Roma Education Fund

Roma Education Fund
Founded May 12, 2005
Founder George Soros
World Bank
Type Non-profit organization
Location
Key people
 Judit Szira, Director
Website www.romaeducationfund.org

The Roma Education Fund (REF) is a non-governmental organization established within the framework of the Decade of Roma Inclusion by George Soros and the World Bank in 2005.[1][2] The organization's goal is to reduce the educational achievement gap between Roma and non-Roma in Europe through the provision of scholarships to Romani students, and the support of policies and programs which ensure quality education for Roma, including the desegregation of education systems.[3]

History

In July 2003, a conference "Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future", co-financed by the Open Society Institute, was held in Budapest. The conference resolved to establish the Decade of Roma Inclusion and the Roma Education Fund. In December 2014 an international donors conference was held in Paris. Approximately 34 million Euros was pledged, including operations transferred from the Open Society Institute. On 12 May 2005, the Roma Education Fund was registered as a Swiss Foundation and started operating with its office in Budapest. On 17 February 2006, the Roma Education Fund was also registered as Hungarian Foundation.[4]

Objectives

The primary objectives of the Roma Education Fund are:

  1. Ensuring access to quality education through the involvement of parents in the educational process, initiatives to reduce early school leaving, and the provision of educational materials to students in need.
  2. Improving educational quality through curriculum development and reform, anti-bias and tolerance teaching, the training of school mediators, and curriculum reform.
  3. Implementing integration and desgeregation programs for Roma students coming from segregated or special schools and classrooms into the mainstream education system.
  4. Improving access to preschool education for young Roma students through informational campaigns, assistance in the registration process and by working with students' parents to promote the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC).
  5. Increasing access to secondary and post-secondary education through the provision of scholarships and advice to secondary school students.[5]

Programs

Grants

The Roma Education Fund provides grants for governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Decade of Roma Inclusion countries, including small technical assistance (TA) and capacity-building grants to support the implementation of ongoing projects in the field of Roma education. In 2012, REF financed 50 new grants in support of the implementation of projects in 13 countries for a total amount of EUR 2,573,810.

REF’s Reimbursable Grants Program provides support to Romani non-governmental organizations in accessing European Union Structural Funds and other associated funds. The organization provides a monetary advance to organizations that have been awarded grants from EU sources in order to allow them to avoid the delays in the disbursement of funding. Since 2006, REF has supported 38 non-governmental organizations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to mobilize EUR 29,298,130 with a contribution of EUR 657,146.[6]

Research by UNICEF in 2010 examining Roma inclusion initiatives in Central and South-Eastern Europe positively evaluated REF-funded projects in Bulgaria and Macedonia as good practices in desegregation and educational inclusion.[7]

Scholarships

The Roma Education Fund Scholarship Program provides financial and academic support to Romani students in 12 countries of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. In addition to providing financial aid, the scholarship program incorporates counselling and tutoring for students to support their education.[8] REF offers four academic merit-bases scholarships: Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP), Roma International Scholar Program (RISP), Law and Humanities Program (LHP), and Roma Health Scholarship Program (RHSP). These scholarship schemes support Romani students pursuing Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate degree programs. Through its four scholarship schemes, REF awarded 1,504 scholarships for a total of EUR 2,110,338 for the 2012–2013 academic year.[6]

A Good Start

The "A Good Start" Project (AGS) began in June 2010 with the financing of the European Parliament and the Roma Education Fund. The project was implemented by REF in cooperation with three international partners: the International Step by Step Association (ISSA), the Fundacion Secretariado Gitano, and the Slovak Governance Institute(SGI) as well as 12 local partners. The project's primary objective was to expand access to quality early childhood education and care for disadvantaged Romani and non-Romani children and to raise early childhood development outcomes for these children, so as to enhance their school readiness and subsequent life opportunities. It was implemented in 16 localities in the European countries of Macedonia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.[9]

The two-year project saw a number of results including:

Role in European Court of Human Rights cases

The Roma Education Fund has played a role in a number of cases pertaining to education in the European Court of Human Rights. In 2007, research and observations by the Roma Education Fund were cited in the decision of the landmark case of D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic concerning the discrimination of Romani children in the Czech educational system.[10] REF noted the high incidence of placing children into special schools in the Czech Republic compared with other Central and Eastern European countries, the lack of a national definition of "disability" in countries within the region, and the negative effects of special schools on educational achievement.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Europe needs a Roma working class
  2. ↑ "Poor and Unloved". The Economist. February 3, 2005. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Gardner, Andrew. "EU budget needs Roma provisions". European Voice. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  4. ↑ History of REF
  5. ↑ "REF in One Page". Roma Education Fund. Roma Education Fund. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Roma Education Fund Publications. Roma Education Fund. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Towards Roma Inclusion: A Review of Roma Education Initiatives in Central and South-Eastern Europe" (PDF). UNICEF. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  8. ↑ Schuetze, Christopher (7 July 2013). "Keeping Roma Students in High School". New York Times. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  9. ↑ Towards an Equal Start (PDF). World Bank. 2012. p. 56.
  10. ↑ Thorpe, Nick. "Roma welcome anti-segregation ruling". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "Case of D.H. and Others v. the Czech Republic". European Court of Human Rights. Retrieved 17 June 2013.

Further reading

External links