Stimulus/Rationale:
Pavlohrad has a large community of Roma people, who enrich the city’s life with their great cultural heritage, music and traditions. At the same time housing, access to education and stereotyping are still an issue in the city. Indeed, one of the main problems the city faced a few years ago were the stereotypes and negative attitudes that the local population held about the Roma people. Roma people were often associated with negative images and prejudice such as theft, reluctance for work, study, etc. This is regardless the fact that Pavlohrad city has many examples of bright personalities-representatives of the Roma community - cultural workers, artists, journalists and poets.
Process:
In 2012, Pavlohrad city authorities supported local Romas’ initiative to create a public organization "Amaro Kher", which allowed Roma representatives to participate directly in the life of the city through their community organization. The City Council also provided free premises for the work of the organization. Since that time "Amaro Kher" organized a number of events with the participation of Roma people; the organisation is also in charge of the annual International Roma Day celebration and a number of Roma culture festivals. Today "Amaro Kher" is an active participant of the Intercultural Cities initiative in Pavlograd and its representatives are regular attendees of the Intercultural Living Room. Members of "Amaro Kher" conduct lessons of tolerance in city schools and work to create a community of Roma memory.
It is noteworthy that the Head of the organization "Amaro Kher", Mr. Kertulay Ogly, is a member of the Pavlohrad Community Council, and Ms. Salavatova Bilyana from "Amaro Kher" is a member of the Youth Council of the city.
The empowerment of a Roma organisation is a great example of successful cooperation between the City Council and the Roma community in Pavlohrad. Thanks to this joint initiative, Roma of Pavlohrad are not only organizers of numerous city actions, they are also the initiators of new projects for the development of the city as a whole, of their culture, identity and traditions. Reviews of "Amaro Kher" activities are conducted annually by the Pavlohrad Community Council
The action is implemented in cooperation with public organization "Amaro Kher", the Community Council, the Intercultural Living Room, schools and cultural institutions of the city, as well as with the main enterprise of the city DTEK Pavlogradugol.
Key reference documents: Ukrainer, the Roma of Pavlohrad, 2018
