Roma Program
After its reorganization in 2000, the Open Society Fund - B&H (OSF - B&H) initiated a more of a long-term and more systematic approach to the "Roma issues" in its Roma Program.
Before 2000, attention was focused on simply the state of the Roma people on a general level in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was then decided to try helping the Roma people to become empowered so as to be able to help themselves. This attitude implies a (bitter) realization that our society, like many others, cannot change "overnight" and cannot be "forced" to change its attitude towards the Roma population. (It can be said that the entire activity of OSF - B&H is orientated towards deeper changes in the society/environment, where all our ideas converge in the idea of an "open society". The closer the B&H society is to the ideal of an open society, the better off the Roma people would be in such a society.) The goal now is not to tell the Roma people what they should do but rather to assist them in formulating and prioritizing issues and to assist them in finding solutions of their own.
In analyzing the Roma post-war organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was evident that the prevailing attitude in their society was to appeal for humanitarian intervention. It was referred to as the "humanitarian paradigm". (This is not unusual: it could be said that practically the whole of B&H society assumed that specific mentality during the war, the mentality of passiveness and dependency on outside help.) Throughout the war and after the war, the Roma people were always pushed in the roughest of manners to the social margins, as outcasts. They therefore found themselves in an even worse situation than before the war. Naturally, the humanitarian intervention will be an acute necessity for a long time to come, as far as the Roma people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are concerned. Therefore, it was considered undesirable to "suspend" the humanitarian function of the Romany associations. The Open Society Fund - B&H is looking for movement forward, where the humanitarian function of the associations is not their only function. Other functions exist and strategically, in the long run, they are even more important. We started acting on something that could be called the "paradigm reversal".
In developing, the basic role of the Romany associations from that described above, towards a civil activism/involvement where they are participating in society, the basic goal became clear. It was necessary to increase awareness amongst the Roma people themselves, and then everybody else as to how the Roma people could represent and advocate their issues to the fullest extent; from elementary conditions of living to a realization of all human and civil rights.
In order to move in that direction, we started a long-term program "Strengthening of Capacities of the Roma Associations". The principal partner in the implementation of this enterprise is a non-governmental organization "Be My Friend" (instead of a Romany government organization directed towards the Roma people) together with a range of Roma Associations. Members of these associations also participated in the work of the Romany representative bodies at the country/State level (the Romany council of B&H, Committee for Romany issues with the Ministerial Council), as well as in organizations or bodies of international community in B&H (OSCE). Since its inception two years ago, the Romany Council B&H alone has been financially supported by The Soros Foundation both at the Network level and the level of the local foundation (OSF - B&H).
The program "Strengthening of Capacities of the Roma Associations" is a perpetual process of education and skills-mastering that has one goal: building and refining of the Romany non-governmental sector by enabling it to get involved, as competently as possible, in the wider process of building the structure of a civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This would provide a fundamental mechanism for the integration of the Roma people into B&H society, in a way where the Roma people could be an active participant in the process, as opposed to the present state where they are a passive voice consulted only on special occasions and in a purely symbolic way.
This Program is being carried out in two basic ways; firstly, through a range of workshops, training sessions and seminars, and secondly, by way of finalized projects suggested, designed and implemented by the associations themselves and obtaining grants from OSF B&H for them.
The projects, like the Roma associations, are carried out with constant assistance from "Be My Friend". They have this assistance at the stage of formulating projects, for which they do not have to apply to OSF B&H, but there can be other potential donors. These projects relate to achieving changes in varying aspects of life of the Romany local communities, and by their nature, include the necessary interaction between the Romany and the broader community. A consequence of this has been that the Romany Community now approaches the broader community with formulated initiatives/ideas of their own and even provides resources for solving certain problems.
In this way, it is hoped that the Roma activists and their associations can be assisted in becoming real participants in the process of integration between the Roma people and B&H society as a whole.
The OSF B&H Roma program, in conjunction with projects carried out by the Roma organizations themselves, also focuses on the problem of integrating Roma children into the school system. This part of the program for tackling this issue is being implemented with the Center for Educational Initiatives "Step by Step".
At the end of 2003, it could have been concluded that there is now a recognizable "Roma third sector" as opposed to the situation of four years ago, when we started this program. For the first time, the process of development of Roma organizations is gaining its own momentum from within their own community.
In addition to current activities, two "regional resource centers" have been founded in 2004 to ensure the quality of implementation, in Tuzla and Kakanj, whose hosts are the Roma organizations "Sa E Roma" (Tuzla) and "Youth Roma Initiative" (Kakanj). Activists from local organizations run the centers in cooperation and with the support of the "Be My Friend" organization. Through these organizations the "hosts" help other aspiring organizations to reach their level of organization, techniques and skills with regard to civil involvement. Thereby, the process of developing civil involvement, which had only been previously carried out by "Be My Friend", is being shared by Roma organizations. Through this process, it is hoped that the Roma people will be even further integrated and sow the seeds for the growth of a true Roma movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina.