Faces and causes of Roma marginalization: Experiences from Romania

Abstract

The "Faces and Causes of Roma Marginalization in Local Communities" inquiry explored the economic, political, demographic, and social forces at municipal and community level which shape practices and consequences of social exclusion and potential pathways to inclusion. Phase 2 of this research focused on a representative sample of municipalities (20–30 per country) in Hungary, Romania, and Serbia to explore basic local social services and infrastructure provisions, conditions of political participation of the Roma, and local interventions targeting Roma inclusion. This research phase relied on structured field research collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. This short country report is based on the Final Country Report on the Faces and Causes of Roma Marginalization in Romania, edited in June 2013 by Enikő Vincze, with contributions from Cătălin Dîrțu, Adrian-Nicolae Furtună, Margareta Herțanu, Iulia-Elena Hossu, Elena Mihalache, Rafaela Maria Muraru, Florina Pop, Mihaela Preda, and Daniel Tudora. The Short Country report is also co-authored by this group in the sense that these colleagues collected and processed the field data. However, overall interpretation and presentation of the data was done by Enikő Vincze (the coordinator of the Romanian research team), therefore, this report is single-authored. The text refers to "us/we" or "I" according to fieldwork knowledge or interpretation. The Romanian research team also included Ramona Făcăleț, Andrei Mihail Tudor and Elena Trifan (as a volunteer) at the level of localities, and Nicolae Arsene, Violeta Dumitru, Victor Făcăleț, Marcela Șerban and Alina Tuța at the county level.