The first activity helped to strength the links within Timisoara ULG and joining their efforts to support the inclusion in Kuncz local community. On the other side, the other activity, implemented in collaboration with EUROCITIES, allowed to get a critical review of Timisoara action plan for Roma inclusion in Kuncz from other European cities representatives and civil servants. Hereafter, a short description of the two activities.
ULG’s members in Timisoara organised the event “Inclusion by playing for children in Kuncz neighbourhood”. The event took place in the neighbourhood’s small park and children participated in non-formal educative actions (painting, sport, face painting, drawing, dancing) to increase their interest in education. Diplomas, medals and small gifts were handed to them to increase their motivation. Kuncz neighbourhood is one of the most deprived areas in Timisoara and the Implementation Plan designed during URBInclusion project focuses on this area. 300 hundred citizens contributed to the success of this activity: 40 representatives from ULG and other local stakeholders, 190 children and 70 parents from Kuncz neighbourhood.
ULG’s aim was to increase the interest and knowledge of citizens from the targeted community (Kuncz neighbourhood) for the URBInclusion project. In the same time the event was a response to one of the project’s challenges: involving local stakeholders and organising decision-making for delivery. Inhabitants from Kuncz neighbourhood were involved in preparing and implementing the activity (cleaning the place before and after the event, mobilising participants, coordinating small workshops). A shift from doing thing for citizens to doing things with them was put in place.
From 12 to 14 June, a delegation of cities from EUROCITIES visited Timisoara to offer
peer support to further improve the host city’s action plan for Roma inclusion. A ‘critical friend review’ visit involving 10 representatives from 5 cities (Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Ghent, Glasgow, Gothenburg) and a representative from the European Commission (DG EMPL) was organised. Timisoara has a large Roma community (approx. 3,000 people) identified as being at highest risk of poverty and social exclusion. Many of these people live in deprived neighborhoods and in Timisoara the Implementation Plan, developed during URBInclusion project, focuses on Kuncz neighbourhood where over 50% of inhabitants are Roma. A site visit in Kuncz neighborhood was organized during the EUROCITIES’s “Critical Friend Review” visit and areas for further improvement concerning Roma inclusion in Timisoara were identified.
