The ROM‐ACT project aimed at widening access to non‐formal and informal learning validation systems among Roma women in Europe in order to strengthen their educational, social, and labour integration.

The previous research studies highlight that the Roma community has developed specific abilities and competences related to the type of work they have done, but most of them do not have academic degrees and formal work experiences.

The ROM‐ACT Project, taking into account the contributions and recommendations of previous research studies, had as main objective to widen and improve Roma women’s access to non‐formal and informal learning validation systems in Europe in order to promote their educative, labour and social integration. The project contributed to the improvement of the current national systems of validation by bringing them closer to the needs of non‐academic people and more disadvantaged groups, as the Roma community. The project also promoted and improved the access of non‐academic people to the national systems of validation, encouraging civil society organizations to support non‐academic Roma women in their process of informal and non‐ formal learning validation.

Innovative character

• Its methodology: involving non-academic Roma women in discussion groups and including their contributions in the main outputs.
• Direct participation of Roma women
• Specific recommendations made by Roma women, organizations and policy makers were added to the project through the European Report and the Policy paper
• Its approach: All the contributions were made through an inter- and intra-generational dialogue among Roma women of different ages and backgrounds.

Main project outcomes

• Five National Reports and one European Report with the state of affairs of non‐formal and informal learning validation systems in Europe and recommendations made by Roma women and civil organizations
• Fifty non‐academic Roma women whose non‐formal and informal learning was validated
• An awareness raising campaign that included, among others, a DVD with interviews of Roma women explaining their successful validation experiences, a European guide to support organizations in the accompaniment of non‐academic groups in the validation process, and the project website
• A lobbying campaign to impact validation policies
• A network of associations involved in validation accompaniment

The partners of the project were organizations from Greece, Romania, Ireland, the Czech Republic and Spain.

At the beginning of 2016 the project “ROM‐ACT:  Widening Roma women’s access to non‐formal and informal validation systems” was selected as a “success story” by a panel of experts from the Directorate‐General  for Education and Culture of the European Commission. It has also been marked as such in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.

Duration: 2013-2014.