Stay @ School: Action for Inclusion of Roma in Primary Education:
Objectives of the project:
- To enable equal access to education for Roma children, but also to motivate them to attend school on regular basis and pass their classes.
- To secure an inclusive learning environment that respects diversity and welcomes all children equally stimulating them to succeed.
Partner organisations
Implementers: Foundation Open Society – Macedonia in partnership with the Foundation for Educational and Cultural Initiatives “Step by Step” and the association Centre for Educational Support “Dendo Vas”.
Location:
Republic of North Macedonia
Duration:
October 2019 – October 2022
Project Activities:
Stipends:A total of 1545 stipends for 615 Roma pupils enrolled in the first, second and third grade will increase the number of Roma pupils in primary education by decreasing the financial burden related to school costs for the Roma families. The stipends are 400 Euros per annum per Roma pupil whose family receives social support. The renewal of the stipend depends on the regular attendance at school of the pupil as well as the level of success in passing from one grade to the other.
Supporting the Roma Community: Securing 60 assistants in the municipality mostly populated with Roma who will collaborate closely with the Roma families and the schools thereby helping in the process of identifying the children who are outside of the educational system, their enrollment in school, regular attendance of classes and successful passing to the following grade.
School Support: Providing grants to maximum 50 schools for implementing small projects that will inspire interaction and exchange of knowledge between pupils through games and joint participation in school activities, enabling transformation of the classroom into an inclusive environment attractive for learning and respecting diversities thereby encouraging the development of all children equally and implementing training for education and social justice for teachers and other professional school staff.
Educational and Motivational Campaign: As part of the project, several educational activities and distribution of material are planned, including an educational media campaign that aims at informing and encouraging Roma families to enroll their children at school, their regular attendance at school and promoting the general benefits of education on the future quality of the life of the children.
Key stakeholders and collaborators: The Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, local governments and schools.
Budget: 1 363 516 Euros
1 225 528 Euros from the European Union
137,988 – co-financed by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia
CSO_DIALOGUE – Platform for Structural Participation in EU integration:
Project goals:
- Enable meaningful and structured participation of civil society, which voices the citizens’ perspective, in order to influence key sector reforms in the EU accession process.
- To establish a platform that structures CSOs engagement in the public decision-making processes related to the EU accession process
- To strengthen the formal consultation mechanisms
- To increase the impact of civil society in the EU accession process
Time frame
April 2019 – April 2022
Implementer: Foundation Open Society – Macedonia
Partners: Eurothink, Reactor and Centar for Civic Communication
Expected outcomes:
- Increased amount of accessible and meaningful information on national consultative processes
- Increased (capacities for) civic engagement in public decision making processes
A formalized civil society networking mechanism - Increased transparency of the Formal consultation mechanisms
- CSOs representatives in the consultation mechanisms are better informed of the needs of the citizens
- Increased capacities of CSOs representatives from the three consultative mechanisms for effective advocacy and strategic planning
- A formalized civil society networking mechanism
- Increased impact of civil society over sector policies
Project Budget: 640.439 Euro
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15 January 2021