Varazdin county - REI Project

REI Project

ROMA EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE (REI) PROJECT

The Roma Employment Initiative (REI) project addresses the issues of Roma unemployment, public awareness of Roma Employment programmes and issues in the Varazdin region, and Roma social and economic exclusion.

The REI Project provides the necessary training to Roma persons and disseminates employment information to them, so that they can develop their skills, be informed of employment benefits, and become more employable. The project disseminates information to employers, which will raise their awareness of the National Programme for Roma employment measures and Roma employment issues. These actions will result in increased skill levels among the Roma population and increased awareness of Roma employment measures and issues by employers. This will improve the social and economic inclusion of the Roma population with the wider community.

PROJECT RESULTS

Roma persons are trained in small business development, recycling, carpentry, and textiles
An increase in the number of Roma persons applying for legal employment and operating small businesses
Employers throughout the Varazdin region are made aware of National Programme for Roma in Croatia and the programme’s employment measures
Roma persons in the Varazdin region are informed of the benefits of employment and registering at national employment offices

TARGET GROUPS

Roma trainees (i.e. participants in the training programmes) - in 4 different education programs, at least 30 Roma population participants, of which 5 of them must be women
Members of the Croatian Roma for Roma Association - raising awareness among Roma population in public and private sector
Members of the Open Community College of Varazdin - increasing Roma knowledge levels and assuring them education so they could find an employment

PROJECT DURATION

from November 2007 till November 2008

PROJECT FINANCE (108.326,13 EUR)

Phare 2005: 95.695,30
The Croatian Roma for Roma Association: 8.005,30
Varazdin County: 1.603,23
the Municipality of Cestica: 1.007,43
the Municipality of Petrijanec: 1.007,43
the Open Community College of Varazdin: 1.007,43

ACTIVITIES THAT WERE IMPLEMENTED UNTIL JULY 2008.

The project management team (PMT) meetings are being held on biweekly basis in order to follow up the process of the planned activities.

Project visibility:

a project website was created and launched (www.romaei.com)
three press conferences on the project were held
the project identification cards, brochures and leaflets were created

Training Roma people
The PMT with the assistance of the Open Community College Varazdin and CES representatives created a registration database and developed training programmes focusing on small business development, and skills training in recycling, iron salvage, textiles and carpentry for Roma people.
All the workshops were successfully finished. The PMT was responsible for providing refreshments and a light lunch during the training sessions.
There are 11 participants who finished the recycling and iron salvage training programme, 10 participants who finished the carpenter assistant training programme, and 9 women participants who finished their education in sewing.

Private and Public Sector and Roma Awareness Building
The PMT developed the awareness campaign and information materials with the assistance of the project partners. Two information seminars for employers were held where they were informed of stimulation measurements provided by the Croatian Employment Service.

1^st pressconference