Building Inter-Ethnic Dialogue
Pisek, a tourist town founded in the thirteenth century, reflects the Czech Republic's complex ethnic challenges. The large Roma population has historically lacked representation in public institutions, and majority-minority relations have been tense.
In this context, Partners-Czech designed and faciliated a dialogue process that brought together Roma and local decision-makers to promote Roma participation in public life. The project, sponsored by the Council of Europe, began with extensive interviews of Roma citizens, police, and local officials in Pisek and neighboring towns in order to select participants and identify crucial issues. The interviews identified several important issues -- housing, education, unemployment and public safety -- as common concerns among all sectors of the population. Not surprisingly, interpretations of these concerns varied. For example, many Roma felt that police did not protect their neighborhoods, whereas ethnic Czechs often stereotyped the Roma as criminals.
Partners-Czech gained the support of Pisek's unemployment agency, town police, and the local government for a dialogue process. Bringing Roma representatives to the table required Partners-Czech to build trust and relationships, and occasionally required shuttle diplomacy to convince rival Roma clans to participate together. The next stage of the project consisted of communication skills workshops for Romas and local officials. After a common set of tools had been learned, Partners-Czech facilitated roundtable meetings for Roma representatives, police, the mayor, elected officials, and social service providers.
These meetings produced an agreement to implement new institutional relations between the Roma and the local government, police, and social service agencies. The dialogue group developed several task forces, with city officials and Roma representatives working together to reduce crime and prevent drug abuse. Roma representatives became members of key municipal committees, including the Crime Prevention Committee, the Housing Committee, and the Youth Committee. The group developed a Roma citizen police watch, and planned a joint Unemployment Agency-School Authority project to improve education and job opportunities for the Roma.
In neighboring towns, several mayors agreed to promote similar programs in their communities, while neighboring Roma groups developed civic associations to advocate for Roma inclusion in local decision-making.
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