Together for a better future in Coroieni
Working together for a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.
About the project
“Together for a better future in Coroieni” is one of the two big projects started by Reality Check in February 2021, which bring together and expand for a period of two years all our previous interventions in the two communities: Castelu and Coroieni. We run remedial education programs, sports activities, health education for mothers and women, personal development and leadership training for children and youth. We mobilize a Local Initiative Group, where people learn how to access public services and to help each other, and we organise events designed to bring together the vulnerable people, most of them of Roma ethnicity, with the other people in the community. At the same time, we work closely together with the social workers, medical community assistants and school mediators in order to help them collaborate more efficiently and to have more success in finding solutions for the complex problems of the most vulnerable families.
Beneficiaries: 550 children, youngsters and adults
About Coroieni:
There are 1770 Romanians and 700 Roma in Coroieni (according to the information provided by the local City Hall). The majority of the Roma ethnics live in Ponorata, an isolated community linked to the “Valenii Lapusului” village, at the border with another commune. Ponorata is one of the poorest communities in Romania, with many families and increasing birth rates. Most of the people living in Ponorata live in hard to imagine conditions, e.g. some live in improvised tents. Only a few adults know how to write and read. At home, children speak Romani. Thus, when they start going to kindergarten, they speak Romanian very poorly. Children are going to kindergarten and primary school in Ponorata, while from the 5th to 8thgrade they are going to school in Coroieni.
Because of extreme poverty, many children go to school on a very sporadic basis, some fail the year and need to repeat. Less than half of them reach secondary education (5th to 8th grade).
The poverty and lack of hygiene make the children vulnerable when facing diseases. Many girls give birth for the first time when they are 13-14 years old and they don’t know how to properly breastfeed and take care of the children.
Our aim:
(1) to produce systemic changes in the way public services for vulnerable groups in Coroieni are delivered and accessed, in order to facilitate social inclusion, decrease inequalities and develop the entire community;
and
(2) use the direct experience to improve national public policy regarding integrated community services.
The project is implemented by the Reality Check Association, in partnership with the Coroieni City Hall, Noi Orizonturi Foundation, and Pe Stop Association, and benefits from a 249.926 euros grant from Active Citizens Fund Romania, programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014-2021. The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the official position of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021; for more information, visit www.eeagrants.org. More details about Active Citizens Fund Romania are available at www.activecitizensfund.ro.
Project implemented by:
Supported by:
