Ten Years After the WORKALÓ Project: Political Implications to Foster Social Inclusion of the Roma in Europe

• In Event: Empowering the Romà Through Dialogic Research: Contributions From Paulo Freire, Ramón Flecha, and Jesus Gómez’s Friendship to Social Inclusion

Abstract

1.
This paper aims to highlight the contributions of the WORKALÓ project ten years after it ended in 2004. The results of the project were presented in the headquarters of the European Parliament having extraordinary political impact. This event was the prelude of a resolution that recommended to all European Member States to promote the recognition of the Romà.

2.
In Europe, major concerns on the inclusion of the Roma and human rights have been very present in transnational policy in the last years. Scholars have shown how, in some cases, well-intentioned policies have not reached the expected results especially in education (Sobotka and Vermeersch, 2012). Jesús Gómez and Julio Vargas (2004) showed that what makes the difference are bottom-up processes and schools that take dialogically the voices of the Romà people into account and promote actively their participation. Until 2004, segregation in schools and discrimination in accessing to the labor market were the two main barriers for Romani inclusion (Vargas & Gómez, 2004). While segregation of the Roma is still widely practiced in some European states, WORKALÓ contributed to change the hegemonic discourse on the educational needs of the Roma and to close the achievement gap and promote equity. This was possible because of the inclusion of Romani voices in the research as well as in councils and decision-making boards (Munté, Serradell & Sordé, 2011).

3 & 4.
We have conducted policy analysis of the programs and plans derived from resolutions related to WORKALÓ results in the last ten years related to the field of education. At the same time, in parallel, communicative observations have been carried out in specific programs addressed to the Roma people in developed by the regional government of Catalunya in Northeastern Spain.

5.
We present the results of a plan that have had impact at regional and at local level, the Integral Plan of the Roma of Catalunya. It was implemented from 2006 and took as a basis the results of WORKALÓ. Today the Integral Plan of the Roma mirrors the communicative organization of research, with its own Advisory Committee, to assure the active participation of the members from the Roma community and representatives of the Roma civil movements.

An Adult Education programme has shown to be particularly successful in guaranteeing the access to college for Roma students who dropped out their studies. The outcomes of this program -50% of their students passed the exams- are the same than non-Roma adult education programs breaking then the existing racial gap in achievement between Roma and non-Roma students.

6.
Data gathered in this paper shows the transformative approach of dialogic research and the political and social impact in the case of the Roma people. This researched underlies the unity in diversity (Freire, 1970) to achieve equity and better future. These implications were possible thanks to the use of the communicative methodology that gave voice to of the diversity of the Roma people from the design of the research to the dissemination (Flecha & Gómez, 2004).

Authors

• Òscar Prieto-Flores, University of Girona

• Silvia Molina Roldán, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

• Itxaso Tellado, University of Vic