The firewood and used clothes distribution was organized as part of the integrated social urban rehabilitation project initiated by the city, co-financed from the EU Regional Operational Programme.

The construction company - implementing the investment parts of the project (wall insulation, replacement of windows, quality improvements, etc.) - realized early in the process that implementing this rehabilitation is not like an average construction project – there is a strong need to ensure the support and commitment of local people to avoid damage, theft of materials, conflicts during the works.

So they teamed up with a local foundation (“Alkossunk várost” – “Co-create the city”) to deliver a “consultation with the local stakeholders”.

Using URBACT experience

One of the activists of the foundation, László Török is an URBACT “veteran”: as the notary of a small town (Nagykálló) he had already participated in three URBACT projects. One of these projects was RomaNet, bringing together cities from Europe to share experience on Roma integration.

In addition to using his learning in Nagykálló, László wanted to apply the good practices he experienced also in his hometown, Nyíregyháza. That was the motivation behind establishing “Co-create the city” – an initiative to involve citizens in the development of the city.

He already knew from experience that a traditional consultation or hearing would definitely not work in the Roma community. So following discussions with the construction company they came up with the idea of distributing firewood and clothes - using this occasion to ask locals about their expectations, needs and also fears. During the event representatives of the foundation and the construction company walked around, entering into small chats with roma families – and thanks to the relaxed atmosphere the families gladly shared their problems and also ideas.

Not a usual construction project

The inputs from the “stakeholder consultation” made the construction company to “tweak” its general approach in order to adapt to the local conditions.

Instead of bringing its usual security team to the site they employed locals as security guards – as a result, there was no conflict or theft during the entire construction process, and the local community appreciated the trust.

After a selection process, the company employed locals also as labourers; this gave work to a number of unemployed young people in the neighbourhood at least for the duration of the reconstruction; however, some of them – the best performing ones -managed to continue working for the company even after the project completion.

The company quickly realized that the Roma people have a slightly different work culture; so, instead of expecting the locals to immediately adapt, they made some changes to their usual practices. For example, they realized that the Roma workers are more likely to appear at the construction site every day and actually perform better if they have a shorter working day – so they offered them the possibility to work less hours a day. They also offered a weekly wage instead of the usual monthly salary that proved to be more motivating.

The company offered  locals the opportunity to collect and take away the demolished building materials. This way they did not need to take care of removing materials from the site, while the locals found many building materials to be perfectly usable.

The site manager appointed by the construction company also made regular visits to the homes of the families – demonstrating respect and trust.

These little tweaks actually did not incur any additional costs to the construction company but offered numerous benefits to the residents and ensured a smooth, problem-free construction process. The rehabilitation has been completed one month before the deadline, the tenants did not need to leave the apartments during the construction, and no material or equipment was stolen.

Building fences to build communities?

During the “stakeholder consultation” the representatives of the foundation also learned, that for families living in small single family houses (not affected by the rehabilitation project) the lack of garden fences is a major problem.

Using this need as a starting point the foundation – in cooperation with the construction company and the local school – prepared a project proposal. The proposal was submitted to the small project fund operated by the municipality as part of the social rehabilitation project. The purpose of the fund was to support small-scale bottom-up initiatives – like the one submitted by the foundation – that can complement the housing rehabilitation and strengthen the local community.

The project proposal of the foundation – selected for support  - had three main elements:

1. Gardening: the purpose was to support small-scale vegetable production of the local Roma community. Activities included joint preparation of gardens together with the locals, building the fences and providing practical training. The project covered the expenses for the soil, seeds and seedlings, concrete fence posts and wire – but the fences to protect the gardens were already built by the locals.
2. Storytelling mothers: the second element was to organize regular „storytelling” workshops for mothers and small children – joint reading of fairy tales, helping mothers with reading problems. This project element has also included regular distribution of storybooks; it turned out, however, that there is a bigger need for hygienic products, so later the books were replaced with basic toiletries.
3. Neighborhood cooking competition: at the official closing of the project, a neighborhood (outdoor) cooking competition was organized, using the raw materials produced in the backyard gardens. The schoolyard hosted the event, the necessary equipment (benches, tables, cauldron and sausages) was provided by the foundation. The winners were awarded plates, pots, dishes and cutlery. 

The guest is always the first!

What can you learn from the Huszártelep example?

Although there are no one-size-fits-all solutions – especially not in Roma integration – there are a number of lessons other cities may learn from this project. No doubt that is why the project was selected as one of 10 examples showcased at the Cities Forum that took place in Brussels on the 2^nd of June 2015.

But what are these lessons?

1. Take baby steps instead of big changes – you cannot expect Roma integration to take place overnight – you need to keep working, take small steps – and those small steps eventually add up to big change. Do not hurry, though.
2. Focus on smaller communities – you can make change happen with specific measures on the level of small communities, rather than with large-scale, general interventions, policies. The small project directly involved around 20 families.
3. Let them tell you what they really need and do not assume – more often than not we assume we know what Roma – or other – communities need. More often than not, we actually don’t. So why don’t we ask? Find the right place and way to ask – and you’ll get the answers.
4. Be prepared to fail - flexibly adapt, be ready to change if the original plan fails. It seemed like a brilliant idea to distribute kid storybooks to families – but there was a bigger need for hygienic products. The foundation quickly adapted and found a way to make a last minute change. (To avoid such situations, though, see lesson 3.)
5. Personal relationships and trust are key – they have to be nurtured and constantly demonstrated. The representatives of the foundation took with them their children whenever there was an event at Huszártelep so that they could play together with Roma children

Dr Siddique is an active member of Glasgow’s Roma-NeT Local Action Group as well as an Active member of the community in the South side of Glasgow where the majority of Roma live in the city. Here she writes about her role in the Conference and why it was important for Local Authorities.

The European Commission organised a high-level conference in Brussels on 2nd and 3rd October 2014 to present lessons learned in integrating Roma at the local level, one year after the ROMACT programme was launched by the European Commission and the Council of Europe. At this ROMACT/ ROMED Brussels conference on Roma inclusion on the ground, Roma-NeT partners joined and Cities gave presentations.

Mayor Honsell of Udine and I had important messages to convey about the experiences of working with Roma-NeT at local level. We stressed the importance of local authority involvement in Roma inclusion and also the importance of having a wider European perspective which was achieved through partnership working with other local authorities.

I spoke about Glasgow and our Roma inclusion experience, discussed the extensive practices in tackling social and economic exclusion and the examples of success; especially in education; and shared practice with other cities. The conference was an environment where professionals from local authorities shared experiences and learned from each other as well as having the opportunity to be heard by key decision-makers in Brussels.

Mayor Honsell expressed how being part of a transnational learning and exchange project had helped their city to look at the issues in a different way. Though everything with the Roma families in Udine has not been fixed, there was now much more dialogue and issues like school attendance and health issues have been tackled in a positive way. He expressed the need for greater flexibility, especially from EU funds, so the resources can be better targeted at local level.

This event provided a valuable opportunity to meet and to share experiences with representatives from cities in Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

City representatives from Western Europe called for specific assistance to help them integrate marginalised Roma coming from Eastern Europe.

There seemed to be a consensus that access to quality education, in particular pre-school education, and to affordable housing is an urgent priority. There were discussions on how to help create job opportunities in disadvantaged communities by supporting entrepreneurship and around the importance of including social clauses in public procurement.

It was also the place to hear the messages of high-level representatives from the European institutions including Laszlo Andor, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Soraya Post MEP, Paraskevi Michou, Acting Director-General, DG Justice, Lieve Fransen, Director for Europe 2020: Social Policies in Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG, and Vittoria Alliata, Director for Administrative Capacity Building & South-East Europe in Regional & Urban Policy DG.

Local elected officials emphasised the need to develop local administrative capacity to implement Roma inclusion measures and to better implement EU funding for that purpose. The conference gave an impulse to efforts at all levels to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged Roma across Europe.

Events like this are important, it was an opportunity for myself and other elected officials to share our experience and knowledge and to influence the policies and practices of the future. It became apparent that Cities are key contributors to Roma inclusion, they are the link that can ensure that EU and national policies are applied and to making a difference at local level.

Dr Soryia Siddique BSc (Hon), MSc, PhD, is an elected member Glasgow City Council ; Chair of Children and Families Policy Development Committee; Chair of Glasgow Mela Steering Committee; Chair of Southside Central Partnership and lectures in science based courses.