Serbia

Sites of the project

National Level External Evaluation (2005)

Implementing partners

• Centre for Interactive Pedagogy (CIP)
  E-mail: ciip-milena@sbb.co.yu
  Contact person: Milena Mihajlovic
• Society for the Improvement of Roma Settlements
  E-mail: drustvor@Eunet.yu
  Contact person: Alexandra Mitrovic
• Roma Educational Center (REC)
  E-mail: rec_ni@yahoo.com
  Contact person: Refika Mustafic
• Roma Information Center (RIC)
  E-mail: ricoffice@ptt.yu
  Contact person: Rozalija Ilis
• Association of Roma Students
  E-mail: romanistudent@yahoo.com
  Contact person: Dorde Jovanovic
• Association for Educational Improvement (DUO)
  Contact person: Jasmina Markovic
  E-mail: jasminab@Eunet.yu
• Roma NGO "Ponos"
  Phone: +381 18 368 877
  Contact person: Dragutin Lazic
• Center for Minority Rights (Roma NGO)
• Roma NGO Association of Roma and Serbian Friendship Stablo - Kragujevac
• Association Rom Said Balis (Roma NGO)
• Yugoslav Center for Minority Rights
• Yu Roma Center (Roma NGOs Osman Balic)- Nis

For detailed information on REI partners, please visit the PARTNERS section of this website!


Roma Leaders

Refika Mustafic
Rozalija Ilic
Aleksandar Spasic
Emilija Ilic
Osman Balic
Petar Antic
Milan Petrovic
Anica Zekovic

Project information

REI Serbia was founded in September 2002 and began implementation immediately. In the 2004-2005 year, the project operated as follows:

Number of Sites - 2 (Nis and Kragujevac)
Number of schools/preschools -14
Number of children- 5,255
Number of Roma children - 933

The major implementing partners are Fund for an Open Society - Serbia and Center for Interactive Pedagogy (CIP). At the national level, the model includes the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, while at the local levels, major implementing partners include the Roma Education Centre (Nis), the Roma Information Center (Kragujevac), and the Association of Roma and Serbian Friendship (Kragujevac)

As part of the Serbian model, the importance of working to develop policy documents, partnering with experts and other institutions, cooperating with the Roma community at all levels, as well as using quality methodologies and action planning are all highlighted.

When asked about the most significant project elements, the Serbian team spoke about the importance of seeing REI as a system or "a whole." They mentioned that they would now start with school improvement and action planning, as they did with secondary schools. In addition, they explained that their model shows "how the third sector can collaborate with institutions and government and have everyone work together."

Project Summary

The initiative is being implemented in an extremely positive political context: the government and NGO sectors, the Roma and non-Roma communities, as well as the donor community are ready to work together on defining a national strategy for making education more accessible to Roma children and youth.

The project is to be implemented at three levels - national, local and community levels by the creation of models that have the potential of realizing the efficient inclusion of Roma children into the educational system.

Work at the national level envisages forming an expert group by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Welfare, which will expand the existing strategic document on the development of education in Serbia with a section that responds to the specific educational needs of the Roma community and the strategy of providing accessibility for Roma children and youth.

Work at the local level envisages forming two local teams consisting of representatives of the local authority, educational institutions and the non-governmental Roma and non-Roma sectors. The local teams will work in two Serbian towns with a large concentration of Roma, but with different local contexts, in view of the general situation of Roma. Additional training is planned for the team members, in order to formulate short-term, urgent measures, and long-term measures of formulating local educational policy and its harmonization with the national policy, by September 2003.

The project works on the community level by relying on existing programs for the creation of a unified educational model of support to Roma children from pre-school to university age. It will support pre-school community based initiatives, develop elementary school institutions for working on educational projects and their implementation; develop new programs of support for children of high-school age; increase the role of educational centers in the Roma community and forms of non-institutional help for Roma children; increase the number of Roma teaching staff through the continuous monitoring and education of grant-receiving students of educational vocations.  The project also places special emphasis on developing the capabilities of Roma teaching staff, as well as on making the university staff of teachers' training faculties more sensitive to the problems of educating Roma children and youth.

The programs will be carried out in Nis and Kragujevac, in cooperation with Roma and non-Roma organizations, educational institutions and local authorities. Implementing partners have already developed programs in these towns, which are being carried out very successfully, and they cooperate with educational institutions, which have slowly began to deal with the needs of Roma children.

Photo section of the project

REI Project Model - Serbia (Powerpoint presentation)