How did it go and how in the future

Thanks to the support of the Active Citizens Fund, we implemented the project Education as a way out of poverty, which was supported by the Active Citizens Fund (ACF). ACF is part of the financial assistance of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway to 15 member states of the European Union. ACF in Slovakia is managed by the Ekopolis Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Foundation and the Carpathian Foundation.

The goal of the project was to improve the position of vulnerable groups from marginalized Roma communities in four municipalities in eastern Slovakia through educational activities and leisure activities of children from Roma communities.

The total budget of the project is EUR 16,667, while ACF support amounts to EUR 15,000. The project was implemented in the period from July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

The pandemic closed schools, but thanks to our project, children were not left without education. 35 children were regularly involved in extracurricular educational activities that helped them prepare for classes during regular school days. During the corona crisis, they met in small groups in the community center or workers visited them in homes. Children mainly repeated basic knowledge and developed their skills in a fun way. We used the improvement of the pandemic situation to work more intensively with children so that they not only rest during the summer, but also improve their knowledge. For children from the village of Abranovce, in cooperation with OZ Horúci tim, we managed to create a Montessori classroom in which children discover new knowledge in a non-violent way. We also involved parents in the educational activities, who were present at some of the meetings, could watch how the workers attend to them and can work with the children at home in a similar way. One of our goals was also to improve relations between Roma and non-Roma children, to improve the perception of Roma communities by the majority society. That's why we organized several meetings where the children solved different tasks together, made soaps and magnets, presented their skills in musical and sports activities, went on a trip together and made new friends. 172 children participated in the regular activities of the project. Some of the activities continue even after the end of support from ACF, mainly thanks to the cooperation with OZ Horúci tim and the Greek Catholic Roma Mission.