Monthly Periodical of The Roma Inclusion Office

The Roma Decade in AP Vojvodina

No. 52, august 2015

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In the August issue you can find two interviews that analyze the results of the Decade of Roma with Vitomir Mihajlović, president of the Nation-al Council of Roma and Nenad Ivanišević, presi-dent of the Council for Roma Integration.

We found out about the biggest problems of Roma in the municipality of Ruma from talking to the Roma Coordinator.

Agreements on financing elementary school students were signed at the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality with municipalities, and we also present to you public works of the Secretariat’s Call, implement-ed by an association of Roma in Mokrin, where nine Roma citizens were hired for the works.

In this issue we bring you the story of the Petrović family from Beška, a single father of three sons who does everything in his power to provide a better life for his children.

We remind you that, thanks to the Research and Education Center and to the Preschool Teach-er Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac, you can read our publication in its electronic form at www.rec.org.rs/bilten/.

Your editorial staff

DEAR READER,

Founder and Publisher of the Periodical:The Roma Inclusion Office of the Govern-ment of AP Vojvodina

Editor in Chief: Duško Jovanović

Managing Editor:Aleksandra Mićić

The team:Dragana RajićAleksandra MićićTijana ČubriloLjiljana Maričić

Graphic design Associate: Tatjana Bošković

Correspondents:Ferenc KosoCoordinators for Roma issues of the AP VojvodinaIvana Koprivica

Translation into Romani:Nota Bene, Centar za prevođenje i učenje stranih jezika Novi Sad

Translation into English:Aleksandra Vranić

Technical Preparation and Printing:Lola preduzetništvo, Beograd,www.lolapreduzetnistvo.co.rs

Circulation:1000 copies

Address: Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 25, 21000 Novi SadTel: 021/488-17-23inkluzija.roma@gmail.comwww.inkluzijaroma.vojvodina.gov.rs

CIP - Cataloging in PublicationThe Matica Srpska Library, Novi Sad323.1 (=214.58)(=497.113)

The Decade of Roma in AP Vojvodina: Monthly Publication of the Roma Inclusion Office / Editor in Chief Duško Jovanović

-2011, No. 1 - Novi Sad: The Roma Inclusion Office of the Government of AP Vojvodina, 2011-.30 cm

Monthly. In Serbian, English and Romani language - In Romani printed in reverse

COBISS.SR - ID 261834759

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CounCil for roma integration

What are the tasks of the Council for the Improvement of Roma Position?One of the tasks is to

coordinate activities at the national level, as repre-sentatives of the Council are representatives of relevant ministries, primarily in ac-cordance with Agenda 2020, where we have defined ba-sic principles of the Euro-pean Union and the Strategy for Roma Inclusion. In addi-tion, the task of the Coun-cil is to, as the only organ in the true sense of the word, deal with Roma issues at the level of the Republic of Serbia through activities in ministries that are defined Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Education. The future of the Council is to, in accordance with EU requirements, and the needs, define the im-portant political figures that will co-ordinate activities. It will be people from the Council and the ministries and foremost, the Office for Human and Minority Rights. The Serbian government has designated Vice-President Zoran Mihajlović as the co-ordinator of all activities on the implementation of Roma-related issues in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Your performance as-sessment of the prior Decade?

I must say that I think that the Decade was suc-cessful, primarily because each result is better than no results. Serbia has cer-tain results. We will work on analysis, in detail, all sectors in order to deter-mine where the results were good. The part that relates to education is the most suc-cessful and that is the mark of both the European Com-mission and us. Some other segments have not had good results, such as the registra-tion of persons to the reg-ister, ie. documents that go through the Center for Social Work. Of course, we have certain issues in hous-ing and problems will remain until we resolve the issue of legalization of substandard Roma settlements. This is a real problem because the law on the legalization does not recognize the legaliza-tion of settlements but of objects, but it is important that we are able to open the question on it with the Ministry of Construction. We have the support of Mrs. Tanja Miščević, who is the chief negotiator, as well as the Office for the European integration and together we are involved in problem solv-ing. In this field, GIS helped us a lot on the latest project when they made a single da-tabase of substandard Roma settlements and that was the first time that we had a record on all the existing lo-

Interview with NeNad IvaNIševIć,

State Secretary in the Ministry of

Labor, Veteran and Social Affairs and President of the

Council for Roma integration

DECADE OF

SUCCESS

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CounCil for roma integration

cations. This will be one of the basic things in the adop-tion of laws or by-laws that should define the legaliza-tion or housing. Are state institutions involved sufficiently in the implementation of the Decade?

State institutions have been very involved because the definition of priorities defined roles of ministries, therefore the role of the Ministry of Health through the health mediators, the Ministry of State Administra-tion and Local Self-Govern-

ment was important for the RCs, but some local govern-ments do not recognize the need for a coordinator. I think it is not good because they are essential, primarily for communication of Roma with non-Roma population in any of the local governments

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InTERVIEw

and that the “cost” that ex-ists when hiring a person is much less than the problems that arise if that person does not exist. In Subotica, we have an excellent exam-ple where the local govern-ment adopted the budget for financing the activities of the RC and that’s great. We had the establishment of the Council for Intereth-nic Relations in the terri-tory of local communities. I think these are examples to be followed, and it is there-fore necessary that all local government decide on coor-dinators who will be dealing with Roma issues and will be Roma. The Republic of Ser-bia extended the Dec-ade. Why is it impor-tant?It is important because

we have good results and we want to show that Serbia is working on the integration of Roma, not because it is an obligation in the EU ac-cession process, but because Serbia is an open society and I think that the integration of all of its citizens who are not involved in the inclusion is necessary, regardless of their ethnic community or sexual orientation. For Roma people, the extension of the Decade is of course very im-portant. We’ll make sure that more children enroll in schools, at universities. In addition, we need to in-troduce the system of state

administration of health mediators, because they are still being financed through projects. In addition to Serbia, in which countries has there been an exten-sion of the Decade?All Western Balkan coun-

tries are involved, except for Slovenia, as in the previous Decade, except that Turkey was invited as an observer. What are the funds earmarked for its im-plementation (from the local to the republic level)?What we were suggested

by the European Commission is that Serbia can count on the amount of 50 000 000 euros for quality projects concerning Roma inclusion. We already have projects for Roma inclusion through IPA projects through the Minis-try of Labor, Veteran and So-cial: IPA 2013 and IPA 2014 in the amount of 1 500 000 eu-ros, but it’s important that as soon as possible we adopt the Strategy, implying aris-ing action plans and then we can define concrete projects and withdraw funds. Now, without a strategic docu-ment and no action plans we cannot count on resources. It will be at the national lev-el, the Strategy aims to take as much down to the local level, as far as the realiza-tion, that we can get to as many people and improve their living conditions.

What is it that you expect from the next decade, and what will change for it to be suc-cessful?I expect better results

than the last on, to maybe, at some point conclude that high school becomes com-pulsory for all citizens, and to increase the number of people with secondary edu-cation in accordance with Agenda 2020, because this is very important. Educa-tion is the fundamental way out of poverty. If you have uneducated citizen, regard-less of nationality, they are destined in most cases to deal with low-paid jobs and, therefore, not be materially satisfied. To what extent do you expect support from in-ternational institutions for the implementation of the Decade?We already have the sup-

port of the European Com-mission, shown by a seminar organized every two years and where Mr. Paquet was present. So, it is only nec-essary to define good and sustainable projects. It is important that we all know what our goal is and then I think the support of inter-national institutions will not fail. In fact, the strategy could not be imple-mented in full measure because there were no funds in the state in-

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InTERVIEw

stitutions. In what way will the state be forced to plan budget lines for financial strategies?Each ministry has a cer-

tain part of its budget, which defines the state ac-tivities relating to vulner-able groups, particularly the Roma community. The Government will adopt the Strategy, and I hope the Re-publican Assembly as well. We managed for the Deputy Prime Minister to be respon-sible for coordinating Roma issues. If the Office for Hu-man and Minority Rights, the Council and the Office for European Integration jointly embark on the implemen-tation of the Strategy, the Strategy will not remain just a dead letter. As president of the Council, I will do every-thing to make it come alive. For Decade to be more suc-cessful, it was sublimated to only four areas, not nine or eleven, as was proposed. It is time that we all realize that Roma integration is a common interest. Inclusion of Roma in Serbian society is not the Roma issue but the Serb issue, which means that Serbian society needs to respond to the request of the Roma to be integrated into the society. What were the draw-backs of the old strat-egy?Drawbacks were that

it covered many areas, the lack of definition as to who

is responsible for the imple-mentation of strategies and mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Strategy. I think that the strategy needs to be more precise, to know the meas-urable units for implemen-tation and to know who is defined for its implementa-tion. If we know that, then the strategy will succeed. What is the budget allocated to Roma for this and the previous year by ministries?At the moment we sent

letters to the ministries, to identify resources that will be dedicated to Roma. We know that our Ministry pro-vided almost 3 000 000 euros through international pro-jects. Also, through affirma-tive employment measures the National Service provid-ed funds for Roma. So, those are the details for our Min-istry, and for the others we hope to know in about ten days. The fact is there are not many employed Roma in the relevant ministries. Is the Council prepared to raise this is-sue because it is evident that there are a signifi-cant number of young and highly educated Roma who are jobless?At this point in our min-

istry, we have four advisers of Roma nationality doing an excellent job, thanks to the OSCE and other interna-

tional organizations. We are now solving employment of advisors whose contracts ex-pire together with the Min-istry of State Administration and Local Self-Government. It is necessary to solve this problem because we have to have Roma in our ministry in charge of Roma Inclusion because no one knows bet-ter their problems than they do to. Thus, only Roma know how their compatriots think and they give us guidelines that are very valuable. This year, the num-ber of Roma students admitted through af-firmative action was again reduced, because of the complicated pro-cedures for the issuance of certificates of nation-ality. What is your com-ment? Who can deter-mine whether someone is Roma or not?Unfortunately, my com-

ment is the general state of society, and that is pov-erty. We need to define the mechanisms that will solve it. I still think that the Na-tional Council is the address that should define measures of positive discrimination. I do not know how we’ll han-dle it, perhaps by typing in a central voter register, which is a measure of people who declare themselves as Roma, but in any case we must in-crease the number of Roma students.

Ljiljana Maričić

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Provincial Government

AGREEMEnTS FOR THE EDUCATIOn OF ROMA ELEMEnTARY SCHOOL STUDEnTS In VOJVODInA SIGnED

Vice President of the Pro-vincial Government and the Provincial Secretary for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality, Miroslav Va-sin, signed the agreements with representatives of 14 lo-cal governments in Vojvodina, intended for non-repayable funding for supporting the ed-ucation of Roma children from 5th to 8th grade of elementary school.

The value of the Call is 2,000,000.00 dinars, and total of 1,565 Roma children in our province will have benefits in education, thanks to the fact that their local governments applied for these funds.

In this program, local gov-ernments who applied for this type of assistance participate with half of the funds: Bela Crk-va, Kovin, Kikinda, Pećinci, Sub-otica, Ruma, Žitište, Odžaci, Srbobran, Plandište, Bač, Bački Petrovac, Ada and Senta.

Vice President Vasin, during the signing of these agreements in the Provincial Government,

thanked the representatives of local governments in our re-gion who are able to recognize the importance of this compe-tition, which should provide for exemptions in the educa-tion of Roma students in their communities.

“It is certain that this money, which makes a mod-est amount, serves its purpose and that the number of Roma children, who could be includ-ed in this amount, will get the chance to get new textbooks and school supplies, which will facilitate their entry into the next class in this school year. It is the pleasure to follow the events of the Sector for improving the Roma Position, because they achieve great ef-fects in competitions with lit-tle funds. Overall, the quality of our Secretariat is not to give large subsidies, because we do not have great resources at our disposal, but we try to use these resources in the most ra-tional way. As early as the first half of this year, over 800 small

and medium enterprises, micro enterprises, civic associations and non-governmental organi-zations used some of our sub-sidies Secretariat. Among them are the organizations that have used tenders for public works in the framework of the Roma ethnic community, creating jobs for Coordinators for Roma issues, as well as this one of to-day, whose effects are signifi-

Signing the contracts

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Provincial Government

cantly greater than the amount of funds intended, which is the largest preciousness of these effects”, said Vice President Vasin on this occasion.

Vice President Vasin pointed out that this modest amount is also the message of the provincial governments to want to help, and that this is possible even when resources are smaller. “This is a wise way

to invest, because it is easy when you have great resources at your disposal, but the right skills is to make art with small amounts of money. On the oth-er hand, we are sending the message that the local govern-ments who have applied for this help realized the impor-tance of having assistance for children from the most vulner-able ethnic community. At the

same time, this is an invitation for others to join this action”, said Miroslav Vasin.

Director of the Roma Inclu-sion Office, Duško Jovanović, expressed his satisfaction that, as he pointed out, the Roma issue transcended the borders of Serbia and that even within the EU, the Roma issue is un-der priority in the sense that it is a community that is on the brink of existence. Therefore, the efforts made by the EU to change the position of the Roma community are signifi-cant, noted Duško Jovanović on the occasion. He noted that education is a particularly im-portant factor for the Roma and stressed that only an edu-cated man can now be compet-itive on the labor market and find their place in society and thanked the local governments that have shown understand-ing and recognized this fact of paramount importance for the Roma population.

www.vojvodina.gov.rs

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NatioNal CouNCil

Interview with VITOMIR MIhajLovIć,

president of the Inter-Ministerial

Group for Strategy and

President of the national Council

of the Roma national minority

A nEw STRATEGY FOR IMPROVInG THE ROMA POSITIOn IS COMInG SOOn How do you rate the success of the completion of the Decade of Roma?It’s a very difficult question

to answer. On one hand, there are objective and subjective reasons why Decade failed; on the other hand, my opinion is that there are no visible re-sults. There are other opinions, by some NGOs, who worked on projects and were financed by certain international organiza-tions that funded the Decade

and therefore were successful for them. The Roma national community has not felt pros-perity and there are no results, except in the area of educa-tion that we have launched in-dependently to the Decade in 2003 as the National Council of the Roma national minority. So we can say that the Decade is the least successful project that has ever been carried out in Serbia and in general in South East Europe.

Has there been im-provement in some areas of the Decade?We had achievements in

the field of education and health, when we involved ped-agogical assistants and medical mediators. That is only measur-able and visible. At that time, the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights managed the Strategy and the Office for the implementation of the Strat-egy for Roma existed in the

Vitomir Mihajlović

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NatioNal CouNCil

Ministry. Head of the Office and other employees pressured the ministries to implement action plans. Working groups were formed in all ministries for the management of the Strategy. Unfortunately, when it came to new elections, the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights was shut down and the Office for the implementation of the Strategy was dismantled, and the Decade has not had any vis-ible results since then. How will the new Strat-egy for Improving the Status of Roma differ from the old one?The Government of the

Republic of Serbia will have to provide a model for Strat-egy management. We will most likely adopt a model that pro-vides creation of the Agency or an independent body that will govern the Strategy, and that the will Agency provide the Fund for the implementation of the Strategy. We hope to be able to do something big for the Roma national minority and for Serbia to take advantage of the situation because of the negotiation to join the EU, so in that regard, in Section 23 Roma are specifically emphasized. How many students en-roll each year through af-firmative action?Affirmative measures were

launched in 2003 and were ap-praised as the best affirmative measures undertaken in Serbia. Every year we enroll about 300 students at high schools and universities, and from 750 to

1000 students in high school and thanks to this Instruction that was developed by the Min-istry. To 2010, we did not limit the number of students who could enroll through affirma-tive action. But then there is the problem that the possibility of payment of tuition fees for students who have not entered to the budget. This puts them on a regular student lists and then are not entitled to receive neither scholarships nor dormi-tories. It is not our purpose to pay tuition to someone, but to create conditions for a scholar-ship that a student could study peacefully. Then we managed to get a quota of 2% of the stu-dents on a budget who enroll in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, together with persons with disabilities. We accepted this solution because we had nowhere to go. How would you solve the problem of abuse of affirmative action stu-dents who are not Roma, but declare themselves to be to enter the desired college?This year we got the new

Instruction, without the partic-ipation of National Council. In consultation with the faculties we decided that students who want to enroll with affirma-tive measures, have to declare themselves as Roma are on the application form. In this way we prevent that someone sud-denly becomes Roma when you do not enroll in the Budget on 15 July, when are the outputs

of the final ranking. We had a problem in the last three-four years, when some members of the majority population or oth-er ethnic minorities who were not able to enroll in college, declared themselves as Roma, in order to be able to do so. They apply at the municipality that are members of the Roma community, and receive a cer-tificate and enroll. Unfortu-nately, we were there helpless. We tried to work together with the Ombudsman to prevent this abuse. However, the Ombuds-man and the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection stood in our way that we should not discriminate against others who wish to declare themselves as Roma. This year, we were able to perform this control because it is in the Instruction, which the Ministry forwarded the colleges, which said that all the students, when submitting documentation should submit a special declaration where they declare themselves as Roma, as well as a recommendation that can only be received from the Council of the Roma national minority. In this way we ensure that all students must come to offices that are authorized by the Council, to see them and if they had nothing to do with the Roma community they would not receive the recommenda-tion. So we have reduced the number of “false” students who enroll with affirmative measures. We have given trust to offices in other municipali-ties in Serbia, as prospective

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NatioNal CouNCil

students would not have to come to Belgrade. I think we will in that regard accept the condition with the Rector and the Minister of Education, and will do the new Regulation and Guidance by the end of the year with representatives of the National Council, so I hope that thereby the abuse will be completely removed. Our problem is that we do not have information on how many stu-dents applied this year, but just how many of them received

the recommendation - 150 for the whole of Serbia and 40 in Vojvodina. The novelty we in-troduced from this school year is student monitoring and help-ing with problems during study-ing. The person conducting the monitoring will be a professor at a particular faculty, and in high schools those will be our

Council members who will give us the information on the suc-cess of students in each quar-ter. By this we want to increase the number of students who finish school. We often brag on the number of students who enroll, and we do not know how many of them graduated and we will work on it to cre-ate a database. Roma language with ele-ments of national culture as a course is taught only in Vojvodina. What about

the other parts of Serbia? When do you expect to open this question?That is right, this course

has been studied since 1995. We tried to do that in Serbia in 2013/14 in the way that we surveyed 8000 parents who gave consent for their children to learn the Romani language.

However, it was not enough for the Ministry to open 400 de-partments in Serbia, justifying the fact that there is no money in the budget for their salaries, because it was necessary to hire 40 teachers. This year it will not be the case and it is quite certain it will be in the whole of Serbia. Not because of political will but because of the pressure on the Ministry, since Roma are the only minority group that did not exercise their constitu-tionally guaranteed legal right

to study their mother tongue with elements of national cul-ture. In this context, we have opened the Instructorship with the Faculty of Philology in Bel-grade. This is the path toward opening the department. We are in discussions with the Dean of the Faculty, to directly open the department there. There

„When it comes to the Strategy, it is something that is the first and ba-sic document that has ever been made for the Roma ethnic community. We real-ize that without this document we do not have any discernible future vision of how to proceed. At the initiative of the OSCE, the Strategy for improving the Roma po-sition was implemented, which was origi-nally named the “Empowerment of the Roma ethnic community.” I was the advi-sor to the Minister of Human and Minor-ity Rights, so we worked at the Office for

Human and Minority Rights. I organized working groups composed of representa-tives of certain ministries, civil society and members of the National Council. We worked for two years on this strat-egy and another year on the develop-ment of action plans, where the Ministry of Finance allocated funds, and in 2005 we embarked on the implementation of the Strategy. First, the National Council adopted this strategy, and gave it to the Government of the Republic of Serbia for adoption, which it adopted only in 2009. Then new action plans came about and

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NatioNal CouNCil

is good at the Dean’s Office to do that and I think we will do it, if not for this school year, for the next one surely. Also, what we are facing is to hire 30 members of the Roma commu-nity from the inside of Serbia who are already doing course for certification. The certifi-cate will be required for inclu-sion in the educational process of Roma, as teachers of the Romani language. The course is in progress, and is led by Pro-fessor Marija Aleksandrović.

Graduation is scheduled for 23 July, when will be the Certifi-cation. After that we go to the preparation of textbooks and most likely we will get the pro-ject from “EU Progress”, which will finance 30 000 textbooks for Roma pupils, as follows: a picture book for first grade, speller book for the second and

reading book for the third and fourth, as well as instructions for teachers so that we can welcome 2015/16 school year with the staff and textbooks. Privatization of the media has been extend-ed until October. What is the fate of the media in Serbia that broadcast programs in Romani lan-guage, and must be pri-vatized?We had a joint meeting

with the Prime Minister i.e. it

became operational after five years, the Republican Council for National Minorities, chaired by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. I was the representative of all the national councils, as the president, and directly spoke to him and just pointed to the lack of laws on the pri-vatization of minority media,

and that they should not enter into the process of privatiza-tion because hardly anyone will want to buy a minority me-dia since it is not commercial. Therefore, the fate of these media would be a shutdown. For this reason, they must be directly funded by the state. We indicated that to the Prime Minister and he ordered the Secretary of State of the Minis-try of Culture and Information to extend the deadline, which is why the extension exists. So

we have somehow saved the minority media, to prevent their privatization, and by Oc-tober we will solve this prob-lem that affects not only the Roma national community but also all other minority media.

Ljiljana Maričić

the Strategy gets a new name - Strategy for improvement of Roma Status and the Roma Decade from 2005 to 2015, which was on a smaller scale than the original of 130 pages. It contained 13 divisions and four priority areas: education, health, employment and housing. The first funds that were allocated were appropriate. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy set aside 130 million dinars and as not all funds were spent that year, so the fol-lowing year the Ministry allocated only 12 000 000, which is 10 times less. The Ministry of Health allocated 60 000 000

of which 30 000 000 was spent in the first year, and the rest was returned to the budget, and the following year they gave us 30 000 000. The Ministry of Education has never given information on how much money they had to implement the Strate-gy, and the Ministry of Housing, which has promised to do some 1000 apartments a year for members of the Roma national community awareness has never done a single apartment in the implementation of the Decade.”

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EmploymEnt

MIROSLAV VASIn VISITS PUBLIC wORKS CARRIED OUT BY THE ROMA ASSOCIATIOn "SRPSKI KRSTUR" IN NovI KNeŽevaC

Vice President of the Pro-vincial Government and Provincial Secretary for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality Miroslav Vasin, together with Dragan Babić, Mayor of Novi Kneževac and Duško Jovanović, director of the Roma Inclusion Office, visit-

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EmploymEnt

ed the site in Srpski Krstur with the ongoing works on the reno-vation of Roma settlement. For this purpose, the Province allo-cated 600,000 dinars to the mu-nicipality of Novi Kneževac, and people engaged in the imple-mentation of the Public Works are responsible for arranging Roma settlements and the en-vironment, in cooperation with local utility companies. Miro-slav Vasin particularly stressed

the importance of public works involving Roma NGOs, such as, in this case, the Association of Roma “Srpski Krstur”.

On this occasion, Vice President Vasin stressed the importance of public works on the territory of Vojvodina, for which the provincial govern-ment in 2015 allocated a total of 160,000,000 dinars, pointing out that by the conditions were created to engage a significant

number of unemployed people both with primary, secondary and higher education.

To improve the position of Roma, Dragan Babić, Mayor of Novi Kneževac and Ninoslav Jovanović, a representative of the Roma National Council for Vojvodina, signed an agree-ment on the involvement of a coordinator for Roma issues in the municipality, in order to ensure better communication

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EmploymEnt

The association “Urma” was founded in 2003, and the primary area of activity was the preservation and cultivation of the Roma heritage, through the tradi-tional gypsy dance and music performed by members of the cultural and artistic society. They had outstanding shows, performances and results. Over time, the number of members of the cultural-artistic society decreased, and the association has expanded the field of ac-tion to formal and informal ed-ucation, human rights, health, housing and cooperation with other Roma NGOs.

wORKInG FOR THE BEnEFIT OF THE wHOLE COMMUnITYThe Association of Roma from Mokrin, Urma, received funds at the competition of the Provincial Secretariat for Economy, Employment and Gender Equality for the execution of public works. On that occasion, Miodrag Veldi, president of the association, told us the details related to the execution.

between local institutions and members of the Roma popu-lation. “Thanks to the under-standing of the National Coun-cil and the Municipality of Novi Kneževac, as well as the Roma Inclusion Office, we found a way reinforce the function of coordinators for Roma issues. Since Roma coordinators estab-lish a connection between the local government, Roma and senior civil institutions, the

Roma national community will feel prosperity”, said Vasin. Ninoslav Jovanović praised the municipality of Novi Kneževac and pointed out that it is one of the few municipalities in Serbia, which has accepted the initiative of the National Coun-cil and in this way facilitates the presence of Roma in local government.

Ljiljana Maričić

As the ban on employment has been beneficial, it has as well brought damage because of lack of em-ployment opportunities for Roma coordinators, doctors, nurses, teachers and the requirements of the law should urgently be reconsidered, as it makes us lose the op-portunity to introduce Roma coordinators in the system of employment, to keep them indefinitely employed and fully affirm municipalities with Roma population.

Miroslav Vasin, vice president of the Provincial Government

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EmploymEnt

Public worksThis association received

720,000 dinars for salaries of employees and related taxes at the competition of the Secretar-iat, and was also co-financed by the local community of Mokrin with 125,000 dinars, which were used to purchase equipment and tools for the work. A total of nine workers for two months were recruited. Among them are people without elementary school who belong to the hard-to-employ category, as well as those with elementary and high schools, and even a worker with completed higher school. Work-ers are working on maintaining and restoring water permeable network in Mokrin, in order to prevent flooding and groundwa-ter resulting from atmospheric precipitation. Similar projects were already implemented: “Protecting the village Mokrin of high groundwater levels,” in 2009, “The reconstruction and construction of drains in Mokrin,” in 2010 and 2011.

The two-month work in-volved workers who were clean-ing passes, shafts and pedestrian omissions, cleaning and deepen-ing existing channels and car-ried away coarse soil and waste material that did not allow the water to flow freely through. In Mokrin, high rainfall may cause flooding of houses, but this was prevented by this action.

AcknowledgementsSince the association “Urma”

has been performing similar ac-tions for a couple of years, the

work has been successful, and the locals of Mokrin were very satisfied. The work they did was demanding, but in the end they could see the results. That is part of why the public works have been significant, and the other part lays in the fact that

the Roma are given the chance to work and provide financial re-sources for themselves and their families.

President of the Association expressed his gratitude to the Provincial Secretariat for Econ-omy, Employment and Gender Equality and the local commu-nity of Mokrin as they have sup-ported their idea and desire to work. These public works have unequivocally shown that the Roma in Mokrin want to work and make progress, not only for themselves but for the whole community. Miodrag Veldi be-lieves that there should be more of such actions, more Roma in-cluded and with a chance to work. In addition, a systematic and permanent solution should be found that will ensure a bet-ter competitiveness of Roma in the labor market and more op-portunities for employment.

Tijana Čubrilo

After all the work, everyone (both residents of Mokrin and the Roma who were given a chance to work) is satisfied and grateful, and this is the biggest indicator that the idea of public works was completed successfully and that it brought the desired results.

Miodrag Veldi

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PHOTO REPORT

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PHOTO REPORT

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Provincial institutions

OBJECTIVES OF SUSTAInABLE DEVELOPMEnT In SERBIAA roundtable entitled "Objectives of sustainable development" was held at the Vojvodina Assembly, organized by the Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Serbia (SRH Serbia), GIZ Serbia, Regional Program - Social protection and prevention of human trafficking in Serbia with the support of the Provincial Institute for Social protection. This was the first of a total of four round tables that will be held in Serbia.

The round table was at-tended by Rada Mitrović, Director of the Provin-cial Institute for Social Protec-tion, Stanislava Vidovic from GIZ, senior project manager and national coordinator for Serbia Dragana Stojanović, Executive Director of the SRH Serbia, Radomir Šovljanski, Advisor for Social Protection, Zlata Đerić, a member of par-liament. There were also rep-resentatives of other relevant institutions that contribute to defining and implementing the objectives of sustainable development in Serbia: Com-missioner for Equality, Provin-cial Ombudsman, Institute for Public Health of Vojvodina, National Employment Service, Roma Inclusion Office.

Objectives of sustainable development

The Objectives of Sustain-able Development (2016-2030) are a continuation of the Mil-lennium Development Goals (2000-2015), and aim to reduce social and economic inequalities among people. The intention is to achieve the basic precondi-

tions for the development of mankind, through economic de-velopment and empowerment, as well as through sustainability of all the resources. The current

proposal of the Open-ended Working Group of the General Assembly of the UN contains 17 basic goals of sustainable de-velopment and 169 sub goals.

Roundtable participants

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Provincial institutions

In defining sustainable develop-ment goals, the UN sought to ensure the participation of as many citizens worldwide to get a more realistic picture of the living conditions and problems of people from different coun-tries and different social and cultural groups.

The objectives incline to end poverty and hunger and the ac-cess to drinking water, ensure healthy living, inclusive and qual-ity education, gender equality, sustainable economic growth, the fight against climate change and conservation of nature. Spe-cial attention will be paid to the

sustainability of ecosystems and sustainable forms of consump-tion and production. One of the major goals is to ensure all people equal access to justice, through efficient, reliable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

As of September 2015, Ser-bia will align its development policy with the adopted sustain-able development goals of the United Nations. Government in-stitutions, NGOs, international donors, UN agencies, private sector and local authorities will be included in implementing the objectives of sustainable devel-opment and the creation of na-tional indicators.

Tijana Čubrilo

Sustainable development is a development that takes account of limited resources,

interconnectedness of the economy, society, culture and environment, as well as the right of all citizens, including future generations,

to participate in the development process and enjoy the benefits of development.

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Interview with darKo MarKovIć, Coordinator for Roma Issues for the municipality of Ruma

LACK OF FUnDInG FOR THE REALIZATIOn OF PLAnS FOR THE ROMA THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF ROMA COMMUnITY In RUMA Since when have you worked as a Coordinator for Roma Issues in Ruma?I have had the position of

Roma Coordinator since De-cember 22, 2014, and the Of-fice officially started running on January 16 2015. Was the position of Coordinators for Roma Issues included in the Systematization of Job Positions with local self-governments?There is a classification for

the job position of Roma Inclu-sion within local self-govern-ments. Does the Municipal budg-et encompass special fund-ing for the implementation of Roma related plans?For now, no funding was

planned for the implementa-tion of plans for the Roma in the Municipal budget. What is your coopera-tion with local self-gov-ernments, provincial and republic authorities? Cooperation is good, and

we hope that it will get even better in the future.

How do you get to the information needed for work? How do you im-prove your knowledge?I find the needed informa-

tion through health mediators, pedagogical assistants, as well as coordinators from other municipalities. In addition, my source of information also comes form government insti-tutions, such as the National Employment Service and the Center for Social Work. I im-prove my knowledge through various seminars, trainings and workshops. How does your typical working day look like?My working day starts at 7

am and lasts until 3 pm. Dur-ing that period, I have clients and am able to interact with people from my community, which is so inspiring. I go daily to the Center for Social Work to submit applications for allo-cation of short-term monetary assistance. If needed, I visit the field, talk about problems, and then I have the ability to understand the situation and the problems in the commu- Darko Marković

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LocaL seLf government

nity even closer, because I am at the center of issues. What type of problems do you encounter at work?Primarily, I encounter prob-

lems with financing, because no funding has been allocated in the budget, which is limit-ing me in a way, because I can-not achieve the level of help I would want to. Apart from fi-

nancing, I encounter problems with health, employment and housing. All those problems are actually barriers to be over-come in order for me to include the community in a better and more efficient way into the so-cial and public life sphere. What are your priori-ties and plans for this year?

The priority for this year is to achieve as many success and finding both problems and the effective solutions in the field of education, employment, housing and health. I also want to progress both on personal and professional field, as I be-lieve I will thus best contrib-ute to the development of my community.

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LocaL seLf government

Tell us something about the activities within the Roma Decade on the territory of your munic-ipality in the fields of: education, employment, housing, health and human rights.I tried to influence the implementation of as many

activities in the field of education, health, employment, housing, as well as achieving human rights, above all and then the rights of national minorities.

Regarding education, I have sought to contrib-ute to the staying of Romani children in schools through providing textbooks, school supplies, transportation to school, etc.

Regarding employment, I had an impact on em-ploying ten Roma nationals through a Call announced by the Municipality, and that was in the field. I educated the young Roma on how to write CVs, through what I wanted to contribute to their better social position.

I had solved housing matters of Romani families, where I influenced for them to be placed in social and municipal houses. In addition, I came up with solutions on many issues related to paying the bills, where I rec-ommended and pleaded the public utility companies to meet the needs of the unfavorable position of the Roma.

Could you tell us what are you particularly proud of in your work and what do you find to be your biggest success?Now when I look at the

fork that has been done so far, I realize I would not be able to single out only one thing I am proud of; to every situation, issue I solved, I accessed with the same passion and desire to solve it the best possible way. I am proud I stayed true to my-self and that I know I have so far done everything in my pow-er to solve the barriers. I will continue to vigorously fight in the same manner. A message for your fel-low Roma?Get your strength together

to improve our status! (Den tu-mari zor te ando jekhipe vazda amaro majlačhipe!)

Ljiljana Maričić

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Human rigHts

HATE GRAFFITI TOwARD THE ROMAIn the Vojvode Bojovića street in Novi Sad, a graffito appeared directed against the Roma community. A message of inappropriate content was written on it. Workers of the Greenery immediately removed the controversial graffito.

Director of the Roma In-clusion Office, Duško Jovanović, reacted to the writing of the graffiti and expressed concern that it happened right there, in Novi Sad, a city that has tradition-ally been a place of tolerance and multiculturalism. Accord-ing to Mr Jovanović, this is just the reflection of intol-erance in society. However, he considers that the stance written on the graffiti is not the attitude of the society as a whole, but of individuals. In addition, he stressed the necessity of official institutions to react and punish the perpetrators. Jovanović emphasized that the educational system needs to work on educating young people in order to prevent such events in the future. The solution is not only to penalize those who wrote the graffiti, but to find a systemic solution for the society, and that takes time and hard work.

Tijana Čubrilo

Hate messages were unacceptable and should not be neglected, we should react to them and make them all gone.

Foto

: Ra

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: Ra

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Life story

HEART FOR CHILDREn – RADIŠA: OUR FRIEnDS wILL COME OVER nOw"We are the happiest children in the world, because we will not take baths in a wooden washtub, but in a proper bathroom," Duško Jovanović, a straight-A student was thrilled.

Thanks to the humanitari-an action “Heart for Chil-dren” and the town of Sremska Mitrovica, the joy had returned to the home of a sin-gle mother Vida Jovanović and her nine children in the settle-ment of Modran in Mačvanska Mitrovica.

Children’s happiness knew no bounds when they saw guests from “Blic Foundation”, who came with the city leaders to congratulate them on mov-ing into a renovated house.

With joint funds of the “Blic Foundation” and the town of Sremska Mitrovica, a ten-member family Jovanović got a bathroom, and two bedrooms and a kitchen were renovated. A smallish house was plastered and new windows and doors were placed.

“This is an immense happi-ness for my children and me! Thank you good people who have enabled us a better life. We trembled in fear of snow and wind and of house not to

collapse”, says Vida Jovanović.Although living in pover-

ty, Spomenka (4), Jovan (3), Dragić (7) Daša (17), Darko (21), Duško (12), Radiša (13), Dejan (15) and Aleksandar (11) are extremely cultural and well brought up children. “Ever since I can remember, we bathed in the wooden washtub, during summer in the yard, during winter in the kitchen, because is was the only warm place. New bathroom especial-ly means a lot to me because of

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Life story

my baby, Nebojša, a two week old”, says Daša, who recently returned to her parents’ home.

The children are squeaking and squealing of joy because

of the new rooms. Duško and Radiša, excellent students of the elementary school “Do-brosav Radosavljevic - Narod” in Mačvanska Mitrovica, as-

“Heart for Children”

is the largest humanitarian action in Serbia and we will always answer the call for help for children who do not have a happy childhood”, said Mayor Branislav Nedimović, who distributed

packages of school supplies, food, sweets and toys to the

jovanović family.

sure us they will no longer feel ashamed to welcome friends to their home.

“Everything was rotten, wet and would fall off the ceiling at us while we would be asleep. Who would invite school friends there? I avoided going to their homes when they called me because I was not able to invite them back here. Everything is fixed now and in the future I will make a birth-day party and invite my friends home”, proudly says Radiša.

“I study very hard to pro-vide my family a better future. I feel sorry for my mother who raised us in poverty and is still struggling. When I finish school and get a job, I’ll buy her all new appliances”, says Duško.

www.blic.rs

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Life story

MUSIC FOR A BETTER TOMORROwChildren's hubbub and music are ever-present in the home of the four-member Petrović family from Beška. However, behind this seemingly idyllic story lays a story of hard life and huge efforts of a single father to provide quality life to his children, as well as the effort of his children to help him along that path. Still, despite all the adversity, this is a story of a family full of love, enthusiasm and desire for improvement.

Petrović family is an example of genuine parental devotion and care for children. when Dragan speaks of his sons, immense love is felt in his voice and look, but as well as a glimpse of concern and fears of things to come. However, with their harmony and love for music, we hope that what comes gets better than anything that had happened so far.

Family Petrovic

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Life story

When Dragan Petrović became a single father eight years ago, he realized there is no time for mourning, but that he must work even harder so he could provide his children a decent living. He had to learn to do all the chores around the house and to help his sons with school. Dragan has three sons: Radovan, Dejan and Dragan. Dejan and Dragan are in elementary school, while Radovan starts high school in September in Inđija. As he says, they help him a lot, are hardworking and good boys, which gives him incentive not to succumb under the problems, but to press ahead and continue to fight, to provide his children a better future.

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Life story

The desire for musical education

None of them is a trained musician, all are pitch-perfect, but that does not prevent them from enjoying the music and amusing the audience. Dragan wanted to enroll the eldest, Radovan, in music school, but this was not possible because he does not possess the theoretical knowledge. Outstanding hearing is present, and the desire, but it was not enough. They tried take private lessons, but it was just too expensive for the family budget. It would be a shame if only because of the financial difficulties of the three boys are left without music education, and therefore way has to be found to help them. So far all they have learned, they taught themselves, and they learned a lot. It is certain that they would have a faster and better progress with the professional help and would achieve their full potential.

The importance of education

Dragan admits that it was difficult for chil-dren to juggle school, studying and performances.

Hours of practicing and learn-ing new compositions should be

added to the list. However, Dra-gan Petrović did not allow that his

children neglect school for playing and all three were good students.

Music is their craft, a way to earn a living as their father taught them,

although he wants something more for them. He wants them to be edu-

cated people who will accomplish great things in life. Primarily, he wants them

to be honest, hardworking and responsi-ble people.

The beginnings

The family’s only steady income comes from so-cial assistance and child allowances, and as that is not enough, Dragan had to find an ad-ditional source of income. Jobs were hard to find, so he started to do what he only knew - to play. His sons showed interest in music and learned to play from an early age. That is how the Petrovićs started a band and started playing at fairs, vil-lage Slavas, but also for celebrations, baptisms and weddings. Music has become their source of income, a way to provide some funding for life. Dragan told us that it was very difficult in the beginning, but he realized that was the only way to make additional income. That is why all four of them dressed in suits, packed their instruments and sat down in the car and drive to places where they would play.

Tijana Čubrilo

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Media

PUBLICATIOn "MInORITY MEDIA - GEnERATInG CAPACITY"

Provincial Secretary for Cul-ture and Public Information, Slaviša Grujić, attended the presentation of the publication “Minority media - generating ca-pacity,” published by the “Heror Media Pont”. This publication came about from a regional con-ference that was dedicated to the media in languages of na-tional minorities. The confer-ence was jointly organized by a daily newspaper in Hungarian language “Magyar Szo”, “Heror Media Pont” and the Centre for the Development of minority and local media.

Rozália Ekres, director of the newspaper “Magyar Szo” ex-plained the extinction of minority media would impoverish the cul-ture of the majority of the peo-ple, and that they are trying to find adequate answers to all the challenges that are before us: the era of digitalization, when elec-tronic media relentlessly threat-en the press and when minority populations are dramatically be-ing reduced. Ekres added that to survive, we must work together, actively and with help.

Slaviša Grujić said that it is more than important that mi-nority media join, especially in Vojvodina, as a multi-ethnic en-vironment in order for them to secure the best possible work-ing conditions. “Radio-Television of Vojvodina performs its public

The new media laws access this area in a new way, following

European trends and approaches to practices that have long dominated

in Europe. Councils of national minorities will continue to play a key

role in this process when it comes to the functioning of the media in

minority languages. Existing legislation pertaining to national minorities provides the opportunity to their

Councils to financially support media companies that produce media content

in minority languages. However, this option includes an obligation to

ensure the editorial and programming independence of the media and allow journalists to make the media content

for minority communities.

Source: "Minority media - generating capacity"

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Media

Academy for Media Management

Academy for Media Management was cre-ated by a media con-sulting company “Gi-acomelli media” from Ljubljana. Through a partnership with the Centre for the Develop-ment of minority and local media and media agency “Heror Media Pont”, it was designed to meet the needs of minority and local me-dia in Serbia and the region. Our intention is to develop this pro-gram and apply it to the Western Balkans region, creating a new reality, which corresponds to modern trends of the media industry, while taking into account the specifics of the envi-ronment in which me-dia operate and create content. The program is based on a large num-ber of case studies, ex-amples of good and not so good practice, dia-logue between the par-ticipants and practical creative workshops.

service function, but it is very important that at the local level there are media outlets that will represent the inter-ests and inform the national community locally. It is essen-

tial that these media do ex-ist, they have stable funding and to inform citizens about what is important, not only in their but also in other nation-al communities.“

Presentation of the publication

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Media

Natasa Heror, executive director of the “Heror Media Pont”, pointed out that this publication could serve as a guideline in the work of others. She also announced a fourth

consecutive regional confer-ence dedicated to the media in minority languages called “Developing media brands. Are we ready for the experi-ment?”, which will be held on

November 5, 2015 in Belgrade. In addition to presenting the publication, the establishment of the Academy for Media Man-agement was announced.

Ljiljana Maričić