Living conditions of Roma and refugee communities sometimes are dramatic. And not only in Poland. We want to change this, that’s why we act internationally while building transnational coalitions. In October, as part of the “Knowledge sharing on social inclusion and housing” project, a team from the Foundation Towards Dialogue took part in a two-day monitoring visit in Slovakia.
“Knowledge sharing on social inclusion and housing” is an international project that the Foundation Toward Dialogue manages together with Habitat for Humanity Magyarország and Projekt DOM.ov. Our common goal is to change the housing conditions of people living in extreme poverty, including people from Roma community and refugees. Hence we decided to make the monitoring visit to Kosice, where we shared our knowledge and experience with organizations from Hungary and Slovakia. We conducted a common analysis of social housing programs. Our previous experience of cooperation among NGOs and local governments was taken under a magnifying glass. Basing on the experience of Slovakian organization that has been working with the Roma community for 15 years, we distinguished a set of competencies necessary for our activities to bring the desired results. We also set off into the field to meet and talk with those we work for. We visited Rancove and Kecerovce – villages that are good examples of how a long-term policy of building causality and a sense of responsibility brings success.
The study visit of the In the Direction of Dialogue Foundation to Slovakia took place from the 23rd of October 23 until the 25th of October 2023.