Roma Platform is a crowdsourcing platform to report incidents of human and minority rights violations against the Roma community in Serbia, developed with the support of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) through its regional program “Strengthening Inter-Ethnic Political Discourse and Minority Inclusion”, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The Platform is managed by the three Roma civic organizations:
Roma Society Zajecar
Since its establishment in 1997, Roma Society, situated in the City of Zajecar, has had an active role in advocating for Roma rights in Eastern Serbia. The organization is focused on strengthening communication between local Roma settlements and local governments aimed at solving current issues Roma has been facing, from housing problems, education to protecting Roma from discrimination. Roma society also contributes to improving local and national policies and legislation on Roma inclusion. It has 30 active members and around 100 supporters/participants of its program activities. Roma Society is one of the leading organizations of the ROMACTED Program, funded by the Council of Europe, which promotes social entrepreneurship among Roma. In 2019, with NDI’s assistance, Roma Society successfully contributed to the development of the Local Action Plan (LAP) for Roma, which is officially adopted by Zajecar’s municipal assembly. The organization has established long term active partnership with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, a governmental institution that combats discrimination.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drustvoromaza/
Association of Roma Students
Association of Roma Students (ARS) is established by a group of Roma University students in 2000 at the University of Novi Sad, Vojvodina. In the last 20 years, the organization has been transformed from a classic student association to an advocacy and community development organization. Today ARS works as a civic organization that gathers both Roma University students as well ex Roma students who stayed in the organization upon finishing studies as its alumni. Currently, the organization has 28 active members, gathered at the Assembly of Members. Some of the main achievements are:
- ARS is recognized as a representative organization of Roma students at the University of Novi Sad and has 1 guaranteed seat at the Student’s Parliament;
- Combating discrimination and prejudices against Roma, ARS won the first prize at the Council of Europe’s competition for the best video fighting prejudices in 2007;
- In the last few years, ARS facilitated a process of developing local action plans on Roma education in four municipalities in Vojvodina (Bac, Beocin, Becej, and Zrenjanin) which were adopted and financially supported by local governments;
- ARS in 2021 established “RomskaInicijativa21” (“RomaInitiative21”), a network of Roma NGOs from Novi Sad, to jointly advocate for achieving needs and interests of the Roma community;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Udru%C5%BEenje-Romskih-Studenata-1317712231646297/
Web Site: http://urs.co.rs
Romani Asvin
The organization was founded at the beginning of 2020, first as an informal group, formally registered in May 2021. It has a core team consisted of 4 Roma women (girls) and dozens of volunteers across Serbia (they claim around 50 Roma activists). Their activities are focused on raising awareness among young Roma about the importance of formal and non-formal education as well as combating discrimination. Some of their projects:
- The campaigns “Take the initiative for your future” and “Heroes of our community”, informative and motivational activities aimed at increasing the number of Roma students in Serbia (round table attended by 40 Roma, led by university professors and Roma Educational Fund representatives; video clips with presented 12 successful young Roma students – some of the videos were viewed 10,000 times);
- “Roma women move the World”, two online debates conducted during the Month of Roma Women Activism (March 8-April 8, 2021) on Roma women rights and discrimination, supported by NDI, attended by 50 Roma;
- “Romani Asvin Arts Scholarship”, a project which at this stage obtained 1 full scholarship for studying at McDonald College for the Performing Arts in Sydney, Australia, supported by the Serbian Hollywood actress Bojana Novakovic;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/romaniasvin
Web Site: http://www.romaniasvin.com/