Open throughout the year
Notice
If you are a civil society organization, state institution, business or private sector, existing movement, network, or initiative that is active and relevant for young Roma and students in the following countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey – we invite you to be a partner to the Roma Education Fund by answering to this Call for Partnership below.
NOTE This Call for Partnership is open throughout the year, depending on your ongoing or upcoming calendar of activities (more details in the text below).
This Call for Partnership is part of REF’s new addition within its Scholarship Program. It welcomes the support of organizations, movements, and other entities interested in becoming partners of REF and help our scholarship beneficiaries in building their skills by providing opportunities, internships, trainings, educational events, and community engagement activities.
The partners would support REF to:
- Build academic and personal skills of our Roma scholarship beneficiaries;
- Contribute to creation of a functional Roma network of students and alumni to build its capacities through community involvement;
- Encourage civic participation and community engagement for Roma scholarship beneficiaries to contribute to positive changes in the life of Roma communities.
REF invites organizations, state institutions, business/private sectors, and youth movements to participate and additionally shape the scope of our work through offering access and expertise of their current undertakings. Ultimately, the organizations, institutions, and movements that would be selected as partners would support a formation of an active network of Roma students that would create improvement of the quality of life in Roma communities and offer comprehensive learning and upsurge of experience for our Roma students, future leaders and contributors to positive and inclusive changes.
Call for Partnership with Roma Education Fund
The Roma Education Fund (REF) is an international foundation established in 2005 and dedicated to closing the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma. With an active and growing network of representative offices across Central, Eastern, South-Eastern Europe, and Turkey, REF provides grants and scholarships to entities and individuals who share its belief in quality, inclusive education, and desegregated schools and classrooms.
The purpose of Roma Education Fund’s Scholarship Programs (REF SP) is to contribute to the emergence of a critical mass of Roma, higher education graduates, confident and proud of their Roma identity, equipped with skills and competencies that enable them to become professionals in their fields and contribute to the positive change in the life of their communities which they remain solidly connected to.
REF’s new addition to its SP schemes will entail activities such as mentoring and career counseling activities; skills development workshops and activities; creative and innovative camps and trainings for academic and employment skills enhancement; students’ community engagement and voluntary services; civic participation, internships, small-scale student projects working on improvement of Roma communities; educational seminars, webinars and student debates on current topics and happenings, etc.
The following are objectives towards which our activities and interventions will be focused:
- To gather REF’s beneficiaries in one place where they would share and discuss topics important and related to their academic and community life;
- To build students’ capacities and social trust between them and their community as it is crucial for ensuring future advancement of the Roma community;
- To build an active and functional Roma students and alumni network (national and transnational);
- To encourage community engagement, civic participation and involvement in awareness raising activities for our young Roma beneficiaries;
- Facilitate and foster dialogue between Roma students, community representatives, schools, academics, Roma parents, etc, to help strengthen Roma communities and have them become active advocates in bringing change while addressing the needs that affect Roma communities;
Three main activities are planned within this frame, as main tools to achieve the above mentioned:
Activity 1
To establish a network of students, REF grantees, NGOs, institutions, private or business sector and existing movements in the countries of intervention.
Activity 2
Organizing of national discussions for students on up-to-date topics, important in their countries where their points of view and needs could be expressed and gathered for further action.
Activity 3
Organizing of transnational discussions for community engagement and civic participation, students’ opportunities at hand, their needs and interests to further develop a sustainable community-engagement component in the SP.
This Call for Partnership applies to the initial and focal activity 1: To establish an active network of students, REF grantees, NGOs, institutions, private or business sector, and existing movements in its countries of intervention.
If you are a civil society organization, state institution, business or private sector, existing movement, network, or initiative that works particularly with Roma youth, students, and minorities in the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, and Turkey – we invite you to be a partner to the Roma Education Fund by expressing your interest to this Call for Partnership.
The benefits of this partnership – Prospective partners would commit to support REF’s initiative through engaging REF’s beneficiaries in their ongoing and envisaged activities. They should offer opportunities for professional and personal growth of REF’s Roma students’ beneficiaries by engaging them in their working environment, activities, practices and/or projects.
In return, REF’s Roma beneficiaries would benefit from being exposed to opportunities that would enrich their student years and increase their social capital, they would be inspired through new experiences, internships, trainings and volunteering that would build their professional biography.
Partners will be key members of the Roma Education’s Fund network and community. The potential partnership would enhance continuous engagement and participation of Roma students who would contribute to the successful implementation of partners’ projected activities and work objectives. An active and diverse network of students and activists aligned with the same goals and contributing to improve dialogue, exchange of experiences, civic participation, and active involvement in community engagement.
It is eventually the Roma community that will benefit greatly through this partnership and supportive network. This new way of support and help provided by our young Roma generation will strengthen the community and contribute towards its advancement.
To express interest, all potential partners are invited to send us an email at refpartnershipsp@romaeducationfund.org. In this email, please mention your scope of work and activities (events, internships, volunteering opportunities, trainings, seminars, webinars, launches, educational opportunities, debates, clubs, etc.) that would be in support of REF’s scholarship program and its beneficiaries. The timeline of available opportunities can spread throughout the year. Please note this Call for Partnership is open all year, depending on your ongoing or upcoming calendar of activities.
Please note, the partnerships would have no financial obligations, as it will be a pro-bono contribution from each side.
REF will get back to you within two weeks of your expressed interest to further discuss details.
For any additional information regarding this Call for Partnership 2022, please contact REF at refpartnershipsp@romaeducationfund.org.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
