Income generation for Roma families in Serbia
Some of the Roma children attending school in Belgrade.
Photo: Tatiana Dwyer/CWS
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Forty Roma families (about 265 people) in Zemun and New Belgrade districts in Belgrade, Serbia, are developing income generation opportunities, thanks to Church World Service and local partners Refugee Return Service (RRS), ALFA, and "Branko Pesic" Elementary School. Business-planning workshops as well as grants to support self-employment activities will help families develop much-needed business skills. The project will also identify and connect the participants to existing government services and public companies for additional assistance, and parents whose children attend Branko Pesic Elementary School will be able to attend adult education activities to help them support their children in their studies as well.
The Roma are the poorest and the most marginalized community in Serbia. Poverty and bias experienced by the Roma lead to social exclusion and lack of access to social services. Especially vulnerable are displaced Roma from Kosovo and Southern Serbia.
The goal of this project is to improve the living conditions of 40 vulnerable Roma families whose children attend Branko Pesic elementary school. This project will supplement an ongoing education program for vulnerable Roma children financed by CWS. A pilot phase of the program in Branko Pesic elementary school demonstrated extraordinary results. However, to sustain the participants' achievements, Roma children and their families need basic improvements at home in terms of food security and livelihood. CWS and partners are helping create a sense of possibility and encouraging members of participating families and other Roma from the community (around 800 members) to become involved in self-employment activities and small businesses as well as decreasing dependence on social assistance and humanitarian aid.
The CWS Roma income generation program is made possible in part by special support from the United Church of Christ.
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