Narrative report 2005

The basic programs of Autonomia Foundation in 2005 were the following:
- Innovative Social and Economic Development Program of the Roma of Borsod County
- Employment without Prejudice in Tolna County
- Vojvodina and EU accession - Civil organisation development and EU knowledge transfer
-PAKIV

EQUAL programme. Autonomia as the leader of the BRIDGE ’A Borsodi Romák Innovatív Társadalmi és Gazdaságfejlesztési Programja’ (Innovative Social and Economic Development Program of the Roma of Borsod County) Development Partnership

This multiyear project was the leading activity of the foundation since the beginning of 2005. Though as one of the four lucky winners in Hungary we had succesfully finished the implementation of an employment creation program within the first round financed by the EQUAL framework in 2004, to start this project was significantly more demanding and challenging. More than ten years of experience in income generation, organisation development and capacity building together with the changing financial environment led Autonomia to the conclusion that if there are scarce resources available to support small economic initiatives workplaces must be set up together with the local organisations, which add to the human and financial capital of the deprived regions, and will serve as a vehicle of further development of the local labour market and Roma participation.
The first priortity (theme A) of the Community Initiative EQUAL in Hungary is facilitating access or return to the labour market to those who are disadvantaged. Accordingly the DP led by the foundation targeted the Roma unemployed in Borsod county. In order to implement the programme the following organisations set up the partnership: Autonómia Foundation, Lungo Drom Roma Organisation, Méra, Lungo Drom Roma Organisation, Szalaszend, Advocacy Organisation of Roma and Other Disadvantaged of the Bódva Valley, Perkupa, and Andrássy Gyula Technical School, Miskolc.

The direct aims of the project: Provide vocational training for some 75 skilled and semi-skilled workers in the professions of stove setting, wood-working machine operation, masonry, carpentry and black-smithing. Those who complete the above training courses successfully will either work in brigades established in the framework of the project or become self-employed entrepreneurs with the help of a micro-credit. It will be the task of the employed participants (for a period of 20 months) to reconstruct the collapsing houses of those in need in the local population and install energy-efficient insulation and heating systems. In the course of the project, we would like to establish a woodworking factory for the manufacturing and repair of doors and windows, as well as a smith’s shop which – in addition to creating jobs – will also serve as a training centre and a tourist attraction. The indirect aims of the project: Help the local Roma population learn skills, find jobs and earn an income, and thus to improve the living conditions of their families. The dilapidated buildings of disadvantaged local families, who have no income from work, will be renovated and modernized, energy-efficient heating systems and heat-insulated doors and windows will be installed, thus reducing the heating costs of the families and improving their housing and living conditions. The labour market competence of local Roma organizations will significantly increase, so they will become stable and active participants of the local social economy and the la-bour market.
Within the frameworks of the programme there is a possibility to find and make use of international cooperation. Bridge DP joined two international partnerships. PERQUALITAS is a TCA of Spanish, Italian and Slovakian Development Partnerships, while ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT TCA consists of British, Spanish, Danish and Polish Development Partnerships.

In 2005 we started the preparatory phase, in July 2005 the first phase of the implementation began.

Employment without Prejudice in Tolna County

This project started in July 2004 and lasted until July 2005 in Tamási, Paksi és Bonyhádi small regions, with the involvement of the following settlements: Szekszárd, Bonyhád, Kisvejke, Varalja, Aparhant, Mórágy, Kajdacs, Tengelic, Kölesd, Magyarkeszi, Nagyszokoly together with the local self-government of Magyarkeszi, the Independent Roma association of Bonyhád and the Roma Association of Kajdacs.
According to our experiences one of the main obstacles of the Roma employment is that the employers do not have adequate information about the financial and socio-cultural background of the Roma, and the missing information is replaced by prejudiced approach. Thus most of the employers approves that the bad labour market situation of the Roma can be explained by subjective reasons, that cannot be handled, thus the vicious circle is closed: they want to employ efficient labour force.

We offered two types of solutions to tackle this trap: fostering communication between the Roma and Non-Roma actors of the society (focusing here on the labour market), and wide spread dissemination of experiences which contradict to the prejudiced beliefs. The tools in the first case were the employment of labour market mediators and organisation of joint workshops, while in the other case it meant study tours and publications.

Labour market discrimination was a challenge, because the discrimination per se is very difficult to prove, and a significant part of the Roma in Hungary do not even reach the situation when they could be discriminated in the labour market. A precondition of the discrimination in the labour market is that Roma people should appear as potential jobseekers. Paradoxically the first step in an antidiscrimination labour market project should be to make it possible for the people to be in the position of a potentially discriminated job seeker.

The employment of Roma labour market mediators the employers who had been reluctant to employ Roma became more open, and through the network of our mediators new and efficient ways of conflict management were developed between the employers and employees.

Hungarian employers mostly do not know about successful employment of Roma people, while there are a great number of these. Through showing these examples, visits and publications prejudice can be replaced by a more open attitude towards potential Roma employees.

Phare ACCESS 2003 Makro 2003/004-347.02.02. (2003/004-02-02-0030) Vojvodina and EU accession - Civil organisation development and EU knowledge transfer

This 13 months program started in September 2005 as a cooperation of Tilger Mihály Citizens’ Association (Bácska-Topolya), Brotherhood Cultural Association (Bajsa), the Pharo Drom Organisation (Horgos) and Autonómia Foundation.

The general aim of the project was to strengthen the civil sector in Vojvodina, to develop a cooperation among the civil organisations of the region which will be able to use the knowledge and experiences related to European frameworks accumulated in Hungary. Thus the civil organisations will be able to manage the flow of information efficiently, and will be ready to meet the challenges of EU accession. It was very important that the civil organisations of the regions should be able to absorb the potentials offered by the application schemes provided by pre-accession and accession funds available, and could realize their projects by these tools.

Our indirect aim was that by means of their growing resource absorption capacities the NGOs should acquire a significant role in fields in the future, which are neglected in Voivodina now like environment protection, human rights and social inequalities.

The specific aim of the project was to provide information in the field of EU resource system, project planning, proposal writing, development of proposal documentation, budget, management of procurement procedures, technology of project implementation within the circle of leaders, activists and staff of Voivodina civil organizations which have no or limited experiences in proposal writing.

Beyond these the leaders of the chosen civil organisations had an opportunity to visit successful, sustainable Hungarian projects.

The primary target group consisted of the partner organizations and their related circle, while the secondary target group was the potential parner organisations in the future. Pharo Drom (Difficult Road) Organisation is a Roma group in Horgos, the members of which are Romani speaking Roma. Tilger Mihály Citizens’ Association in Topolya has a Serb president, and the members are both Serb and Hungarian, the members of the Brotherhood Cultural Association in Bajsa are Hungarans, Serbs, Slovaks and Roma.

In 2005 the capacity building of the partner organisations started, and then a series of trainings were implemented, at the end of which proposals for further use were developed. Also the first study tours were implemented in the end of 2005, with great success.

Drama pedagogy – as an innovative tool among the portfolio of Roma Community Houses

The aim of the multiyear project funded by the Phare Access micro framework was to widen the scope of activities and increase the community development potential of the Roma Community Houses. As a result staff and activists got acquainted with a new tool, through which they can increase their role in the local society, indirectly it can increase their participation in local decision making.

The project consisted of a 120 hours communication and drama pedagogy training based on the needs of the target group, and a 64 hours project planning and management program. Drama circles were started in Gyomaendrőd, Pécs, Bonyhád and Mezőberény in the local community houses. These circles were accompanied by mentoring activities of the consortium partners – Kava Association and Autonómia Foundation, with a special focus on the sustainability and dissemination of the results in the country.

PAKIV

This initiative started as an idea as early as 1993 by Autonómia and different national and international partners. In the course of its long history it took different shapes, while by 2005 it was mainly operated as a separate program with its own board and decision making body.

Main program activities in 2005

Small grants for income-generation in Romani communities:

In 2005, PAKIV supported initiatives facilitated by groups of former trainees in Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia which included community mobilizing efforts with the aim of building dialogue and partnerships with local authorities and starting up local development processes.

The methods used included:
- Trainings, consultations, mentoring, facilitation, community needs assessment and analyses, sharing experiences
- Locally organized dialogue and meetings with local authorities

In Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia, each of the activities involved work with local community groups from different localities in each country. The groups were predominantly, though not exclusively young Roma, from disadvantaged communities.

In Bulgaria, the initiative was co-supported by the Peace Corps and involved the organization of a national, 10-day youth camp for 40 Roma aged 16-18 years. The aim was to activate young Roma within their communities, while encouraging them continue their education. Out of the 40 participants, 8 Roma youth leaders were selected for a special facilitation workshop to improve their leadership skills. The camp included training in communication skills and team-building, anti-discrimination and information on various youth programs and scholarships. As outcomes, the group set up their own Internet discussion group, where they can discuss common problems and learn about opportunities for youth. Some of them became active in their communities, while others went to work for other civic organizations or continued their studies in the university.

In Hungary, the project involved work with two localities. At the start, facilitators carried out needs and problem analysis with representatives of the Roma community. Following this, a series of workshops were organized for Roma on leadership, community development, management, lobby and advocacy, and b) problem analysis, formulating objectives, and how to work together for a mixed working group of Roma and local authorities .

As follow up to the workshops, in one of the communities, the local self government and the elementary school organised a two-day forum for the teachers, local representatives, and Roma leaders from different villages. The Pakiv members were there to facilitate the forum and to support the Roma representatives. The first day included presentations from the NGOs, schools, and authorities, and the afternoon involved different working groups for education, the mayors, other leaders, etc. In general the leaders and mayors were unmotivated to act, though facilitators stressed the importance of communicating and co-operating with the Roma in order to improve the situation.

On the second day, facilitators gave feedback and suggestions in the plenary, which was also attended by the Minister of Equal Opportunities. Through her support the process continued with regular meetings and a working group to prepare proposals to the Education Ministry to improve the local school attended mostly by Roma. Likewise, the process led to the establishment of a local Roma NGO, which previously did not exist in Szirak.

In Slovakia, the group was formed of 20 young Roma from 3 localities in east Slovakia. 19 of the 20 were female. Over a 3 month period, they received training in development of social and formal skills, structure of public administration, fundamental principles of community mobilization, and methodology of planning and managing a project. The program included topics, which would prepare the participants for realizing future community-based activities, while reinforcing their position in the public life and consolidating partnerships between institutions and NGOs.

Launching the Transnational Exchange Program

In August 2005, PAKIV, together with other international and national partners from Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and the United Kingdom, launched the Transnational Learning on Local Partnerships and Action Plans to Combat Poverty and Roma Exclusion, supported by the European Community, amongst others.

The overall objective of the project is to promote more effective country policies for social inclusion of Roma and increased access to development, especially in the areas of education, employment and social services. The project was developed around a bottom-up approach, using transnational exchange and facilitation methods to identify local mechanisms of inclusion and build skills to increase participation of excluded Roma communities in local action planning. At the same time in order to avoid that the project is fragmented in several localities per country, in the second half, the project will focus on producing a number of publications for promoting good lessons and models that can make the National Action Planning process functional in each country.

Network Study Trip on Combating Social Exclusion – models and experiences in the UK

The UK study trip for Romani facilitators from the PAKIV network took place from November 12-18, 2005, hosted by the development school (UK). The study visit was part of the transnational exchange program to promote participatory local action planning for Roma inclusion by means of joint learning and sharing, research and publications.

The exchange brought a total of 16 persons from EU member and accession states, while engaging another 20 organizations and individuals in the program. The international group was divided into 3 smaller working groups to make formal meetings and dialogue more interactive.

The UK organizations and individuals met throughout the week represented national and local government, non-governmental organizations and academia. By combining these sectors in the exchange process, participants were exposed to a wide range of experiences and approaches, which were not necessarily about ‘Roma’, but about tackling social exclusion of disadvantaged groups and understanding the concept of social exclusion and the UK context, in comparison to developments in Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

The following organizations and persons took part in the program’s meetings:

1. HARINGEY COUNCIL, TRAVELLERS EDUCATION SERVICE
2. CHURCH COMMISSION FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
3. COMMISSION ON RACIAL EQUALITY
4. SOCIAL EXCLUSION UNIT OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
5. HACKNEY COUNCIL’S HOUSING ASSOCIATION AND PARTNERSHIP TEAM
6. ETHNIC MINORITY PARTNERSHIP, Crawley
7. SUSSEX UNIVERSITY
8. ISLINGTON TRAINING NETWORK PARTNER: DAY-MER-TURKISH AND KURDISH COMMUNITY CENTRE
9. ISLINGTON TRAINING NETWORK - IRANIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE,
10. LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, ‘Oral History of Minority Communities in London”
11. TZEGGAI YOHANNES DERES, Director, Evelyn Oldfield Unit
12. PROFESSOR JOHN GABRIEL, London Metropolitan University
13. DR. DONALD KENRICK, Vice-president of the Gypsy Council and author of The Romani World: A Historical Dictionary of Gypsies, amongst others.
14. PROFESSOR GARY CRAIG, Professor of Social Justice, Hull University, President Of The International Association For Community Development
15. REFUGEE ASSESSMENT AND GUIDANCE UNIT (RAGU)
16. JO MCGUIRE, photographer of the exhibition ‘A Romany Way of Life’,
17. CONFERENCE “Tackling Community Tensions and Creating Dialogue, Understanding and Partnership Between Gypsies and Travellers and the Settled Community”

On the evening of 15 November 2005, the partners of the exchange program organized an Pakiv open forum, hosted by the London Metropolitan University, where invitations were sent to various organizations and institutions engaged in combating exclusion and working with Roma/Travellers. Presentations were made on the transnational exchange program, the Pakiv European Roma Fund initiative and the work of participants in their home countries. Following the presentations, an informal dialogue and exchange took place on issues related to impressions of London and the institutions met, funding trends and opportunities within the EU context, relations among ‘Roma’ and ‘Gypsy/Travellers’, and prejudice, racism and discrimination in the UK and CEE countries.

OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTIVITIES

Launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, February 2005

At the official launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in Sofia, the Executive Director of PAKIV, and a former trainee from Slovakia were the two official, young Roma delegates to make presentations during the ceremony.

OSCE 13th Economic Forum

As a follow-up to PAKIV’s ongoing cooperation with the OSCE ODIHR, representatives took part in the 13th OSCE Economic Forum, ‘Increasing access of Roma to employment and inclusion in the sustainable economic development; elements of a cross-dimensional approach.’ in May 2005. PAKIV representatives gave presentations on the national action plans on employment in the Decade of Roma Inclusion, and reflections regarding the 2004 Economic Forum recommendation for setting up a fund for economic development of local Roma communities.

Publications

Jennifer Tanaka, Pakiv European Roma Fund, ‘Economic Development Perspectives of Roma – Looking Critically at Reality and the Social Impact of Development Measures’, published by European Union Monitoring and Advocacy Program, May 2005

Pakiv European Roma Fund and OSCE-ODIHR, ‘Access to Employment and Income Opportunities: Approaches and methods among Roma and other Disadvantaged groups’, contracted in 2005 and finalized in March 2006

As a follow-up to the 2004 training of Pakiv network members on Gender and Development, the a series of community-based gender analyses were written and edited, in the context of the program supported by the OSI Women’s Network Program. The case studies were forwarded for use and publishing to the OSI Roma Women’s Initiative, and were also included in the 2004 Pakiv Annual Report.

INSTITUTIONAL COOPERATION

In 2005, it became clear that international PAKIV program operations would continue to be administered jointly out of the Pakiv European Roma fund, registered in Bulgaria, and the Autonomia Foundation, in Hungary, where PAKIV operates as an independent program. This was due partly to the weak income generated by Pakiv European Roma Fund-Bulgaria in 2004, and the stronger financial capacity record of the Autonomia Foundation, which provided for a stronger application to the competitive calls of the European Union for example.

PAKIV INCOME AND EXPENDITURES (1 January to 31 December 2005)

Income Euro
Balance brought forward 14344
Grants
Count Groeben Foundation 32306
OSCE-ODIHR 7920
Pakiv Germany* 500
European Commission,
Trans. Exchange Program* 52764

Total Income 107834

Expenditures

Programs
Local capacity building 11768
Gender and Development 6637
OSCE Publication on access to employment 6000
Networking (follow-up) 1920
Transnational Exchange Program 54876
Overhead, administration, board 13630


Total Expenditures 94831

* Operated out of the Autonomia Foundation

Board, supervisory board, staff

BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

István Boros (chair)
Tünde Buzetzky
Anna Csongor (director)
Ferenc Karvalits
Júlia Szalai
Péter Szuhay

SUPERVISORY BOARD:

Anikó Soltész
Ágnes Darvas
Zsuzsa Foltányi

STAFF in 2005-ben

Full time staff:

Katalin Lukrécia Árvai, assistant
Endre Barát, project manager
Anna Csongor, director
Tibor Béres, program manager
Lukács György, program manager
Miklós Kóródi, program manager
András Nun, program manager
Ferenc Poós, project manager
Erika Réder, accounting, HR
Jennifer Tanaka, program manager
Zoltán Ákos Vég, project manager
Szilvia Rézműves, assistant

Part time:
Miklós Mádl, cash desk

Interns:
Julianna Boros
György Orsós
Éva Földesi

Labour market mediators in the program Employment without prejudice inTolna county

László Babai
Ágnes Bogdán
Csaba Boros
Vilmos Jákovics
Péter Pál Katona
Istvánné Lakatos
József Orsós jr.
József. Orsós sr.
Tamás Orsós
György Pataki
Viola Varga

Staff in the EQUAL program:

Aladár Bancsók
Piroska Bancsók
Béla Batyi
Józsefné Fábián
Miklós Kovács
Szabolcs Mata
László Siroki
Józsefné Tama