Our projects
Places To Grow: Inclusive Preschool Access for Roma Families
Roma families often mistrust preschools, perceiving them as culturally insensitive environments, while institutions frequently misinterpret this mistrust as disinterest. This project aims to address the root causes of low Roma preschool participation and replace harmful biases with practical, evidence-based solutions that support inclusive early childhood education.
Through community consultations and participatory workshops, the project will identify key barriers such as institutional discrimination, lack of Roma representation among staff, language gaps, and economic hurdles that limit access to quality preschool education. By mapping these obstacles, it becomes possible to design targeted interventions that respond to the lived realities of Roma families.
Direct engagement with Roma parents will help address concerns, build trust, and co-create culturally responsive practices in preschool settings. The project will promote open dialogue between families and institutions, support anti-bias training for educators, and develop tools that encourage respectful communication and shared decision-making.
Ultimately, the initiative seeks to increase Roma preschool participation, strengthen social inclusion, and demonstrate that equitable early education benefits children, families, and communities. The long-term vision is a preschool system where Roma culture is respected, parents are valued partners, and every child has the opportunity to thrive from the earliest years.
EQUAL: Strategic Litigation for Marginalized Communities
The EQUAL project strengthens the capacity of civil society, legal professionals, and marginalized communities to engage in community-driven strategic litigation under EU law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Implemented in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, and Italy, the project empowers Roma, migrants, and persons with disabilities to access justice, creates community paralegal teams and pilot legal clinics, and develops intersectional training for human rights bodies and professionals. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and dissemination, EQUAL aims to achieve structural changes in policy and practice and ensure consistent protection of fundamental rights across Europe.
An active citizen - the basis of a functioning societyWith the help of this project, we want to increase the participation of Roma in the processes of planning, management, and monitoring of the functioning of the municipality's self-government, which relate to the life and problems of the Roma themselves.
The systematic change will consist in the fact that with the help of good practice (example), organizing and empowering communities, we will establish a platform on the basis of which the Roma will be involved in the processes of planning, management, and monitoring of the functioning of the municipality's self-government, especially in the localities in which they live and which relate to life and the problems themselves.
We will strive to strengthen the Institute of Settlement Committees and help remove obstacles preventing their establishment.
The project is being supported by the Open Society Fund Prague from the Active Citizens Fund. The programme promotes citizens' active participation in the public life and decision making and builds capacities of civil society organizations. The Active Citizens Fund is financed from the EEA and Norway Grants
