1. Case-study No. & Title:
196. Re-qualification-course for Romany people who have not completed secondary education, combined with repairing/reconstruction houses in a district where mainly Romany people live, Semily, The Czech Republic.

Keywords

2. Author information:
2.1 Author’s Name
Peter Mulder

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Peter Mulder (Chairman občanské sdružení Spolu-CZ)
Spolu-CZ
P.O. Box 651
661 51 Brno-2
The Czech Republic

Tel.: +420-603-843.982 (private)
Fax: +420-5-4524.61.66 (work)
E-mail: peter.mulder@post.cz

2.3 Date recorded
01/10/2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The local authorities of Semily, in co-operation with the labour-office, educational institutes, local Roma NGOs and a building-firm, prepared a re-qualification-course for Romany people who do not have finished secondary-school education. The project has been initiated by the Roma community in Semily. The project has the following aspects:

3.2 Location:
Semily is a small town in north-east Bohemia, Czech Republic. It has 10,000 inhabitants, of which 250 are Roma (68 families). The majority of the Roma live in a district called "Kolonka", on the outskirts of the town. They live there in a few blocks of apartment buildings. These buildings are not in a very good state. In the town, "Kolonka" has the name and the image of a "no-go-area". This very negative image is partly influenced by the overall quietness of the rest of Semily: The town is small and with little commercial or industrial activity. It is situated in the highlands but too far from the mountains to attract many tourists.

Kolonka, in particular, is characterised by problems. The most pressing ones are the bad state of the houses, high levels of rent-arrears, unemployment, combined with the fact that Kolonka is situated out of town.

During 1998, the local authorities started a more active approach towards the Roma community. A Roma commission has been established, in which representatives of the local authorities, municipal institutions (e.g. the Labour Office) and Roma NGOs are meeting regularly to discuss current affairs that concern the Roma community.

Two Roma NGOs are active in Semily: R-Klub and S.O.R.N. (Association of Citizens of Roma-descent). During the last few years, these institutions have sometimes co-operated closely, at other times acted as rivals. The latter situation is strongly influenced by the personal interests of their leaders on one hand (both are private entrepreneurs), and by political forces from outside Semily, who try to use one organisation or the other to gain political influence (read: votes) in Semily on the other. In the autumn of 2000 both organisations were co-operating, but several active members have left the organisation to continue the co-operation with the local authorities in a different way.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Roma
Target group: Roma from the Roma-community in Semily, who have not finished secondary education

3.4 Major Actors Involved

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors

3.6 Timeframe
The initiative was first proposed in February 2000, officially launched in May and was supposed to start in September the same year. However, at the moment when the project was about to start, after it has been presented in the media etc., the two Roma organisations that were involved withdrew from the project, which was seen by the other parties as if the Romany community had suddenly lost interest. After the initial frustration (both among Roma and non-Roma) about this development had been overcome, the following became clear:

Although there might be a problem of financing (the money, received by the Labour Office for the project, was meant to be spent in the school-year 2000-2001), the intentions are to continue the project in the next school-year (2001-2002). The internships would then start at the end of that school year, after which the participants will receive a diploma (September 2004).

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
The project is a local-level initiative, in general based on national-level rules and national policy. There were national laws and regulations that did not met the local requirements, so a way had to be found to establish local rules without contradicting the national ones. For example, re-qualification according to the law is only meant for people who already have a certain level of education. This was not the case for the Romany target-group in Semily. But if the project were be categorised as normal education, it would have been far more complicated from an organisational point of view. In co-operation with the Labour Office, the local authorities were able to make an exception for this course.

4. Good Practice Description
The start of the re-qualification project was possible because of the existence of two other activities in Semily, which took place from August 1998 - Spring 1999.

Repairing the facade of one of the bigger houses in Kolonka
NGO R-Klub agreed with the local authorities to re-plaster and paint the facade of one big house in Kolonka. Twenty-eight families live in the house. The local authorities provided the materials, the inhabitants of the house provided the work for free. This co-operation resulted in improving of the co-operation with the local authorities.

Establishing the Roma-committee
These improved contacts lead to the establishment of the "Roma-committee". This committee is chaired by the former mayor of Semily and has become a part of the municipal structures: It advised the mayor on matters concerning Roma. The committee meets regularly and discussed local matters which concern the Roma community in Semily. The following institutions and organisations are participating in the committee:

Although the Roma Committee itself has not initiated large projects or activities, it has proved to be a place where opinions come together, where small local problems are discussed and sometimes solved, and where the majority and the minority are in direct and open contact with each other. In this committee, R-Klub and S.O.R.N. presented the plan of the re-qualification-project. This proposal received positive reactions.

The re-qualification-project
The re-qualification - and reconstruction project has the following aspects:
a) re-qualification to receive a certificate
The target-group are Roma with no (finished) secondary-school education. The aim of the course is to educate the participants to become qualified bricklayers. To enable the participants to have an internship and to reach this qualification, they first need to have a certificate. To reach this, the participants need to attend school for one year after which they will receive an official certificate (recognised by the Czech Ministry of Education). The educational part will be carried out by the regional educational institution (specialised in this kind of training).

The selection of the target-group has been done in co-operation between the Labour Office, and the Roma-NGOs. Fifteen to twenty people can take part in the course. It is important to find motivated people to start a course like this. It will be long-term plan (in total 3 years), which the majority of the participants should complete. To strengthen the motivation, people will receive every three month a kind of "bonus" in the form of extra social benefits. The courses are for free. However, if somebody would quit the course, he will have to pay part of the costs.

b) Internships and repairing the houses in Kolonka
After the first year of theory, the participants will have to do two years of internship, combined with some school-attendance. These internships are organised by the Local Authorities and the earlier mentioned school, in co-operation with a local building-firm. The participants will do the work for free (in the form of an internship). Like this, they will prepare for their qualification. At the same time, the houses at Kolonka will be repaired at relatively low cost. The firm, which will also take part in the reconstruction, will provide the specialised work. Qualified workers will supervise the participants of the course.

In tandem with the plans to repair and reconstruct the houses in Kolonka, a plan has been drawn up for a community-centre in Kolonka. This project would be realised according to the same principle. The future running of the centre would be the responsibility of the local Roma NGOs.

c) Finalising the course and receiving a regular diploma
After finishing the course, the participants will receive a regular diploma (recognised by the Czech Ministry of Education, like the earlier mentioned certificates). This will increase their chances on the labour-market. The firm that is participating in the project will do what is within their powers to employ the participants of the course in regular jobs.

A "good practice"? Co-operation on local level between the different institutions and organisations
The project has been initiated at a local level. It is directed at the concrete problems which exists in Semily. It also shows that when different institutions co-operate, a comprehensive plan can be drawn up. Each organisation plays its part, and all the different aspects of a problem are thus addressed. For example, if the project were only directed at the reconstruction of houses, it would still leave Roma in the role of passive clients of the social system. They would get new houses - if the municipality had the money to contract a firm to do the reconstruction! - but would still be a community on the social periphery of Semily. In this project, housing, education and employment are addressed at once, without the project having become very complicated or difficult to manage. At the same time, this way of co-operation between majority and minority will only improve the relationship between these two groups. The organisations taking part in the project are the following:

Responsibility of all parties, including the local authorities and Roma
All parties need to be actively involved. This was a condition for starting a project like this, and it will be even more important when carrying it out. No party will have a passive role. The project was an initiative of the local Roma organisations, who took the first step. The local authorities also assumed their responsibility. In this way, the usual exchange of accusations (Roma: "The majority never does anything for us"; City: "It is the Roma's own fault that they are in the position as they are now") have been avoided. Active involvement of all sides will also provide better conditions for sustainability of the project.

Using existing structures to reach a common aim
The project also shows that a creative approach to a very complex problem does not necessarily include establishing new, complicated and often bureaucratic structures. The only new structure in this case is the earlier established Roma Committee. But even this committee is not isolated, but has a direct connection with the municipal structures and other institutions.

It also shows that, when there is goodwill, existing organisations and institutions can provide a lot of skills knowledge and experience in the course of solving these kind of problems.