Call for the selection of implementing partner organizations in Serbia and Turkey

Project “EU Regional Action: Increased Education Opportunities for Roma Students in Western Balkans and Turkey”

UPDATE 20th of August 2020: DEADLINE EXTENDED for applications for Turkey in the field of Early Childhood Development and Primary Education. New deadline – 26 August 2020, until midnight, CEST

UPDATE 17th of August 2020: DEADLINE EXTENDED for applications for Serbia in the field of Tertiary education. New deadline – 26 August 2020, until midnight

UPDATE 3rd of August 2020: Application form – corrected. Please use this version of Application Form when preparing your application.

Call open until August 16, 2020

The Roma Education Fund’s (REF) mission and ultimate goal is to close the gap in educational outcomes between Roma and non-Roma. In order to achieve this goal, the organization supports policies and programs which ensure quality education for Roma through scholarships, grant making and advocacy activities.

The objectives of REF include:

Expanding Romani children’s access to quality early childhood education and care;
Improving primary education outcomes for Romani children aged six to fourteen;
Boosting academic performance and graduation rates from secondary education for Romani pupils;
Supporting access to tertiary education, improving graduation levels and strengthening identity of Romani university students, and
Expanding employment opportunities for young Romani adults.

The Roma Education Fund operates its activities in close links with civil society and institutional partners in 16 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.

Objective of the call

The objective of the call is to select the partner organizations for the implementation of the project EU Regional Action: Increased Education Opportunities for Roma Students in Western Balkans and Turkey.

In 2018, REF started implementing the project EU Regional Action: Increased education opportunities for Roma students in Western Balkans and Turkey, funded by EU DG NEAR. The project aims to reduce the gap between Roma and non-Roma in the participation and completion of quality education through gender-sensitive programming, to improve Roma students’ transition between education and employment and to promote durable systemic change and desegregation of education systems in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

The project objectives will be achieved through:

supporting Roma children in pre-school education and enrolling them into integrated primary schools;
awarding scholarships to Roma students in secondary and tertiary education;
supporting transition between education levels and employment;
building capacities of relevant authorities and their understanding of the specific challenges faced by the Roma community;
supporting regional networking and exchanging experiences with the aim to contribute to the mainstreaming of Roma in national policies and, where relevant, changes in policies and legislation.

The project objectives will be achieved through sub-granting partner organizations in Serbia and Turkey which will be responsible for the administration and implementation of project activities for particular educational levels within the granted financial budget.

Organizations are invited to submit proposals for specific project activity calls: