I AM ROMA MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION Klik om

I AM ROMA MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION Klik om het opmaakprofiel van de modelondertitel te DEPARTMENT OF EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES bewerken RENIA DROSOU Sociologist Msc DIRECTOR OF EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION

Local Context The Heraklion Municipality is located on the island of Crete, at the southern part of Greece. Its population is about 170. 000 people. It is the largest urban centre on the island one of the largest cities in Greece. At the wider urban area live at least 1. 500 Roma people, who are both Greek and immigrant. They live in houses all over the area, but there is also a camp at the district of Nea Alikarnassos, where a Greek Roma population of approximately 550 people live for over 25 years. The Roma population in Heraklion Municipality consists of mainly three groups: Klik om het opmaakprofiel van de modelondertitel te • the Roma Greek citizens permanent residents of the bewerken Municipality (at the camp and in houses in the city complex), • the Roma Greek citizens who move to the Heraklion Municipality from other parts of the country to live and work at the wider area for a certain period of time each year and • the Roma immigrants mainly from Albania, and less from Bulgaria and Romania.

Local Campaign Our Strategy is based on the development of a campaign of communication and partnership that fights negative stereotypes, increases sensitivity and awareness of children for Roma children. It is important to inform about the diversity of Roma people, the different culture, the different way of life, but the need of harmonious coexistence. Taking under consideration the results of the transnational Workshop of the project in Sintra, the Local Action Group after several meetings prepared a proposed Klik om het opmaakprofiel van de modelondertitel te framework for the development of a Local Campaign in bewerken Heraklion which intends to sensitize the local community in antidiscrimination issues and try to reduce the stereotypes against Roma in general and specifically Roma children.

Local Campaign Roma children are victims of the local stereotypes. There is a negative treatment of Roma children, as a result of the general stereotype against Roma people. Consequently, this situation leads to: • discrimination in school, • acceptance difficulties in social groups (e. g. school activities, participation sport teams etc. ). The Local Campaign focuses on the awareness of children who attend primary education schools about Roma children. Klik om het opmaakprofiel van de modelondertitel te bewerken General Goals • The reduction of discrimination against Roma children. • The development of methodologies and collective activities, that aim at the increase of sensitivity and awareness and the harmonious coexistence of children. • In the long term, the broader acceptance of Roma children can lead to the decrease of discrimination against Roma in general.

Capacity Building In order to increase our knowledge of relevant communications and strategies for Roma which are being implemented nationally and locally and which can help in the development of our Local Action Plan there were several meetings and collaborations with many stakeholders for support in developing ideas, actions and materials (executives of education, sociologists, social workers, professors, psychologists, representatives of non profit organizations (N. G. O. ) and representatives of the Roma camp. Klik om het opmaakprofiel van de modelondertitel te bewerken

LOCAL MEETINGS

LOCAL MEETINGS

Local Campaign Local meetings LAG: Constitution: • social workers • stakeholders • representatives of Roma • professors • sociologists • Journalist • psychologist Creation of an action plan, that helps in the achievement of objectives (brainstorming) Action : Creation of DVD & Presentation in primary schools (children’s story) Action : Organization of a Festival «The Celebration of Spring» Action : Organization of a Social Research Event Action : Disseminatio n of the TVSpot Main messages: Our children change the world… We live together We live harmoniously Action : Printed material: • Posters • Leaflets • T-shirts Other messages: …. My borders are the stars…. Roma people have a different way of life, but we all have something in common “We are people” Audience Target group: Children in primary schools Our main goal/objective: The reduction of discrimination against Roma children Our second goal/ objective: In the long term, the broader acceptance of Roma children which can lead to the decrease of discrimination against Roma in general.

Local Campaign Our Strategy was based on the development of a campaign of communication and partnership that fights negative stereotypes, increases sensitivity and awareness of children for Roma children. It was as significant to note the different culture, the different way of life of Roma people, as was significant to note the need in our society for harmonious coexistence. Our message is: “ Our Children Change the World…” We Live Together We Live Harmoniously

Our Campaign Actions that we have implemented of our Local Action Plan entail: 1. a) Creation of a DVD - children’s story, which has already been distributed to the principles of primary schools. The presentation of dvd has started to students and teachers. Furthermore, the dvd has been disseminated to web newspapers and You Tube from last May. This action helped to sensitize children and gave them the opportunity to become aware. We hope the effects of the results are long term effects, that they last beyond childhood during adult life, and that they have an impact in families through their children. b) Creation of a TV-Spot indicating our social message: “ Our Children Change the World…” We Live Together We Live Harmoniously

Our Campaign 2. Printed Material: T-shirts, posters and leaflets with our social message. This action was completed on the 7 th of May 2012. 3. Organization of the Festival “The Celebration of Spring”, with various activities for children like: ØPainting ØCrafts ØTheatrical game ØTable games ØPresentation of the dvd Ø Dance The Festival took place on the 18 th of May 2012. Roma and non-Roma children from primary schools participated in the festival. They danced, collaborated and played together. We distributed T-shirts to them with our social message which symbolizes togetherness, social solidarity and happiness. We hope the relationships between children in school and social life of Roma children will be improved. PRESENTATION OF A SHORT VIDEO OF THIS ACTION

Our Campaign 4. Dissemination of the TV- Spot to Websites: Ø Website of Municipality of Heraklion Ø Website in Facebook Ø Twitter took place from last October of 2012 until today. In addition, there was collaboration with the office of the Regional Director of Education a conference was organized with the participation of principals of primary schools of Heraklion. The dvd-children’s story and the main messages of the program were presented, copies were distributed and a discussion followed regarding the organization of other activities in primary schools during the school year. Principals and teachers saw the dvd as a tool which can be used for in-class discussion and dissemination of anti-discrimination social messages for the following school years ahead.

THE PRESENTATION OF THE DVD TO PRINCIPALS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN HERAKLION

THE PRESENTATION OF THE DVD TO PRINCIPALS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS

THE PRESENTATION OF THE DVD TO PRINCIPALS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS

THE PRESENTATION OF THE DVD TO PRINCIPALS OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Our Campaign 5. Organization of a Social Research Event, which informed, activated and sensitized people. The event took place in August of 2012, in the centre of Heraklion city. It included the distribution of leaflets and the implementation of a social research by the use of questionnaires regarding social behaviour and knowledge on discrimination stereotypes.

SOCIAL RESEARCH EVENT

SOCIAL RESEARCH EVENT

Results of social research The general conclusions of the survey are summarized as follows: > Non-Roma citizens in Heraklion have limited knowledge of the Roma culture. Main sources of information about Roma are the media and the social environment, while it is impressive that the family environment is a source of information only for a few non Roma people. > Personal contacts between Roma and non-Roma are rare and transient. The disposal of non-Roma people for relations with Roma are rather negative and cautious in the case of friendship and in professional relations and wholly negative in the case of a closer relationship like marriage. > The majority of citizens think that the local community has negative stereotypes towards Roma. A positive element is the opinion of the non-Roma to the negative attitude of society towards Roma.

Results of social research The results of the survey show that for non-Roma citizens, the main factors enhancing the prejudice towards Roma is the State, which has much responsibility for the current situation, but also the Roma themselves, who don not try enough to be part of the local society. The survey indicates that most of the people believe that Roma children are victims of a larger prejudice, that they face discrimination and exclusion and that their parents do not give them the chance to integrate properly into society. According to the survey citizens are confident that there is discrimination for Roma children in schools, but nevertheless, they appear cautious allowing their own children to socialize with Roma children.

Results of social research The results of the survey, show that there are differences, depending on sex, age and educational level of the participants. It is generally demonstrated that: • More women than men are negative in having a relationship with Roma. Moreover more women than men believe deeply in the responsibility of the State for social inclusion as well as the Roma themselves. • Older people are more negative towards the Roma than younger people, who seem cautious, but they are not completely negative to having a relationship with a Roma person. • People with medium and high / higher education level compared to people with unspecified educational level, look more positive towards the Roma people.

Results of social research Accordance to the above results it seems that, if the stakeholders want to improve and change the lives of Roma and help them to integrate harmoniously into the wider society of Heraklion, they should consider the following points: > There are negative perceptions of non-Roma for Roma over years, which are required to be faced systematically and with long term action plans. > There is no sufficient information and knowledge about Roma and their culture. Media, Family and Education can help the non-Roma society to understand respect the culture of Roma. > Non-Roma people expect from the State and from Roma people to deal with the situation and both try to change attitudes.

Results of social research • There is sense of fear and insecurity towards the Roma, which can be faced by promoting examples of harmonious relations between Roma and non-Roma, as well as giving positive aspects of coexistence with the Roma (e. g. enhancing culture, harmonious economic cooperation, etc. ). • The survey results showed that the behaviour of non-Roma is much less biased against Roma children. The enhancement of young Roma education, the participation of Roma children in various activities with non Roma children and the development of a communication strategy (social plan), could have faster results in improvement of the relations and harmonious coexistence of the two groups. • There are groups of non-Roma people who are more willing to listen and learn, like young people, and we should focus more on these groups to affect in the future.

Issues and challenges being faced The challenge is to go beyond this project, to continue conveying the social message and the importance for children to be sensitized from primary school level. The effort must not stop here.

Thank You for Your Attention MUNICIPALITY OF HERAKLION DEPARTMENT OF EUROPEAN PROGRAMMES DIRECTOR: RENIA DROSOU Sociologist Msc drosou@heraklion. gr reniadrosou@yahoo. gr