This project hosts football games & music workshops for & designed by Roma children and families with a parent in prison, promoting their social inclusion in Czechia (where Roma are an estimated 2,5% of the population). It aims to reduce stigma while promoting, preserving & celebrating Romani culture; strengthening Roma identities. Alongside sport & cultural events, a prison outreach programme will be promoted. It plants the seeds for systematising Roma-inclusion family projects within prisons.
Roma communities are some of Europe's most disadvantaged minorities & are overrepresented in prison populations. Roma children & families impacted by parental imprisonment face stigma, discrimination & marginalisation & often lack financial, social & emotional supports needed to maintain strong family bonds & healthy well-being. Roma integration can come at the expense of Romani traditional cultural features: mainstream customs are increasingly adopted, often through fear of social exclusion.
Through sports & cultural activities (e.g Romani music child workshop) for families impacted by a parent's imprisonment in a peer-to-peer setting, this project helps reduce stigma & foster social inclusion & strengthen identity. It offers families who often face discrimination & financial difficulties a happy & memorable day free of stigma associated with imprisonment & a celebration of Romani culture. Child participation is embedded prior to, during & post project, strengthening child agency.
Prison staff will be invited to the event, shifting perceptions, humanising Roma families, highlighting the importance of family bonds & understanding Roma culture, systematising attitudes within prison settings. Imprisoned parent ultimately to be included, promoting child-parent contact in fun, alternative settings to prison visits. Long-term aims: greater public awareness and understanding of Roma communities, greater social inclusion & celebration of Romani culture, greater child resilience.
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