Montenegro

Education, the way to social inclusion

Podgorica, April 5, 2007

On the occasion of 8 April, the International Roma Day, Montenegrin Coalition of NGOs “Roma Circle”, in cooperation with the Culture & Information Center Budo Tomović Podgorica, premiered a theatre performance “Master of the Broom”, supported by the Montenegrin Ministry for Human and Minority Rights Protection and the UNDP Office Montenegro within its SIDA funded regional project Roma Decreasing Vulnerability.

The Master of the Broom is about a young Roma student struggling with life, educational and social problems, discrimination and nepotism. Sokolj Begenaj used his true life story to write the play and he directed it together with Tamara Živanović, his mate from the Faculty of Philosophy Nikšić, Montenegro. They played main roles of a student/street sweeper Kajtaz and his wife, but not less important and pictoresque were the roles of Milena Zeljić and Jovana Gojnić (employment agency staff), Stana Kilibarda (unemployed person/ghost) and Boško Golubović (student).  All the performers belong to the first generation of students at the  Faculty of Philosophy Nikšić that includes Roma students.

«We decided not to make this autobiographic story classical, we thought there were many alternative ways to present the rich and inexhaustible cultural heritage of Roma to the wider audience», said student Tamara Živanović. «We made the story dynamic and we introduced the spirit of comedy, but in fact we dealt with realistic and serious life issues of contemporary Roma people and their education.  The least that we could expect of this show is to get the state institutions representatives to think and to ask themselves whether the plan for Roma higher education suffices.  They need to understand that sometimes bare initiative means nothing. It is about a long-term process which needs lots of care and attention, and that is what we are alluding to.»

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In accordance with the National Action Plan for Roma and the other strategic documents, the UNDP Montenegro has started its $800,000, 2-years SIDA funded regional project Roma Decreasing Vulnerability. The objective of the project is the targeted Roma poverty reduction for 25-30% for their sustainable social inclusion, i.e. over 6.000 Roma will be out of absolute poverty that would decrease the national poverty rate for 1%.

The project will aim to achieve this through the following:

1. Facilitated personal documents issuance for Roma. - Estimation is that 25% domicile Roma lack personal documents that limits their access to public services and limits Roma to exercise their human rights. 
2. Support to Social Welfare Centers (in equipment, vehicles, staffs’ skills upgrading, etc.) – to provide Roma with equal access to improved social security and support services and improve their quality of life.
3. Roma employment – skills upgrading programs, small pilot soft loans for Roma small business, etc. (the highest share of the budget is dedicated to employment).

The Montenegrin Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare is the key partner for the project. The other two main stakeholders are Roma NGOs and Employment Agency of Montenegro.