GipsyEye-Roma youth association-Iasi

is a grassroots organization whose members is from several civil society groups such as university and high school students but also less educated young Roma. Our motto is “See beyond prejudice”. The association was founded in 2007 on the initiative of six Romani students as an informal group, and in August 2008 became an official NGO. Our official website is www.GipsyEye.com. The association is based in Iasi, in the North-East of Romania. Although this is the least developed region of the country, this town plays an important role in the Romanian cultural (eg: is the third biggest university center after Bucharest and Cluj, is the capital of the former Moldavian Principate) and economical life. Five percent of the Romanian Roma live there, i.e. 10% of the population of Iasi are Roma. Most of the Roma live in the cities of Iasi, Pascani, and Targu Frumos and there are several villages where the Roma population is the same or more than the Romanian population (Grajduri, Ciurea, Miroslovesti, Lungani, Pietris, Crucea, Siretel, Cozmesti, etc).
The aim of the association is to fight prejudices against Roma by the following initiatives:
• showing alternative paths for better life for Romani Youth
• enhancing Roma identity in Romani Youth by giving knowledge of Romani culture and history
• offering a chance for the Romani Youth to share their cultural heritage and other values of the Romani Community with youth from other Romani communities as well as non-Roma
• providing a forum for the youth to express their opinions, thoughts and expectations from the minority’s life
• improving the non-Roma perception about Roma by initiating Roma and non-Roma cooperation projects on different topics such as antidiscrimination, culture and diversity.
The volunteers benefit from their activities by improving their social and communicative skills and developing their personalities.
This project is a Roma initiative willing to fulfill our aim, fighting prejudices and that promotes in the cadre of the European citizenship the Roma identity.