Improving the lives of the Roma

Country: Serbia
Topic: Enable and Social
Last updated: 13 June 2012

In just over a year, through project "Povezivanje" initiated by Telenor Serbia, UNICEF and Serbian Ministry of Health, the quality of life and health of several thousand Roma people living in Serbia had been significantly improved.

Kjell-Morten Johnsen, Judita Reichenberg, Zoran Stanković and Svetlana Ilić at the conference presenting the results of the project “Povezivanje”.

In April 2010, when Telenor Serbia and UNICEF initiated the project “Povezivanje” (Project Enable) in order to help the Roma in Serbia, the situation was austere. The project has improved education of Roma families in Serbia and support in exercising their rights in the area of healthcare and insurance.

Project “Povezivanje” bears fruit

The relentless efforts and selfless work from the health mediators, Telenor and UNICEF is achieving promising results. In a press conference on May 26th 2011, Minister of Health, Zoran Stanković, presented a series of statistical data: “From the start of the Health Mediators project in 2008, 120,708 Roma have been registered, 8,238 children inoculated, 4,924 women had gynaecological examination, 14,468 Roma selected their physicians, and 1,333 were enrolled in schools. The support Ministry of Health got with the project “Povezivanje” has helped mediators in many ways to carry out their job better and more efficiently”. Also owing to this project, data on 95,708 Roma have been collected, registration records for 820 Roma habitats have been made and conditions where 26,347 families live have been described in detail in the last year.

Telenor & Unicef; Partnership for the future

Telenor and UNICEF partnership on the project continues by connecting 15 new mediators in 10 new cities, resulting in 75 mediators working in 60 municipalities of Serbia today.

Thanks to laptops, mobile phones, Internet, special software and training provided by Telenor, mediators communicate better both between themselves and with the Roma, and last year they prepared a database which all state institutions are now using.

The results presented at the conference speak in favour of the claim that this is one of the most efficient projects directed at improving the life of the Roma community.

Watch a video about the project: