The event took place at the Centre of National Minorities of Zakarpattia.

We organized this event as part of the project “Voices Unheard – Roma Children Paving the Way: Active Participation for a Better Future,” implemented by a partnership of NGOs – Center for Youth Integration (Serbia), Nova Generacija (Bosnia and Herzegovina), KEAN (Greece), Voice of Romni (Ukraine), and OlamAid (Germany) as lead organization – and co-funded by the European Union.

The main goal of the meeting was to introduce schools in Uzhhorod to the international project, establish cooperation with educational institutions attended by Roma children, and discuss how schools can support their participation in civic life and involve them in the future activities of the Civic Lab — a civic participation laboratory for teenagers.

We brought together school principals, teachers, and other representatives of the education sector to explore how to build more effective cooperation and create more opportunities for Roma children to express their views, share their ideas, and take part in decisions that affect their lives and the lives of their communities.

Special attention was given to the Civic Lab — a space that will soon be launched at Voice of Romni. It will be a place where Roma teenagers can learn to identify challenges in their communities, develop initiatives, and put change into practice. Together with educators, we discussed the opportunities offered by the project, as well as how to create the right conditions for the meaningful participation of Roma children from different schools across the city and support them in implementing their own ideas.

A separate part of the meeting was dedicated to mapping the needs of schools. School principals and teachers shared their views on current challenges and priorities, which will help us better understand the local context, take children’s interests into account, and consider the specific realities of educational institutions as we implement the next stages of the project.

The meeting also became an opportunity to hear directly from educators themselves. Participants actively joined the discussion, shared experiences from their schools, spoke about student self-government practices, and reflected on the challenges and opportunities for strengthening Roma children’s participation in school life.

@voice.of.romni 📣 В Ужгороді відбувся воркшоп для освітян «Участь ромських дітей у демократичних процесах та роль школи» Ми організували цей захід у межах проєкту «Непочуті голоси – ромські діти прокладають шлях: активна участь заради кращого майбутнього», який реалізується у партнерстві громадських організацій Center for Youth Integration (Сербія), Nova Generacija (Боснія і Герцеговина), KEAN (Греція), «Голос Ромні» (Україна) та OlamAid (Німеччина), яка є провідною організацією проєкту, за співфінансування Європейського Союзу. Головною метою зустрічі було познайомити ужгородські школи з міжнародним проєктом, налагодити співпрацю з закладами освіти, де навчаються ромські діти, та обговорити, як школа може підтримати їх у громадському житті та залучити до майбутньої діяльності Civic Lab – лабораторії громадянської участі для підлітків. Окремий блок зустрічі був присвячений картуванню потреб шкіл. Директори й педагоги поділилися своїм баченням актуальних викликів і пріоритетів, що допоможе нам краще зрозуміти локальний контекст, врахувати інтереси дітей та особливості роботи освітніх закладів під час реалізації наступних етапів проєкту. #освіта #ромськідіти #навчанняромів ♬ Positive, bright, upbeat, commercial(1537558) – Chau

It is especially valuable for us that educators showed genuine interest in the discussion and readiness to contribute to building an environment where every child has the opportunity to be heard and to participate in the life of their school and community. We thank the Centre of National Minorities of Zakarpattia, the Education Department of Uzhhorod City Council, the Centre for Professional Development of Teaching Staff, teachers, and all participants of the workshop for the meaningful dialogue, openness to cooperation, and shared commitment to creating new opportunities for the development of Roma children and youth.