Part_One

CI Youth Program is implementing a project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People" in five Roma settlements at the territory of the City of Belgrade. Barajevo, Rakovica, Makiš, Mladenovac and Boljevci are settlements made after the biggest Roma settlement under the Gazela bridge in the centre of Belgrade was moved.

15 students from the Belgrade University and the Faculty of Drama Arts are teaching literacy to 43 adult Roma poeple and in return the City of Belgrade provided them scholarships intended for their faculty fees.

This part of the project is supported by the City of Belgrade.

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26. 12. 2011. Civic Initiatives Awarded with the "Star of Belgrade" Prize

Civic Initiatives project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People" was awarded with the "Star of Belgrade" special prize for the best project supported by the city of Belgrade in 2011.

The "Star of Belgrade" award ceremony is being organized for the second time and Civic Initiatives are one of the 15 awarded CSOs.

Last week 43 adult Roma participants of the project received certificates after two months of training with students.

These students will continue to teach lessons during the next eight months.

16.12.2011. Participants of the Project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People" Received Certificates of Literacy

43 adult Roma participants of the project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People", received certificates of literacy on December 15, 2011.

They received the certificates after two months of training, which encompassed lessons of Cyrillic alphabet, both block and handwritten letters.

Twice a week students of the Faculty of Philology, Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of Drama Arts went to five Roma settlements and held two-hour classes to the Roma resettled from the illegal settlement under the Gazela Bridge.

After attending the course, participants who were once illiterate, learned how to sign their names, to fill in the form, to write some basic data about themselves, to do dictation etc.

In order to help their progress, students will continue to visit the participants and keep practicing everything they have learned during the next eight months. This pilot project is being coordinated by the Civic Initiatives Youth Program with the support of the City of Belgrade.

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6.12.2011. Test for Participants of the Project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People"

On 1st December 2011, the first day of the Belgrade Week of Roma Culture, participants of the project "Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People" in five Roma settlements took the test.

The purpose of this test was to allow us to check their progress after three months of training, which encompassed lessons about Cyrillic alphabet, both block and handwritten letters, and was conducted by students of the Faculty of Philology, Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of Drama Arts.

Twice a week they went to five Roma settlements and held two-hour classes to the Roma resettled from the illegal settlement under the Gazela Bridge. 

The test checked whether the participants learned how to fill in the form, to write some basic data about themselves, to copy down a text in their handwriting, to do dictation, to copy down sentences with proper orthography, to write a text describing scenes presented in a few pictures, etc.
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12. 09. 2011 Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People Continues

10 students, who will teach literacy to Roma people, visited five displaced settlements in Belgrade municipality where they will be working during the next two months.

They had the opportunity to meet the interested people who will attend their classes, which will be organized twice a week in the afternoon hours. The first class within the project will be held on Tuesday, September 13^th. 

On 10-11 August 2011, the CI Youth Program will organize a training course for students who will teach literacy to around 70 Roma people who were resettled from the illegal settlement under the Gazela Bridge in Belgrade.

In return, the City will provide students with scholarships intended for their faculty fees. These students will try to help to Roma adults to gain basic literacy skills, and therefore change their social status.

They will visit the course participants twice a week in the period of two months, and afterwards students will visit them once a month during the following eight months in order to follow their progress. __________________________________________________________________________

29.07.2011. Teaching Literacy to Adult Roma People

The City of Belgrade and Civic Initiatives signed the Memorandum of Cooperation in implementing the project aimed at increasing literacy of Roma people.

With the help of students' organizations, 10 students will be selected and trained to teach literacy in 5 Roma settlements in Belgrade. In return, the City will provide them with scholarships intended for their faculty fees.

This pilot-project is aimed to improve literacy of Roma adults resettled from the illegal settlement under the Gazela Bridge, as more than 30% of them have no education at all.