 Established in 1992 by a group of teachers from Timisoara, with support from Timisoara municipality, County School Inspectorate, West University of Timisoara and the Council of Europe  Mission: to promote the values and principles of the Council of Europe concerning the intercultural approach in education, cultural policy, research and civil society

 Introducing intercultural education in schools with majority and minority children  Introducing intercultural education in the educational activities of museums  Training sessions, pilot activities implemented and resource materials published  Use of ICT in intercultural education and development of intercultural competencies for European project managers and teams  Promotion of civic education in schools  Development of sustainable school-community relations  Facilitation of the relations between civil society and public authorities in a multicultural environment  The education of Roma children  The image of Roma in the media  The development of the civil society inside Roma communities  The improvement of the relations of public authorities with the Roma communities. Intercultural education Education for democratic citizenship Support for Roma communities

 An integrated regional cooperation framework developed under the name of Banat NGO Network – BANNET  Continuous cooperation with NGOs and minority organizations from Serbia, focusing on cross-border youth exchanges, training and promotion of European values.  Other regional cooperation activities organized with the support of the CoE, of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe and of the EU, in cooperation with partners from Hungary, Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina and other countries of the region  Priority education policies in Romania and Europe  Intercultural dialogue in Romania  Social research on the cultural needs and offer in Timis and Arad  Social psychology researches in the educational field  Development of the cultural strategy of Timis county  Development of the cultural strategy of Arad city  Consultancy for the youth strategy of Timisoara city  Strategic proposals for the development of cultural tourism in Banat region Cross- border cooperation Research Culture

 1996 – 1998: coordination, with Romani CRISS and in cooperation with the Institute of Educational Sciences and with two partners from France, of the first national level project on Roma education in Romania ◦ The project piloted the employment of Roma school mediators and initiated the training of teachers working with Roma children  1997 – 1998: the first project in Romania on the image of Roma in the press ◦ Press monitoring, workshops with journalists, Roma and public institutions, publication  1998 – 1999: local projects in Timisoara and Timis County ◦ Human Rights Education, improving cooperation between Roma an local authorities, intercultural education Activities on Roma issues

 1998 – 2001: coordination of a European project on the “Integration of Roma culture in school and out-of-school education” ◦ partners from Romania, France, Slovakia and Spain ◦ The first COMENIUS project with Eastern European coordinator ◦ Produced a guide for teachers which was included as a good practice in the Compendium, “Human Rights Education in the School Systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A Compendium of Good Practice” published by OSCE, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, and UNESCO Activities on Roma issues

 2000 – 2005: Local projects in Timis County to promote civic participation of young Roma ◦ Projects involving young Roma from several rural communities in Timis County ◦ Projects involving Roma students working for disadvantaged communities in Timisoara ◦ Support for setting-up Parudimos Association ◦ Timisoara Roma youth Centre on partnership with Parudimos  2005 – 2007: Training of teachers on Roma history & culture and intercultural education ◦ Pilot face to face training ◦ Online training of over 400 teachers  2007 – 2008: Piloting of the European Guide of Roma Mediators developed by the Council of Europe

 2007 – 2009: Action research in schools with high percentage of Roma children in Timisoara  2011: Romanet: Centres for Roma Inclusion in Vojvodina and Timisoara ◦ Cross-border cooperation Romania-Serbia  2011: High-school students suggest solutions for the problems of Roma ◦ Civic education method (Project Citizen) adapted to address Roma issues

 Cooperation with the Council of Europe ◦ Project “Education of Roma Children in Europe” ◦ Trainings for teachers and mediators in the Republic of Moldova and Kosovo ◦ European Training Programme for Mediators  Research on Priority Education Policies (positive action for Roma in education)  LAPS & RAPS

 Has published ◦ several books and reports resulted from projects ◦ the Romanian version of several CoE publications, including COMPASS  ◦ Information about activities and resources ◦ Over 1000 visits/week

Thank you for attention! Eugen Gherga & Romina Matei