Children against racism and discrimination

The children from the Alternative Education Club at the football tourname

May 26, 2011

The “Mass Football Day” Cup event, held on May 25, was a great opportunity for the two football teams from the Alternative Education Club from the Elementary School no. 136 in Ferentari to show what they learned during their weekly soccer practice. The activity is coordinated by ex-professional football player (junior league), Laurențiu Gheorghe who used to play for one of Romania’s most notorious football clubs, Dinamo București. For more than a year, around 30 children from Ferentari had the chance to take part in weekly football practices and compete in local and regional football tournaments.

The event took place in the Dinamo sports arena and brought together over 200 children aged 10 to 14, from 18 football clubs in Bucharest and around the country. The event that was supported by Asociația Fotbal Club G.V. (a local sports association), the Romanian Football Federation and Policy Center for Roma and Minorities became a social platform that allowed the children to express their passion and dedication for football. Equally relevant, it stood for a channel  designed to send out a clear message: Racism and discrimination don’t belong on the football field. Policy Center for Roma and Minorities strongly promotes the idea that sport  is a powerful instrument that can convey anti-racist messages for the general audiences,. At the same time, this is an efficient tool for the social integration of children who come from disadvantaged communities.

The event is part of the REACT campaign, implemented in Romania and Italy for Policy Center for Roma and Minorities, and supported by the European Commission and it is organised under the umbrella of the Alternative Education Club, that is financed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bucharest, the Soros Foundation in Romania, the European Commission and the Roma Education Fund.

REACT is a pilot awareness raising campaign focusing on the situation of Roma in Europe. The campaign concentrates on the active participation of Roma citizens and the majority, in the civic life, by harnessing and stimulating active citizenship. REACT is implemented by three NGO’s in Romania, Bulgaria and Albania, under the European Roma Grassroots Organisation (ERGO).

While the NGO’s in Bulgaria and Albania are focusing on direct interventions in vulnerable communities inhabited mostly by Roma citizens, Policy Center for Roma and Minorities is developing in Romania and Italy a campaign which aims to challenge the negative attitudes against the Roma through an innovative approach. The campaign uses artistic instruments like documentaries and films, but also sports and non-formal education as means of stimulating active participation of Roma and non-Roma citizens.

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