Social Integration Programs
Poverty and socially excluded Roma communities are the focus of the Social Integration Programs, which we have been implementing since 2006 (originally under the heading of the Slovak branch of People in Need).
For a long time, we have been trying to find and apply new ways of solving problems related to the issue of socially excluded Roma localities in Slovakia – extreme poverty, long-term unemployment, low level of education, inadequate living conditions or strained relations with the majority society.
This is also why we operate mainly in the area of eastern Slovakia, where the most excluded locations – Roma settlements – are concentrated. On a daily basis, we operate five community centers in the Prešov and Bratislava regions – KC Roškovce (2006), KC Petrovany (2008), KC Sveržov (2009), KC Kojatice (2014) and KC Plavecký Štvrtok (2015).
See the outputs of the project Better public policies for marginalized Roma communities, in the framework of which we developed an extensive series of recommendations and methodologies to improve the integration of excluded Roma communities in Slovakia.
Current projects
Gender equality for Roma communities Development of skills and career counseling for social inclusion CRIS – Integration of people from vulnerable groups into the labor market
Programs
Education
Education is one of the fundamental pillars of our work. We are dedicated not only to children, but also to adults. In our community centers, we educate children of preschool and school age and provide tutoring for children who already go to school. We also provide dual vocational education to children and young people so that they have a better chance of finding a good and stable job in the future.
We also educate adults and motivate them to improve their qualifications. We provide them with various trainings to acquire new skills – either communication or manual.
Financial literacy
Getting a job and securing an education are the foundations on which to build further. However, certain knowledge is also required in order to maintain and properly use the earned funds. As part of our work, we therefore also focus on financial literacy.
An important part of building a more dignified life is also debt relief. Only after that our clients can start anew and with new knowledge, how not to slip back into the conditions in which they started.
Public policies and the elimination of prejudice
Our work is not only focused on direct activities in the field. In order for a sustainable and meaningful change to take place in Slovakia, a change in public policies is also necessary. As part of our activity, we therefore also try to put pressure on politicians and relevant authorities to promote effective and useful changes.
Last but not least, we also educate the public or companies and try to remove prejudices. We believe that gradually, step by step, we will work towards a more tolerant, diverse and functioning society.
Job counseling
Another important part of improving the quality of life is stable work. Many of our clients were born into generational poverty, which makes it very difficult to get involved in the work process. We therefore help Romani men and women from excluded communities to acquire the skills necessary for a specific job, to obtain employment and to keep it.
We organize career counseling and cooperate with specific employers. In our innovative program for employment, we have already managed to employ dozens of clients in this way.
Housing
A standing desk for writing homework, electricity for reading books, hot water for washing after work and a stove for cooking a warm meal for the whole family. We all might take these things for granted, but for people from excluded communities it is often just a wish.
In excluded communities living in poverty, housing security is an element that can trigger positive change and facilitate progress in other areas. Quality housing enables personal development and increases children’s school attendance. High-quality housing is also a factor for improving the state of health and thus also the ability to work actively.
In the field, it became clear to us that the interest of mayors and families living in excluded Roma localities in self-help provision of housing is huge. Therefore, in September 2015, after a pilot project in Kojatice, we joined forces with the Association for a better life and created the non-profit organization Projekt DOM.ov, which is dedicated exclusively to housing issues.
Community centers
Social integration may seem like a complex term, but it actually includes quite clear activities. Our colleagues are looking for solutions to problems related to socially excluded Roma communities in Slovakia. These problems are many and do not have one clear solution, be it poverty, long-term unemployment, low level of education, inadequate housing conditions or strained relations with the majority population. That is why we deal with these problems comprehensively and in our community centers we deal with both children and adults.
People in Peril operates five community centers:
In these community centers, we work intensively directly with local Roma communities, which we try to connect with Slovak society and help them. Three employees work in each of our community centers – a professional guarantor, a professional worker and a worker, who together provide comprehensive social, educational and community services. We prepare children to start school, we tutor them and help them catch up on missed lessons, we organize various preventive and leisure activities and we try to take children outside, beyond the borders of their homes, so that they have a chance to see the world and find out what possibilities exist “out there”.
We teach adults financial literacy so that they can handle the household budget well, we provide them with financial advice, legal assistance, social advice, we help them with housing and also with employment – even in the case of people who have never worked before. We also provide community work and community rehabilitation, as well as leisure and creative activities for all age groups. If necessary, we also organize various collections and exchanges, thanks to which we can also provide material assistance to families in need. Each of our community centers is specific. The communities we work with are very different, live in different conditions and have a different past. But we see that long-term and complex work makes sense in each of these communities, and we are happy with every, even seemingly small, progress.
From September 1, 2019, our organization joined the National Project Building professional capacities at the community level. Three Community Centers in the villages of Plavecký Štvrtok, Kojatice and Sveržov provide their services from Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where we are helping
Ongoing Projects 
Completed projects
