Gypsies, Roma, Travellers: Rights & Responsibilities
An insider’s guide to working with Romani and Traveller communities in the United Kingdom
Date: Tuesday 9th July 2019
Venue: First Space Chapter Arts Centre, Market Rd, Cardiff CF5 1QE
Admission: The cost for the day (including light refreshments and lunch) is £160.49 per delegate, if you book before the Tuesday 25th June and £181.81 per delegate if you book between Wednesday 26th June and Monday 8th July 2019.
Places will only be secured with a confirmed payment.
Organisers – The Romani Cultural & Arts Company
Book at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gypsies-roma-travellers-rights-responsibilities-tickets-57994190184?utm_term=eventurl_text
Who should attend this training?
This course is suitable for anyone interested in ensuring that their services are inclusive and accessible for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. It would be particularly useful for those who work in:
- Academia and Research
- Accommodation and Housing
- Early Years
- Education
- Environmental Services
- Equalities
- Fire, Police and Justice Services
- Government: local, regional and national
- Planning
- Public Health
- Social Services
- Transport
- Voluntary and Third Sector organisations
Why should you attend this training?
It will assist you to:
- Ensure effective engagement with the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities in your particular area
- Be understanding and informed in your interactions with people from the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities
- Be better able to assess the needs that address the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities in Wales
Aims
To increase awareness about the cultural diversity in the UK, to address issues and the needs of Gypsy, Roma, Travellers in the UK, to inspire and improve the services and provision delivered to GRT communities, and to generate trust and understanding between GRT communities and local authority service providers.
Learning Objectives
- To achieve a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of Romani and Traveller communities, from a local and international perspective;
- To develop a level of knowledge that will enhance and inform staff and officers’ work, related to health, education, housing and accommodation, training, justice and law enforcement;
- To introduce knowledge regarding the differences between Romani and Traveller communities and their cultures, languages and origins, insofar as is useful to participants in the training, with the aim of inspiring best practice and improving service delivery across all sectors;
- To introduce to participants, examples of community members who are role models and who can challenge the prevailing stereotypes of Romani and Travellers, or the negative images of ‘Gypsies’, present in media and popular press;
Outcomes
By the end the session participants will have:
- Increased their knowledge of the culture, traditions and history of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (this includes a timeline of key historical events and legislation);
- Developed an understanding of diversity within the Romani and Traveller communities (that is, who are Gypsies, Roma and Travellers?);
- Increased their awareness regarding the prejudice and discrimination faced by Romani and Traveller communities in Wales, the UK and more widely across the Europe;
- Identified obstacles to access and attitudinal issues, or barriers in services such as housing, accommodation, education, health, employment, safeguarding and other public services, that inhibit the delivery of quality provision to GRT communities;
- Improved participants’ understandings of how to engage effectively with the Romani and Traveller communities, particularly over issues of exclusion and marginalisation, and what they can do to address these and ensure inclusion in the delivery of services;
- Developed an Action Plan that will put their learning into practice, in the workplace;
- Established a baseline of knowledge and support that can be accessed to assist officers in carrying out their statutory duties.
General Information
The Romani Cultural Arts Company is the leading Romani and Traveller community-based organisation in Wales, using the arts and culture as a vehicle for advocacy, education and empowerment, amongst the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities and the wider society in Wales. RCAC also supports individuals to become “Community Champions”, as actors and agents of change in their own communities, making a difference for themselves and the wider society. RCAC is managed by a Board (voluntary management committee) made up of representatives from the GRT communities, meaning that community members have a role as decision-makers and are part of the process of shaping the advocacy and rights agenda that RCAC promotes.
The Company believes it is essential that the GRT communities be at the forefront of social progress and positive developments in social inclusion, in the struggle or the recognition of GRT rights and promoting inter-cultural understanding. Within Wales and increasingly across the UK, our advice and expertise is sought by local governments, policy-makers, decision-takers and local or national institutions. We are asked to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies and strategies or to support them in consultation to ensure the voice of the GRT communities they serve, is heard.
We lead on advocacy for these vulnerable communities, influencing the policy and strategy agendas in the context of a devolved Welsh Government and, increasingly internationally across the UK, and we deliver quality training for those who work with Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, who wish to improve their reach and their impact.
Please note: the training day will be held at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
