A stakeholder consultation was organized in the framework of RARE project in Őrkő, Romania. One of the pilot projects will start soon in this neighbourhood. Project partners visited the local primary school and the community centre as well.

Though there is a high mobility rate to western countries and it is hard to have an exact number, approximately 1900 people live in Őrkő. People live in a marginalized community without access to utilities, running water; there are no roads or streets. The level of education is very low in the segregated school, only 5-10 children finishing the 8th grade. The percentage of unemployment is around 40-50% among Roma and higher in the case of women. Roma people from Őrkő speak mainly only Hungarian language.

The local community centre is visited by 40-45 children every day. The activities in the community centre are run by the Serviciul Maltez.

After the field visit experts identified several problems: the gap constantly growing between Roma and other children throughout the educational system, the lack of jobs, the low rate of salaries and the lack of collaboration between state agencies, ministries, local and county councils and NGO’s for a short/medium and long term strategy.

The participants of the meeting agreed that the first and most important step that the representatives of the local council need to meet potential employers.