STEP IN France

The local implementation of STEP IN in France was carried out in four different locations. In each location, the target group was specific, and the activities were tailored to their local situation.
The target was to similarly reach young French Roma and young Roma that were mainly from Kosovo. The families of the young French Roma are half-sedentary: they live in caravans in a designated field. They travel for 9 months a year and also often during the three months of the school holidays.
The context for the young Roma who came from Kosovo with their families is quite different. They have a foreigner status because their country is not a candidate to the European Union.

The four locations were the following:

1) Aix- en -Provence – Le Hameau de Martelly
Target group: French Travelling people families, of Roma culture, living in a very poor area, living next to a North African community Total of beneficiaries: 5 young people between 13 and 18 years old.
Activities: The young Roma people were supported in their schoolwork. Their interest in writing had grown through reading tales, because some of these tales belonged to the traveller’s tradition.
A group of young people was encouraged to form a gypsy music band, for some of them were playing guitar.

2) Aix –en- Provence – Le Plateau d’Arbois :
Target group: a group of Roma from Kosovo, parking on a ground, far from the agglomeration and near the TGV (high speed train) station. They were not well accepted by the local community.
Total of beneficiaries: 7 young people between 13 and 16 years old.
Activities: The work done with them was, on one hand, to teach them French as a foreign language, on the other hand, to help the families to find a school that would accept them, given that school attendance is only compulsory until the age of 16. Humanitarian help was also given, for these families lack everything.

3) La Rochelle – Muron
Target group: one family of travelling people, of the Manouche culture, resident in the village of Muron.
Activities: We supported a young French Roma of the «Manouche » culture, who wanted to take the BAFA (skills diploma to qualify for a Coordinator’s Function). He had already attended school up till the fourth form. The help consisted, on the one hand of helping him prepare the theoretical tests, on the other hand, it consisted of providing him with an approved location for the practical tests. He will do his BAFA work placement in one of Secours Catholique’s summer camps.

4) Crosne
Target group: Some families of travelling people settled on a piece of ground they own, but had been turned away, because the ground was liable to flooding. The group consisted of 6 young people between 10 and 18 years old.
Activities: School support was given to young Roma and Manouche children, who had already attended school. Their families lived on the piece of ground and only travelled from May to September. The town hall provided the premises. The youngsters rigorously visited this activity, because the school help was not free after school hours. Therefore, it was the only way for them to be supported in education that was free of charge.

Description of local implementation Negative points / difficulties:
In Aix - Hameau de Martelly, the fourth form level had a young girl aged 18 years in it. She had been admitted to the project, but her personal project didn’t correspond to the help we could provide for her in order to further her career.
The more serious situation was the one of the young Roma’s from Kosovo, parking in Aix – Plateau d’Arbois, where the voluntary team hadn’t managed to integrate them into a school. Therefore, the only contribution was the voluntary work carried out by this project. The priority goal really was to see these youngsters attend school.
Otherwise, another site was planned in Frejus (Toulon’s Delegation), a survival help had already been brought to a group of Romanian Roma, and a youth support project was being set up, when the population of Roma was expelled from the field. The inhabitants shared themselves out, which prevented us from implementing the project.

Positive points / strengths:
Secours Catholique, Caritas France, contacted the families in order to encourage the parents to send their children to school. But their attendance remained delicate, because the situation of some families is socially fragile. That was why making the children feel important by making them more aware of the wealth of their culture was very important. In this way four or five 15-year-old boys who played guitar formed a musical band. Secours Catholique, for its sixtieth anniversary in October 2006, is going to make them play in front of a huge audience, in Aix. A few young Roma girls know some of the traditional dances and will equally be invited to show them on the occasion of this 60th anniversary.
Despite everything the 18 years old young girl from Aix - Hameau de Martelly, reached the fourth form, thanks to the support that she received by our volunteers.
In La Rochelle, Muron: the success of the young boy at the BAFA, which will allow him to work as a coordinator for young people’s leisure activities. He still has to pass the second theoretical part of this diploma in November 2006, in order to obtain the real diploma. In Paris, Secours Catholique (Caritas France), created a practical audio-visual user’s guide for social services in the area for the STEP IN project, in order to improve the Roma’s knowledge on the specific legislation applying to French Travelling people. Power Point editing, including pictures, cards written in simplified French, manouche jazz and gypsy flamingo music given for free by two musical bands, are all included in the audio-visual presentation.
The audio-visual method consists of cards, with information on one side and pictures on the other, unfolding several legislation points related to the Travelling people’s life:
- The commune they are depending on
- The ambulatory activity and circulation titles
- The social institutions in the area in which they are resident
- The rest sites - Scholarships for the Travelling children
- The B.A.F.A. (Ability Diploma for a Coordinator’s function)

Download: ‘L’activité de ferraillage des Gens de voyage a Besançon’ (fr)