40 unemployed people started a special training , which could change their lives for a long term. The pilot project, which ends in mid-2019, aims to socially integrate the Roma by facilitating their entry into the labor market by attracting local authorities and institutions to the problems encountered and identifying areas of intervention and collaboration in order to change practices and long-term discourses.

The Multifunctional Center in Őrko district and the headquarters of Sfântu Gheorghe Municipality hosted the study visit of the pilot project within the Transnational Danube Project, Changing Discourses, Changing Practices: The Roma as Human Resource - RARE.

Representatives of The Municipality of Sfântu Gheorghe, Caritas Foundation, Esély (Chance) Association, The Order of Malta Relief Organization in Romania – Branch Sfântu Gheorghe and the Department for Interethnic Relations (DRI) attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the representatives of The Municipality of Sfântu Gheorghe presented the progress of the pilot project regarding the group of participants, the evolution of the group, the chances for the qualification to be acquired for the chosen professions and the chances of employment after the courses.

The pilot project was launched in mid-October after the selection of a group of 40 unemployed people in the Őrko neighborhood, which was divided into 3 working groups according to the level of education of each beneficiary in which take place: literacy courses, communication activities in Romanian language, respectively activities supporting the development of social skills.

At the same time, representatives of the Caritas Foundation, the Esély Association and The Order of Malta Relief Organization in Romania – Branch Sfântu Gheorghe provide individual counseling and mentoring to the beneficiaries and provide support through the supervision of the children of the persons enrolled in the program in order to facilitate their participation in activities of the pilot project.

Representatives of the Caritas Foundation and the Esély Association presented the methodology used in the pilot project, the working groups and the continuous mentoring program as well as the experience gained in daily work with the participants, presenting the project stage and the obstacles encountered in the process.

Qualification courses will begin in January, continuing in parallel both group courses as well as counseling and mentoring.