Increasing access and participation of Roma students in secondary education and transition to labour market

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Thursday, 22 November 2018 14:48

The project "Increasing access and participation of Roma[1] students in secondary education and transition to labour market" is a regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by the Roma Education Fund (REF). NGO Young Roma is a national partner organization for implementation of this project in Montenegro.

Considering that this is a regional project, it is being implemented in other countries of the Western Balkans: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo[2], the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as in Turkey.

In cooperation with partners (Ministry of Education, Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Center for Vocational Education, The Bureau for Education Services, The Employment Bureau of Montenegro) NGO Young Roma will work on improving the school success and employability of Roma students attending secondary school. What this project aims to achieve is:

-          Increased completion rate of secondary school Roma students

-          Increased employment percentage of recent Roma secondary school graduates

-          Increased rate of Roma students who continued their education and enrolled in faculties

This will be achieved by providing financial support to students, providing mentoring, and by providing opportunities for practicing and gaining work experience after completing high school.

The planned duration of the project is three years. Within this period, during each school year:

-          50 students will receive scholarship

-          50 students will receive mentoring

-          12 students will have the opportunity to gain work experience and get internship opportunity

Main activities foreseen by the project are:

-          Announcing a public call for students and selecting students for scholarship

-          Meeting and signing contracts with recipients of scholarships

-          Announcing a public call for selection of mentors-professors who will support the Roma students

-          Organizing info-sessions where Roma students will be informed about the employment opportunities (in Podgorica, Niksić, one coastal town and one town in the north of Montenegro)

-          Organizing trainings where students will learn about developing the skills necessary to find a job

-          Organizing visits to employers in which those who have completed high school will be able to conduct internship for a period of 6 months

-          Selection of students who will get internship, follow-up practice

The project and the achieved results will be presented to stakeholders and the general public at two conferences that will be organized at the beginning and at the end of the project implementation.

[1]As it is most commonly used in EU policy documents and discussions, the term "Roma" refers to a variety of groups of people who describe themselves as Roma, Gypsies, Travellers, Manouches, Ashkali, Egyptian, Sinti and other without denying the specificities of these groups.   

[2] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence