Seeing the Roma without prejudice

Project objectives:

•	That Roma NGOs and community groups will be better able to use the mainstream and specialist media to inform Roma people of their human rights and how to secure them, and to present a fairer, more balanced view of Roma culture and life to the majority population as a means of overcoming suspicion and segregation;
•	That Roma journalists will be better equipped to cover Roma issues - particularly human rights issues - for both the specialist media (providing Roma communities with information about their rights and a forum for discussion) and mainstream media (informing the general population about the plight of Roma people and encouraging engagement with the issues as a means of supporting the development of stable, prosperous societies as a whole);
•	That the mainstream media will be better equipped to provide more sympathetic and balanced coverage of Roma people, issues and culture, in order to help overcome the widespread suspicion of, and antipathy towards, Roma people.

Project beneficiaries:

Direct beneficiaries:
•	Roma community groups who are empowered to make their voices heard;
•	Roma journalists who receive (1) professional training (2) the opportunity to produce and distribute features on issues of concern to the communities they represent and (3) contact with other Roma journalists, Roma community representatives and mainstream media outlets;
•	Non-Roma journalists who want to learn professional techniques for covering Roma / diversity / human rights issues and news stories and who will develop sensitivities towards covering all aspects of diversity.
Indirect beneficiaries:
•	Roma communities who will (1) receive information on their rights and how to secure them and the encouragement of knowing that they are not alone in their struggle for a better life and (2) be given the opportunity to have their voices heard both in the specialist Roma media and in the mainstream media.

Project activities:

Activities focus on capacity building for NGOs and community leaders; professional development of Roma journalists; building bridges between Roma and non-Roma journalists and media outlets and between Roma communities and the media that should be representing them; and production of high quality news and cultural features on Roma people for publication and broadcast:
1.	Translation into Albanian and Macedonian languages of MDI's Roma Media Relations Handbook, which has proved a highly useful tool for Roma NGOs planning media strategies;
2.	Roma Media Communications Skills Workshops, each with 15 participants from Roma NGOs, which will provide theoretical and practical training aimed at the NGOs to get their message across more powerfully and effectively;
3.	On-site broadcast media consultant. Many Roma media outlets have been operating with some success in the region, but there is still a need for improved professional capacity to ensure that these outlets can continue providing services to Roma communities in the longer term. An expert on broadcast media will undertake consultancy programmes with up to 10 media organisations over a period of five months. Working on-site, backed up by telephone and email contact, the consultant will work with the media organisations on solutions to problems which they have identified.
4.	Team Reporting Projects comprising eight-person teams of journalists (Roma and non-Roma) will each work for 10-days, to produce radio features on Roma issues in the region. The aim is to fill the urgent need for high-quality broadcast news and current affairs programmes on Roma issues for non-Roma audiences.
5.	News agency diversity reporting programme. News-agency journalists from the region will attend a training workshop, following which they will research and produce articles and features on Roma issues. The articles will be marketed and distributed throughout the region to ensure the widest possible circulation. The aim is to fill the urgent need for high-quality print features and articles exploring Roma rights and culture, both for a Roma audience but, in particular, for a more general audience in order to increase understanding of, and tolerance towards, Roma communities.