Social economy for Roma population - intervention strategies for supporting the social integration of Roma ethnics in Romania

摘要

In the last few years, social economy has been given lots amounts of attention in Romania, mainly as a result of the interest shown by the European Social Fund in this matter, interest materialized in important financing programs being directed to Romania in order to develop this sector of the economy. Moreover, in Romania have been made substantial efforts in the last two decades in order to socially and economically integrate the Roma population which, in general, is poor and low educated, with important cultural differences relatively to the majority of the population. All these efforts have not fully reached the desired outcomes but they didn't totally failed either, some important changes being made over the years. This study illustrates the strategies used in a couple of Roma communities that managed to develop social economy organizations and improve their living conditions, theorizing them and building recommendations for those interested in replicating these good practices in other Roma communities.