Serbian models for Roma inclusion
“When other countries express interest in your work, you know you must be doing something right; when they begin modelling their programmes on yours, that’s when you need to start doing things even better,” declares Matthew Newton, Roma Programme and Policy Co-ordinator at the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
With around 300 Roma employed in Serbia as pedagogic assistants, health mediators and municipal co-ordinators and another 200 soon to be employed, other countries in South-Eastern Europe have been motivated to look and learn from their neighbour’s experience in putting the National Strategy and Action Plan for Roma Inclusion it adopted four years ago into practice. The Mission to Serbia has been supporting the process.
One hundred and seventy Roma teacher assistants are creating a more inclusive environment in schools across Serbia for Roma pupils and more individualized support for their families, in a pilot scheme that was introduced into schools by the Ministry of Education and is now an integral part of the school system. The Mission to Serbia provided vocational training for the initial cohort of assistants in 2008 and recently conducted a five-day training course on effective co-ordination between schools and Roma parents. The programme is good for the young Roma pupils, who are staying in school, and good for the assistants, who are given the opportunity to earn a degree through the University of Kragujevac’s Centre for Life-long Learning. In the longer term, as the Roma community integrates further, it is envisaged that the teacher assistants will also work with children with developmental disabilities. “This is the sustainability the government is striving for,” Matthew underlines.
The OSCE is also providing vocational training to 75 Roma health mediators who are helping Roma register with the health system and get the opportunity to see a family doctor or have a general check-up, in a programme initiated by the Ministry of Health. The mediators also educate their community on topics such as reproductive health care. “Next year, Roma health mediators will become a permanent part of the health system,” Matthew explains.
More than 40 Roma municipal co-ordinators are working to improve the access of Roma to local services and information. The co-ordinators are currently taking part in a Serbia-wide peer review of Roma inclusion practices conducted by the government’s Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team and local-self governments. The OSCE has participated in this process and, based on the findings, will help to reinforce effective ways of promoting Roma participation at the local level.
Next year, Roma health mediators will become a permanent part of the health system.
Each of these programmes for Roma inclusion has been recognized as a model for emulation by governments of neighbouring countries. As an example, in 2011, representatives from the Health Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina visited Serbia to learn more about the health mediators’ scheme. Roma health mediators are also being introduced in Croatia this year as part of the regional OSCE-EU project Best Practices for Roma Integration.
But the issues are complex and there is no room for complacency. With some 300,000 Roma in Serbia in more than 600 settlements, the needs are daunting. At present, each of the three programmes the OSCE supports is administered separately. To maximize limited resources, co-ordination could be improved. For example, health centres that conduct vaccination schemes could share information about school-aged children with schools and pedagogical assistants. The OSCE Mission is promoting the creation of joint mobile teams that would provide health, pedagogical and employment assistance simultaneously. This could be the next source inspiration for Serbia’s regional neighbours.