Jozsef Bencze, the Ambassador of Hungary in Macedonia. Nezdet Mustafa, the Minister without portfolio.

Asmet Elezovski, National Roma Centrum, jury member for the Chachipe Youth contest was also invited to give a speech in which he greeted and congratulated on the day of 8^th April – Roma International Day. Mr. Elezovski made a reference on the beginning of this positive activity in 2011 until now, which gives an opportunity to the Roma photograph to demonstrate their view on the beauty and the weight present in the lives of the Roma, closely connected to the process of the Decade of Roma and their inclusion 2005 – 2015. Elezovski pointed out that many known fighters for human rights used different forms to fight against prejudices, discrimination and racism and that this exhibition today is a solid instrument for stopping the manipulations with the Roma in every field in everyday life. He referenced a photograph on which a parent is showing the wideness and beauty of the sea to its child. The parents directs the child to its right for solid education, solid life, a right to movement, a right for property, a right for participation and making decisions in the country in which it is born or wants to continue its life. Elezovski wished that this initiative would continue, but with more transparency and with bigger presence in more cities, and also Roma and non-roma districts. He noted:

“I am Roma, I am Macedonian, but I am also a European and I doo not want my rights and the rights of the future generations to be taken away for someone’s political, economical and other interests. Chachipe, the truth or the reality, are values which should be possessed by everyone”

Mr. Elezovski also thanked the Roma Initiatives Office and OSF whose representative Anita Czinkoczi organized this event.

Workshop for employment techniques and skills

nrc — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:49:32 +0000

Through interactive communication and works in group, twenty young Roma gained techniques and skills which they will use while searching for employment

On March 15^th 2013, the National Roma Centrum held a workshop for techniques and skills needed while looking for an employment. The workshop was in the frames of the project “Promotion social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities” which is being implemented in partnership with the Center for interethnic dialogue and tolerance “Amalipe” from Bulgaria.

Twenty young Roma took participation in the workshop. They gained techniques and skills which they will use while searching for an employment, such as: professional orientation, ways for a more effective search for a job, writing CV and motivational letter and a personal presentation in front of the employers. The trainers Ljubica Grozdanovska and Aleksandar Dimishkovski used interactive communication with the participants and the method of working in groups.

Health without prejudices

nrc — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:21:06 +0000

Public announcement

In average, there are 23 256 children are born in Macedonia annually, while the average number of stillbirths is 227. There are 1,745 children who are born with low birth weight, which is the most important factor for the need of additional medical care and treatment of children. The reasons for the complications after childbirth, as well as the relatively high number of stillbirths are mostly due to lack of medical care, or lack of medical supervision of pregnancy in women.

Therefore, the prenatal examinations are crucial for the avoidance of these occurrences.

The research made by the National Roma Centrum (NRC) from Kumanovo in 2011, as well as the fieldwork in 2012 and 2013, showed that out of 102 Roma women from Kumanovo, Kocani, Stip, Kriva Palanka and Bitola, aged between 15 and 35, around 50% do not enjoy their rights for reproductive health. The unequal treatment, the administrative and financial obstacles, the unemployment, social exclusion and lack of confidence are the reasons for this situation. All these women are socio-economically disadvantaged and do not have the money to go to the doctor or to pay for the gynecological services.

Around 8587 women who are beneficiaries of social help, are in their reproductive period, which is 1.64% of the total number of women of reproductive age. According to the latest available official data, and the 2002 Census, Macedonia has 522,355 women in the reproductive period.

If we take in consideration that in the past decade, Macedonia has, in average, 23 256 children born annually, out of which 227 are stillbirths, it turns out that 1,64% out of 23 483 pregnant women in the state or 381 pregnant women are beneficiaries of social help.

The social financial help for 2012 for one family and household with five or more members (100%) is 5 515 DEN a month. On the other side, the basic gynecological package with echo has the referent price of 800 DEN, and the expanded gynecological package with colposcopy is 1 240 DEN.

The prenatal healthcare in Macedonia was regulated in 2010, when they delivered the instruction on how to perform healthcare activities related to the prenatal examinations in pregnancy. But in the Strategy for Safe Motherhood 2010-2015 it was confirmed that the national clinical guidelines for prenatal care are outdated and that they should be reviewed. But, nothing has been done since.

Therefore, the National Roma Centrum, through the project “Through increased voice to better health services” has an aim to point out to the relevant institutions and the creators of politics in the field of health, that the health services are not equally accessible to everyone. Guided by the basic human principle that the public health services should be accessible to all the citizens of Macedonia, in the following period NRC will insist for a program for free health services for the socially vulnerable women in Macedonia in order to have healthy mothers and healthy generations.

The European Union has already raised the question for the reforming of the health care systems in the states members, in order to provide equal opportunities for equal access to quality healthcare, and to ensure more efficient use of public resources. The EU strives for universal access to healthcare services which can lead to poverty reduction and to the fight against social isolation. Maybe it is time for us to start with the revision of the access to the health services in Macedonia, in order to avoid the discrimination against those who cannot afford to get treatment.

On the occasion of the World Health Day, April 7^th, and the International Roma Day, April 8^th, we ask: Do we want to have a healthy nation (With healthy mothers and children) without prejudices and stereotypes, or not?

Workshop for greeting cards

nrc — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:38:46 +0000

The activities were organized with 100 third-graders from PS “Braka Miladinovci” from Kumanovo

On 6^th and 7^th March 2013, the moderators from the Center for support of the communities of the project “Promotion social inclusion of young people in marginalized rural Roma communities” organized a workshop for the 3^rd grade pupils in the primary school “Brakja Miladinovci” from Kumanovo. On the workshop the pupils made cards which they would give to their mothers on the occasion of Mother’s Day, which is on 8^th March.