Date: Tuesday 17th December 2019 (9.30 AM – 5:00 PM)

Venue: First Space Chapter Arts Centre, Market Rd, Cardiff CF5 1QE

Admission: The cost for the day (including light refreshments and lunch) is £162.29 per delegate, if you book before the Tuesday 3rd December 2019 and £183.85 per delegate if you book between Wednesday 4th December 2019 and Monday 16th December 2019. Places will only be secured with a confirmed payment.

Organisers: The Romani Cultural & Arts Company

Who should attend this training?

This course is suitable for anyone interested in ensuring that their services are inclusive and accessible for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, in meeting the needs of ‘hard-to-reach’ communities, and in addressing the intersection of ethnicity, race, class, gender and inequalities.

It would be particularly useful for those who work in:

Academia and Research

Accommodation and Housing

Early Years

Education

Environmental Services

Equalities

Fire, Police and Justice Services

Government: local, regional and national

Planning

Public Health

Social Services

Transport

Voluntary and Third Sector organisations

Why should you attend this training?

It will assist you to:

Ensure effective engagement with the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities in your particular area

Address the range of policies and strategies necessary to empower Romani and Traveller families and individuals, especially girls and young women, LGBT Romani and Traveller individuals, children and youth, and the elderly in these communities, to overcome the disadvantages and obstacles they face in accessing services and provision on a daily basis

Build understanding, strengthen knowledge and make informed decisions in your interactions with people from the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities

Be better able to assess the needs of the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities in Wales

Aims

To increase awareness about the cultural diversity of Romani and Traveller communities across England and Wales, addressing issues of discrimination and exclusion, examining the needs of Gypsy, Roma, Travellers, to inspire and improve the services and provision delivered to GRT communities, and to generate trust and understanding between GRT communities and local authority service providers.

Learning Objectives

To achieve a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of Romani and Traveller communities, from local, national and international perspectives;

To develop a level of knowledge that will strengthen and improve staff and officers’ work, related to health, education, housing and accommodation, training, justice and law enforcement;

To introduce knowledge regarding the differences between Romani and Traveller communities and their cultures, languages and origins, insofar as is useful to participants in the training, with the aim of inspiring culturally sensitive ‘best practice’ and improving service delivery to all sections of the community;

To introduce to participants examples of community members who are ‘Community Champions‘ role models and who can challenge the prevailing stereotypes of Romani and Travellers, or the negative images of ‘Gypsies’, present in media and popular press;

Outcomes

By the end the session participants will have:

Increased their knowledge of the culture, traditions and history of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (this includes a timeline of key historical events and legislation);

Developed an understanding of diversity within the Romani and Traveller communities (that is, who are Gypsies, Roma and Travellers?);

Increased their awareness regarding the prejudice and discrimination faced by Romani and Traveller communities in Wales, the UK and more widely across the Europe, in particular Romani and Traveller women, LGBT Roma, older Travellers;

Identified obstacles to accessing their own services that Romani and Traveller people experience, and attitudinal issues, or barriers to equality of delivery in services such as housing, accommodation, education, health, employment, safeguarding and other public services, that inhibit the delivery of quality provision to GRT communities;

Improved participants’ understandings of how to engage effectively with the Romani and Traveller communities, particularly over issues of exclusion and marginalisation, and what they can do to address these and ensure inclusion in the delivery of services;

Developed an Action Plan that will put their learning into practice, in the workplace;

Established a baseline of knowledge and support that can be accessed to assist officers in carrying out their statutory duties.

General Information

The Romani Cultural Arts Company is the leading Romani and Traveller community-based organisation in Wales, using the arts and culture as a vehicle for advocacy, education and empowerment, amongst the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities and the wider society in Wales. RCAC also supports individuals to become “Community Champions”, as actors and agents of change in their own communities, making a difference for themselves and the wider society. RCAC is managed by a Board (voluntary management committee) made up of representatives from the GRT communities, meaning that community members have a role as decision-makers and are part of the process of shaping the advocacy and rights agenda that RCAC promotes.

The Company believes it is essential that the GRT communities be at the forefront of social progress and positive developments in social inclusion, in the struggle or the recognition of GRT rights and promoting inter-cultural understanding. Within Wales and increasingly across the UK, our advice and expertise is sought by local governments, policy-makers, decision-takers and local or national institutions. We are asked to evaluate the effectiveness of their policies and strategies or to support them in consultation to ensure the voice of the GRT communities they serve, is heard.

We lead on advocacy for these vulnerable communities, influencing the policy and strategy agendas in the context of a devolved Welsh Government and, increasingly internationally across the UK, and we deliver quality training for those who work with Gypsy, Roma, Traveller communities, who wish to improve their reach and their impact.

Please note: the training day will be held at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff