www.intercultural.ro

Established in 1992 by a group of teachers from Timisoara, with support from Timisoara municipality, County School Inspectorate, West University of Timisoara and the Council of Europe

Mission: to promote the values and principles of the Council of Europe concerning the intercultural approach in education, cultural policy, research and civil society

Intercultural education

Education for democratic citizenship

Support for Roma communities

Cross-border cooperation

Research

Culture

1996 – 1998: coordination, with Romani CRISS and in cooperation with the Institute of Educational Sciences and with two partners from France, of the first national level project on Roma education in Romania◦ The project piloted the employment of Roma school mediators

and initiated the training of teachers working with Roma children

1997 – 1998: the first project in Romania on the image of Roma in the press◦ Press monitoring, workshops with journalists, Roma and public

institutions, publication

1998 – 1999: local projects in Timisoara and Timis County ◦ Human Rights Education, improving cooperation between Roma

an local authorities, intercultural education

Activities on Roma issues

1998 – 2001: coordination of a European project on the “Integration of Roma culture in school and out-of-school education” ◦ partners from Romania, France, Slovakia and Spain◦ The first COMENIUS project with Eastern European

coordinator◦ Produced a guide for teachers which was included as

a good practice in the Compendium, “Human Rights Education in the School Systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A Compendium of Good Practice” published by OSCE, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, and UNESCO

Activities on Roma issues

Activities on Roma issues 2000 – 2005: Local projects in Timis County to promote civic

participation of young Roma◦ Projects involving young Roma from several rural communities

in Timis County◦ Projects involving Roma students working for disadvantaged

communities in Timisoara◦ Support for setting-up Parudimos Association◦ Timisoara Roma youth Centre on partnership with Parudimos

2005 – 2007: Training of teachers on Roma history & culture and intercultural education ◦ Pilot face to face training◦ Online training of over 400 teachers

2007 – 2008: Piloting of the European Guide of Roma Mediators developed by the Council of Europe

Activities on Roma issues

2007 – 2009: Action research in schools with high percentage of Roma children in Timisoara

2011: Romanet: Centres for Roma Inclusion in Vojvodina and Timisoara◦ Cross-border cooperation Romania-Serbia

2011: High-school students suggest solutions for the problems of Roma◦ Civic education method (Project Citizen) adapted

to address Roma issues

Other relevant activities Cooperation with the Council of Europe

◦ Project “Education of Roma Children in Europe”◦ Trainings for teachers and mediators in the

Republic of Moldova and Kosovo◦ European Training Programme for Mediators

Research on Priority Education Policies (positive action for Roma in education)

LAPS & RAPS

Has published ◦ several books and reports resulted from projects◦ the Romanian version of several CoE publications,

including COMPASS www.intercultural.ro

◦ Information about activities and resources◦ Over 1000 visits/week

Thank you for attention!

Eugen Gherga & Romina Matei