ALENModel of implementation and

results in Hungary

Belgrade, 31 January 2013

This project is supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-2013

The place where we are working

The place where we are working II.

• Small city in the Easter part of Hungary (close to the Ukrainian boarder

• Segregated Roma settlement • Around 400 inhabitants – at least 90% of them are

Roma• 10 people have legal jobs• Low access to public services, the city center is

appr. 10 km-s away• Very bad housing conditions

Youngsters we are working with

• 15 people (very little drop-out!)• Between age of 15 and 25• 7 still in public education – 3 are „private pupils”• None of them has finished secondary school• 8 are unemployed without any social assistance

and/or have temporary or „black” jobs• Living in deep poverty

The team we are working with

• Two mentors (members of the community)• A mentor coordinator and supervisor• A drama teacher• Trainers• External evaluator• Volunteers• Management and coordination staff

Methods and main activities

• Individual mentoring (from February 2012)– Regular individual meetings (working on individual

development plans)– Weekly/two-weekly group meeting– Joint activities (e.g. fishing, excursions, theatre)

• 3-day training in April 2012– Group building– Mentor-mentee pairs– Joint goal and rule setting

• Forum theatre workshops (May-August 2012) including a 4-days camp (12 days)– Play back theatre methods– Games and activities to improve skills and

competencies– Working with their experiences, feelings, desires,

frustration etc.– Putting together small fragments of theatre plays

• 6 forum theatre performances (October 2012 – January 2013) – Performance– Involvement of spectators as players– Discussions

In 4 different cities for 200 spectators

Results at individual level

The members of the Hungarian group are in the far most disadvantaged situation compared with the other 3 countries

Very small and soft results (but there are results!)

• Improved competencies:– Identified goals and motivation (I would like to

learn; I would like to get back to school)– Vision on the future– Stronger self-confidence – Better integration in peers’ community at school– Better social competencies (e.g. in cooperation

with other)– Dealing with anger, better conflict management

• In realtion to education, work, independent life:– voluntary work– 5-months training on forestry– temporary job with the Railway Company– woodcarving course– Good school performance– Staying at school (successful interest representation)– Moving to Budapest and starting a totally independent

life (job, flat)

In the group and in the community

• One of the main successes that they became a group– They support, cooperate with, listen to each other– The goup is a very important resource for them– They managed to create something together

• Visible changes and improvement according to feedbacks from the community– They behave better– They have less problems with police– The have joint initiatives

Experiences with methods

Individual mentoring and improving competencies through creative methods is a good combination!

Mentoring:•Goal setting•Trustful relationships•Partnership approach•Positive model!

Forum theatre:• successful way of improving competencies (non-formal education)•and building a group•Taking responsibility for each other•we learned a lot from each other•They got positive feed-backs (first time in their lives…)•It opened up the world for them

Learnings

• Longer time frame• Different planning and timing of activities• The crucial role of mentors• Earlier interventions• Working with families and the whole

community• Importance of empowerment!• Importance of maintaining personal support

Thank you for your attention!