From June 23 to 25, 2022, a meeting of all partners of the Help to Opportunities (H2O) project, financed as part of the Erasmus+ program aimed at strengthening and developing Roma health literacy, was held in Belgrade. This was an opportunity to meet the partners’ representatives in-person for the first time, to discuss past and future project activities, and to open questions and opportunities for cooperation in future projects. The project coordinator is LU Lendava (SLO), while the project partners are the Public Open University Čakovec (HR), the Development Center Murska Sobota (SLO), the Educational and Cultural Community of Roma “Romanipen” (SRB), Amrita OBK (HUN), Previform (PT), Inercia Digital (SPA), Irish Creative Training and Innovative Development Center (IE) and Panepistimio Thessalias (GR). The value of the project is EUR 345,468.00 and it will last 30 months.
At the meeting, the project, its goals, expected results, administrative mechanisms were presented in more detail, and the division of tasks among the project partners was discussed, proposed and confirmed. The participants also presented their experiences of working with Roma in their countries. The emphasis in the presentation and exchange of experiences was on the challenges they encountered in working with the Roma and on the dissemination of information on contemporary topics related to the health literacy of the Roma in the countries where the project partners come from. Representatives of POU ČK presented sociodemographic data on Roma in Croatia, focusing on their educational aspect, the challenges they face in their education, and available data on the health literacy of Roma in Croatia. Also, representatives of POU ČK presented the European projects in which they participate, which include the Roma population, and shared examples of good practice with representatives of other partner organizations.
The meeting also covered the topics of development and implementation of the first intellectual result – research on the health literacy of Roma in partner countries. The participants discussed the methodology of data collection, the topics that will be covered, and started creating a questionnaire that will collect the required data. Also, the proposal of the website/platform of the H2O project was presented, the basic guidelines of the dissemination plan of the project activities were determined, and the preparations for the next transnational meetings began. On the sidelines of the meeting and through informal get-togethers, the partners had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience and start conversations about possible cooperation in future joint projects.
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