A final conference on the “Dream” project was held in Badalona, Spain
In the period June 28-29, a partner meeting and final conference were held, part of the project “DREAM – a participatory approach in the educational environment to overcome discrimination against young Roma on new media” in the city of Badalona, Spain. The project was three years long and started in 2019, covering partner organizations and schools in Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Spain. Its aim is to counteract stereotypes against Roma, especially women, spread in digital media. Students aged 11-13, teachers, parents, experts were involved in the project . The partners worked to: identify and analyze stereotypes used in digital media communication to discriminate against Roma; creation of methods and a set of tools for schools and associations providing activities to fight against discrimination of Roma; implementation of these measures at school; dissemination of good practices. See more about the project here.
During the conference held on June 29, the partner organizations and schools shared their experience and success regarding the various activities of
the project. Denitsa Ivanova presented the comparative report for which Amalipe Center was responsible as a partner. The purpose of this report is to analyze the phenomenon of discrimination against the Roma community in the new media. Various types of sources were used to conduct this research: official data, official publications of relevant NGOs, European reports and news from media or social networks. The situation in the four partner countries was followed in terms of laws, documents and media. And a survey of 1,614 people showed the attitudes and experiences of students, parents, teachers and experts on the subject of online discrimination. The comparative report in English can be found here.
The project coordinator is the Spanish organization Fundació Privada Pere Closa . Her representatives Natalia Goma Argilaga and Amaya Haddock spoke more about the workshops with mothers and with teachers, which were initially translated into each school. The goal was to learn what parents’ needs are, their knowledge and questions, in which aspects we can help them develop their digital skills and how to support their children. Representative of the Romanian NGO Gipsy eye introduced the workshops with students, which were an activity held in each country. 5 groups of 10 students participated in 10 trainings in each partner school.
Diletta Alese and Margeritha d’Andrea of the Rome-based Arci SolidarietaOnlus Association showed an
electronic version of the trainer ‘s toolkit that was created as part of the project. They explained what are the practices included in it, the selection process and what else can be found in it. The toolkit is being finalized. You will soon be able to find it on the Amalipe Center website , in the Publications/Handbooks section.
Although prevented by a Covid illness, Umberto Bettarini, a communication expert from the partner Italian organization Ares 2.0 , also joined online and presented the communication plan he created and the activities carried out under it.
The second part of the conference was dedicated to the experience of the four schools involved in the project. Each of the principals presented the activities carried out in their school, the difficulties and the successful practices. In Bulgaria, a partner school is Uniterd school “P.R. Slaveykov”, Dzhuliunitsa village , where trainings and discussions were held with parents and students.
In the final part of the event, Manuela Fernández, head of the Department for the Protection and Promotion of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination and Fernando Macías, Roma researcher and member of Roma Studies at the University of Barcelona presented their analyses.
The project is financed under the Erasmus + program.
You can see more about the project here and here .
