Roma Policy Lab

Other publications and documents

Bridging the gap between Roma youth and business – unlocking the hidden potential for the labor market

The notion that Roma do not work has long been disproved by the trends in the labor market in Bulgaria. The data for this is there: between 2011 and 2019, the share of working Roma has doubled. This is shown by a nationally representative study from 2019 ocommissioned by the Trust for a Social Achievement, dedicated to educational achievements in the Roma community.

How It Started, How It is Going: Media Literacy Index 2022

The Media Literacy Index is produced within the European Policies Initiative (EuPI) of the Open Society Institute – Sofia. The index assesses the resilience potential to fake news in 41 European countries, using indicators for media freedom, education and trust in people. As the indicators have different importance, they are assigned different weight in the model.

Publication: Roma in Bulgaria

Anyone who has tried to research, write or think about the situation of the Roma in Bulgaria has come across an increasing amount of information, which is often fragmented and contradictory. How many and...

New Open-access Book: Precarious Housing in Europe – A Critical Guide

The textbook Precarious Housing in Europe – A critical guide on cross-cutting issues around precarious housing in the Old Continent is now printed and available online to provide a profound and solid synthesis and analysis of the critical elements of housing precariousness. Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 – “Informal settlements” and “Homelessness” – were drafted by the research team of the Open Society Institute – Sofia and present the scope, causes and dynamics of homelessness and illegally built housing and settlements such as migrant camps, neighbourhoods with a high concentration of poverty and often ethnically segregated and marginalized urban areas.

10 Keys to effectively communicating human rights  

The “10 Keys” is a very handy practical communication manual on how to create consistent and engaging human rights messages. The manual is available in all EU languages plus in Albanian, Macedonian, Serbian, Turkish, and Russian.

Building Future For All: Urban Planning in Roma Settlements

Illegal and informal housing is a problem in Bulgaria. Demolishing Roma neighborhoods does not solve the problem. This Handbook presents a model that works as a viable alternative to evictions and demolition. Through urban planning, municipalities can endorse or amend zoning plans to allow families to formalize built houses and buy the plots of land where they live. As a result, municipalities will achieve greater stability, security, and economic opportunity for all.

CARE FOR TRUTH – AGAINST FAKE NEWS AND ANTI-ROMA DISINFORMATION

In this book, the authors have tried to compact the bulk of what has been done under the Care for Truth project. The resource materials developed would be useful to all those who directly or indirectly deal with the topics of anti-Roma disinformation, fake news, safer internet.

Teaching With Poverty in Mind

In “Teaching with Poverty in Mind: The Impact of Poverty on Children’s Brains and How Schools Can Help”, veteran educator Eric Jensen takes an unflinching look at poverty and how it harms children, families, and communities in the United States.