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Empowering Roma Girls Through Education, Leadership, and Activism
Stara Pazova, March 2025 - “When I grow up, I want to be a vet. It’s important to finish school so we can study what we want to be, know what we’re doing, and have a job that pays,” says eight-year-old Andrea, a confident second grader. She thinks she might also become a teacher, because she loves helping other children learn.
Eleven-year-old Vladislava is in Year 5. She loves PE, animals, and singing. She often helps others, which is why she wants to become a police officer when she grows up.
“It’s important to go to school so we can be smart and succeed. It’s also important to earn our own money and not have to depend on anyone else,” she says.
For ten-year-old Teodora, success means making childhood dreams come true.
Success, she says, also means getting married only after you turn 25.
Many Roma girls don’t get that chance. They don’t achieve their dreams. Because of discrimination, poverty, dropping out of school, and child marriage, they are among the most vulnerable children in Serbia. Later in life, without education, they often struggle to compete in the job market and become economically dependent on their partners.
To change this, Roma girls need to be empowered through education and economic opportunities. They need to hear from successful, educated Roma women about the importance of schooling, their rights and options, and how to look after their health. These are the women they trust.
Andrea, Vladislava and Teodora – the girls from the start of our story – heard these powerful messages from high school student Violeta, university student Milana, and activist Marina during an educational workshop called “How I See Myself in 10 Years.” The workshop was held as part of the project “Supporting Roma Girls’ Leadership and Activism.” With support from UNICEF, the project was launched by Bibija – Roma Women’s Centre and the Roma Girls’ Student Initiative. Its goal is to strengthen Roma women’s activism and promote educated Roma women as role models for girls at risk.
These activities are part of a larger project, “Ending Violence – Empowering Change,” jointly implemented by UN agencies in Serbia – UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women – in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and with support from the Government of Sweden.
Eighteen-year-old Violeta, a final-year student at the Vuk Karadzic School of Economics and Trade in Stara Pazova, is a true role model. She’s completing the legal-business stream and preparing to start her law studies at the University of Novi Sad.
“At school, there was a woman who taught the Roma language, and she had this amazing positive energy,” says Violeta. “I wanted to be like her one day – to be successful and achieve something of my own in life.”
The independence that comes with education is Violeta’s main motivation to keep moving forward. Every Roma girl, she says, deserves an equal chance at a better life.
“It’s important to support those who are younger than us – so they see they’re not alone, that they have someone backing them, and that anything in life is possible. It’s also important to promote the idea that girls shouldn’t marry young – they should have the chance to be themselves, to have something of their own, to say ‘I did this, and I’m proud of it.’ To go to school, to finish school, and to have a profession of their own,” says Violeta.
Through their own example, educated Roma women and activists are out in the community encouraging girls to stay in school – despite the challenges and resistance they may face from their families or communities.
“The project involves 25 activists, and we’re all focused on one thing that’s absolutely essential to us – education,” explains project coordinator Marina Simeunovic from the Roma Girls’ Student Initiative. “It’s important to keep motivating the girls not to give up. We also need to find ways to encourage parents to offer more support, and at the same time, we have to keep working consistently with institutions.”
As part of the “Supporting Leadership and Activism of Roma Girls and Young Women” project, a mentoring program called “Delimo” (“We Share”) is also being implemented.
“The program brings together 10 mentor-mentee pairs,” says Marina. “The mentors are experienced activists from the Roma women’s movement, while the mentees are also Roma – highly educated young women who want to use their knowledge, skills, talents and other resources to contribute to planning and carrying out concrete actions in their local communities.”
These community-led actions aim to raise public awareness that gender-based discrimination and violence are unacceptable, and that Roma women must have equal opportunities to participate in all areas of society.
“The moment they get a job – that’s when the wider community will truly see that the diploma, all the effort, and every obstacle they’ve overcome were worth it,” explains Marina. “That will be the biggest motivation for our girls.”
One of the mentees in the project is Milana Radu, a final-year law student. She’s optimistic, charismatic, and hardworking. Through her activism with the Roma Girls’ Student Initiative and her work experience at the Centre for Social Work – where she was involved in projects for the Roma community – she’s seen firsthand how important education is for Roma girls, both for their economic security and for achieving gender equality.
“What we’re really talking about here is girls dropping out of the education system because of child marriages,” says Milana. “It’s important to show that Roma boys and girls have role models within their own community – and we shouldn’t keep looking at things through the lens of old stereotypes. I believe we’ve moved past that. There are so many positive examples in our community today.”
She’s fought for her future – and she knows other girls can too. That’s why she spreads the message that education benefits everyone – the individual, the family, and society as a whole.
“I truly hope this project becomes a chance to help – even if it’s just one girl,” says Milana with confidence. “Because in a system like this, if you manage to help even one child to start with, you’ve already taken a step forward.”
Originally published at www.unicef.org