KERECSEND, Hungary, 7 April 2006 - Kerecsend, in northern Hungary, has a population of 2,500 people. It is a quiet place, where people can be seen milling about the streets, carrying groceries or walking to work. Near the center of town, however, the sound of hammers and cement mixers breaks through the peace. Two houses, once slated for demolition, are being renovated and will soon house three Roma families. Kerecsend was one of nine Hungarian villages selected as part of a pilot project to bring improved, sustainable housing to Roma populations. The project originated in the Hungarian government’s Department for Roma Integration, housed in the Ministry of Youth, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities. In 2003, the Department for Roma Integration received an Institutional Development Fund (IDF) grant from the World Bank for capacity building. The grant has allowed the fledgling department to hire staff, buy equipment, and provide training. The Department launched the Roma Settlements Housing and Social Integration project in June 2005. One of the guiding principles of the project is that housing must be addressed in conjunction with other problems facing the Roma population, such as unemployment, education, and health. The idea is that Roma cannot maintain and pay for their housing without secure employment and a solid education. Fighting unemployment Of the approximately 800 Roma living in Kerecsend, between 600 and 700 are unemployed, due to a regional shift toward agricultural labor that does not provide steady work.  Unemployed Roma are currently rebuilding two new houses and will participate in the planned rehabilitation of two other houses intended for young Roma and 18 other houses.
“We want to provide jobs so that young Roma families can move into these new social houses and eventually buy their own later. The municipality owns these houses and rents them to low-income families,” said Sándor Kiss of the mayor’s office. Other city employment opportunities include maintenance, building gas lines, improving roads and sidewalks, and building a new playground. Forty-seven people are part of four brigades that landscape, clean, work at landfills, and plant new forests. Although all of these jobs are temporary, the hope is that they will build skills that will lead to more permanent positions and break the cycle of long-term unemployment. Providing quality education  | A first-grade teacher engages her
students in fun mental exercises. |
Kerescend’s municipal government is also keen on addressing the issue of sub-standard education affecting Roma children. Although only about one quarter of the town’s population is Roma, 90 percent of the children in primary school are Roma because of high birth rates. But rather than let the local primary school become yet another “special school” for Roma, where children receive inferior education on the assumption that Roma children have learning disabilities, Kerecsend municipality is investing in quality education. A new building will soon open its doors to students, next to the existing school. Students also have access to an early intervention program in the first-grade. Six children who were falling behind the regular curriculum have received special attention this year and should all move on to the second grade. Small class size and a caring teacher have made a profound difference in their education. Good role models are also essential to the development of Roma children. In the Kerecsend kindergarten, the principal hired a Roma teacher’s assistant on a trial basis. Irén Váradi, formerly a worker in the school’s kitchen, approached the principal with the idea and attended a six-month school program for teacher’s assistants, funded by the local employment office.  “I love children and am very happy to have the chance to work here,” Irén emphasizes. “This sets a great example for my three children who are very excited for me. My husband is also very supportive. My daughter is now in high school on a scholarship.”
Today, almost 100% of Roma children in Kerecsend finish their eight years of primary school. Secondary school is another story. Students have to travel to surrounding towns to continue their schooling, and often cannot afford the transportation costs. They feel excluded in a setting with few Roma after their experience in a Roma-dominated primary school. Allegations of discrimination by teachers and students in nearby towns also keep Roma students away. A best-practice example “Unfortunately, the excellent educational example that Kerecsend has set is a rarity in Hungary,” says sociologist Ildikó Somorjai, the liaison between the Department for Roma Integration and Kerecsend. “But even here, Roma mothers give birth very young and sometimes neglect the children, leading to poor motor and language skills.” Kerecsend may be small and somewhat of an anomaly, but its record over the past few years in simultaneously improving housing, education, and employment prospects for Roma is a best practice example for other Hungarian communities, and even other countries. The Roma Education Fund, a now-independent Hungarian foundation that was originally an off-shoot of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, is also planning to work with the nine villages targeted by the Hungarian government for this housing project. This type of cooperation can help ensure that mutually reinforcing obstacles to Roma inclusion are overcome.
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