“Impreuna” Agency for Community Development is an NGO focusing on several areas, such as: community development, research, education, children and youth, labour market, especially in Roma communities in Romania. The main goal of the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” project is to prevent school drop-out, increase the level of aspirations of Roma children related to their educational achievements and to empower them by increasing their self-esteem and providing Roma role-models who have achieved their dreams through education. The secondary goal of the project is to combat discrimination of Roma children in the school system and to contribute to deconstructing stereotypes regarding the Roma population at large.

The project represents an innovative approach which combines activities focused on increasing Roma self-esteem with actions directed to supporting a friendly school environment, as well as the development of communities as spaces which promote diversity and social inclusion.

The intervention took place at national level, as a campaign aimed both at empowering Roma youth and combating negative stereotypes on the Roma among the majority population.

Project aims, on one hand, at increasing awareness among Roma children that success through education is a possible and desirable goal, and on the other hand at promoting a positive image of Roma through the portrayal and dissemination of role-models coined as “invisible Roma” because they do not correspond to the negative stereotypes the majority population holds on the Roma.

Through the project, 150 schools in Romania and Roma children, Roma youth, Roma parents/adults, Roma and non-Roma teachers and school administration staff, as well as the non-Roma public were reached. The project results encompass the sensitisation of these groups (more than 10.000 people) to the message that Roma can and must also succeed through education, and that their immediate environment (parents and teachers) need to encourage them and support them to succeed.