Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategy in Slovakia : identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy.
Date: 2020-12-26
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers
Subjects: Roma, Slovakia, anti-discriminatory measure, civil society, equal treatment, ethnic discrimination, monitoring report, social integration, sport

Civil society monitoring report  
on implementation  
of the national Roma integration strategy 
in Slovakia 

Identifying blind spots  
in Roma inclusion policy 

Prepared by: 
Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture 
Association for Culture, Education and Communication 
Roma Advocacy and Research Centre 
Roma Media – ROMED 
Community Centre of Minorities 
People in Need 
Roma Platform 
February 2020 

Justice 
and Consumers 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 
Directorate D — Equality and Union Citizenship 
Unit D1 Non Discrimination and Roma Coordination 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Civil society monitoring report  
on implementation  
of the national Roma integration strategy 
in Slovakia 

Identifying blind spots in Roma inclusion policy 

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers 
2020 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 

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The report was prepared by a coalition of NGOs:  

-  Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture,  
-  Association for Culture, Education and Communication,  
-  Roma Advocacy and Research Centre,  
-  Community Centre of Minorities,  
-  Roma Media,  
-  Roma Platform, 
-  People in Need.  

The main editor was Ms. Jarmila Lajcakova while other members of the coalition offered 
support and information. 

The report was prepared as part of the Roma Civil Monitor pilot project, ‘Capacity-building 
for  Roma  civil  society  and  strengthening  its  involvement  in  the  monitoring  of  National 
Roma Integration Strategies’. The pilot project is carried out for the European Commission, 
DG Justice and Consumers. It is coordinated by the Center for Policy Studies of the Central 
European  University  (CEU  CPS),  in  partnership  with  the  European  Roma  Grassroots 
Organisations Network (ERGO Network), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), the 
Fundación  Secretariado  Gitano  (FSG)  and  the  Roma  Education  Fund  (REF)  and 
implemented with around 90 NGOs and experts from up to 27 member states. 

Although the Roma Civil Monitor pilot project, as part of which the report was prepared, is 
coordinated  by  CEU,  the  report  represents  the  findings  of  the  author  and  it  does  not 
necessarily reflect the views of CEU. CEU cannot  be  held responsible for any use which 
may be made of the information contained therein. 

5 

 
CONTENTS 

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... 7 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 8 
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 10 
ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH ............................................ 11 
State sports policy ............................................................................................... 13 
Roma integration policies and sport........................................................................ 16 
Participation of Roma children in sports .................................................................. 17 
Barriers that Roma children face in accessing sports................................................. 19 
Specific barriers experienced by Roma girls ............................................................. 20 
Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 21 
MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION PROGRAMMES .................... 22 
Monitoring .......................................................................................................... 22 
Evaluations ......................................................................................................... 24 
Available evaluations: What is missing? .................................................................. 25 
National ESF project “Monitoring and Evaluation” ..................................................... 29 
Conclusions  ........................................................................................................ 29 
TARGETING THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY .................................................................. 30 
NRIS and targeting the mainstream ....................................................................... 31 
Targeting the mainstream society and fighting prejudice in education ......................... 32 
Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 35 
RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................ 37 
BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 39 

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 

ACEC 
CCM 
CVEK 
ESF 
ESIF 
FRA 
MERSaS 
MPC 
NGO 
NRIS 
OGPRC 
PE 
PISA 
RAVS 

Association for Culture, Education and Communication 
Community Centre of Minorities 
Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture 
European Social Fund 
European Structural and Investment Funds 
Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union 
Ministry of Education, Research, Science and Sport 
Methodical Pedagogic Centre 
Non-governmental organisation 
National Roma Integration Strategy 
The Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities 
Physical education 
Programme for International Student Assessment  
Roma Advocacy and Research Centre 

7 

 
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

Access to sports for Roma children and youth 

The first chapter reviews two main pillars of state’s policies in sport and their ability to 
facilitate access to sports to Roma children and youth. First, Sport for All ‘s policy relies as 
main  policy  tool  for  this  age  group  physical  education  (PE),  taught  at  primary  schools, 
secondary  schools  and  universities.  Our  mapping  of  PE  courses  at  elementary  schools 
found  that  Roma  children’s  participation  in  PE  classes  is  likely  lower  than  children  on 
average. In the teachers’ view, this was mostly due to the children often failing to bring 
proper  sports  attire  to  the  schools.  Some  teachers  believed  that  the  parents  of  Roma 
children  disproportionally  more  often  sought  permission  for  their  children  to  be  absent 
from  PE.  A  couple  of  PE  teachers  observed  that  Roma  children  feel  uncomfortable  to 
change their clothes in front of other children of the same sex in the changing rooms. More 
generally, interviews with the PE teachers across Slovakia indicated that they somewhat 
accept  this  status  quo  and  invest  limited  efforts  into  addressing  the  causes  of  lower 
participation in sport or even compulsory PE courses. The main measure to promote access 
to after school activities, vouchers, worth 32 EUR a year per child is far from sufficient to 
cover  the  costs  of  the  monthly  fees  in  sport  clubs.  Finances  for  club  membership,  for 
example, in a football club can cost between 30-100 EUR a month with additional expenses 
required  for  the  proper  attire  as  well  as  for  costs  associated  with  competitions  or 
tournaments. 

The other pillar of the state sports policy, Support of Talented Youth, acknowledges that 
financial  costs  are  one  of  the  barriers  preventing  talented  youth  from  becoming  elite 
athletes. Yet, there are no system measures to overcome this barrier. This is also the case 
with  the  newly  established  fund  for  sport  with  a  yearly  allocation  of  20  million  EUR. 
Furthermore, one of the system-level measures, a nationwide testing of sport aptitudes 
among pupils enrolled in year one and year three of elementary school, does not envisage 
any comprehensive follow-up activities that would actually help parents and children in 
enrolling into sports clubs.  

While official state policies in sport are blind to the situation of socially disadvantaged or 
Roma children, the action plans implementing the National Roma Integration Strategy of 
2011 (NRIS) do not cover sport.  

In practice, we have found merely random activities supporting access of Roma children 
to sport promoted mostly by community centres or individuals. These activities have not 
been part of any policy efforts but really depend on the willingness of individuals, often 
working in community centres or occasionally sport clubs that focus on this target group.  

In  terms  of  barriers,  aside  for  financial  costs,  accessing  sport,  especially  as  a  non-
organised,  leisure  form  of  activity,  accessibility  to  sports  facilities  may  pose  one  of  the 
most obvious barriers for children living in marginalised areas. This can be caused by the 
fact that a certain portion of such children live in segregated or separated areas with no 
available  playgrounds.  Besides  residential  segregation,  other  direct  or 
indirect 
discrimination  practices  can  curtail  access  to  sport  facilities,  included  cases  when  a 
municipality banned access of Roma children to the local outdoor pool.  Also, racism may 
pose yet another barrier as some observers noted that non-Roma parents would object to 
a “disproportionate presence” of Roma children in some of the sports clubs. Finally, girls 
are  even  less  likely  to  participate  in  sport,  both  as  a  leisure-time  activity  as well  as  in 
organised sports, due to fewer opportunities for sporting for girls, especially in rural areas 
and also due to gender biased expectations by some families.  

Monitoring and evaluation of Roma inclusion programmes 

Slovakia  has  allocated  significant  funds  from  the  European  Social  Fund  (ESF)  on  Roma 
inclusion through so-called national projects with large, several million EUR budgets often 

 8 

 
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

provide certain services in numerous localities in a rather uniform manner, e.g. social field 
workers,  assistant  personnel  in  school  or  health  mediators  provide  similar  services 
following same methodology with the same costs.  

Projects funded from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are monitored 
based on methodical guidelines and strategic documents. Thus, during the implementation 
phase, monitoring focuses on progress, which provides a basis for refunding of undertaken 
activities. Second, monitoring officers gathers data to assess the implementation of the 
entire operational programme. After the project completion, recipients of funding submit 
their  final  monitoring  reports  as  required  in  their  contract.  Aside  from  lacking  basic 
disaggregation of the basis of gender, a rather striking aspect of the monitoring process 
is the lack of indicators would help to monitor the quality of services.  

While monitoring is an obligatory aspect of each national project, this is not the case with 
evaluations. We were not able to find  out why certain national projects plan evaluations 
and why others do not. Moreover, our review of three better quality evaluations of key 
programmes – community centre workers, field social workers and support staff at schools 
and  kindergartens  promoting  inclusive  education  providing  better  standards  –  shared 
similar  shortcomings  that  prevent  us  to  learn  from  past  mistakes.  Evaluations  failed to 
focus  on  the  results  and  impact  of  the  activity  on  Roma  inclusion.  Also,  none  of  the 
evaluations  thoroughly  considered  perspectives  of  the  clients  or  target  groups  –  Roma. 
Gender perspective was absent too. Also, the independence of the hired experts to pursues 
evaluations should be reinforced. 

Targeting the mainstream society 

The third chapter focuses on how Slovakia addresses prejudice ad stereotypes shared by 
the majority society that undermine Roma inclusion efforts. The chapter finds that while 
Slovakia’s  NRIS  of  2011  declared  the  need  to  target  the  mainstream  society  through 
communication activities as a precondition for successful implementation of social inclusion 
policies, there is very little, if any, implementation in place.  

Furthermore, also the educational system provides rather limited resources to tackle and 
prevent  prejudice.  It  appears,  for  example,  that  available  textbooks  do  not  provide 
accurate and balanced information about Roma and Roma history. 

Currently,  the  only  traceable  effort  to  address  this  deficiency  through  a  material  on  all 
legally recognised national minorities, including Roma has been delayed for more than two 
years.   

Finally, the chapter cautions that the potential of the educational system to equip children 
and youth with skills to be able to critically understand information presented in social and 
other  media,  including  the  widely  shared  hoaxes  and  misinformation  about  Roma  that 
constructs and perpetuates anti-Roma stereotypes, is very limited. 

9 

 
 
INTRODUCTION 

The  report  focuses  on  access  to  sports,  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  large-scale 
programmes and policies targeting mainstream. We have selected these areas because 
they  either  present  blind  spots  in  Roma  inclusion  policies  or  their  importance  and/or 
implementation  is  underestimated.  These  areas  thus  in  our  view,  deserve  significantly 
more attention in the post-2020 efforts to increase the impact of Roma inclusion policies. 

The first chapter argues that access of Roma children and youth to sports is an example 
of area that presents a blind spot in Roma integration policies. As well, mainstream sport 
policies fail to consider the situation of socially disadvantaged children and youth and their 
opportunities to participate in organised  sports. There is a vast research indicating that 
sport  provides  a  valuable  policy  tool  in  addressing  prejudice  and  tackling  stereotypes, 
helping children from disadvantaged background to acquiring social capital. Sport is known 
to  be  beneficial  for  the  healthy  development  of  children  and  youth.  Sporting  can  also 
provide a sense of importance and meaning in life especially during the problematic period 
of  puberty  and  to  prevent  criminality  among  youth  as  well  as  drug  abuse.  Given  the 
potentially enormous benefits of sport for Roma children and youth, it is striking how little 
attention is paid to this area. Indeed, as we argue in the chapter, support of poor  Roma 
children  is  mostly  left  to  the  efforts  of  community  centres  or  individuals  that  is  rather 
random.  Generally,  Roma  children  and  youth  of  disadvantaged  social  standing  face 
enormous barriers in accessing sports – from discrimination in accessing sports facilities 
through financial barriers or their parents’ lack of social capital. In this group, Roma girls 
are  even  less  likely  to  participate  in  sport  as typically  the  only  accessible  activities  are 
related  to  so-called  boys’  sports,  facing  further  gender-based  prejudice.  Equally  limited 
sports  opportunities,  however,  are  provided  to  poor  children  regardless  of  their  ethnic 
background.  

The  second  chapter  focuses  on  monitoring  and  evaluation  of  large-scale  projects  using 
European structural and investment funds. In the Slovak contexts, a typical example of 
such  projects  is  so  called  national  projects.  These  are  implemented  by  state  agencies, 
using multimillion EUR budges and often provide certain services in numerous localities in 
a rather uniform manner, e.g. social field workers, assistant personnel in school or health 
mediators provide similar services following same methodology with the same costs.  The 
chapter  reveals  monitoring  of  the  quality  of  performed  services  is  absent.    In  terms  of 
evolutions, even those that present better standards and evaluations, fail to focus on the 
actual impact of the programmes. We believe that in post 2020 policy efforts, monitoring 
and evaluation of at least projects with large budgets should be performed diligently. There 
is a risk that projects repeat the same deficiencies and ultimately reinforce the popularly 
shared prejudice that despite millions of EUR invested into inclusion policies, there is no 
progress  and  that  thus  feed  into  the  extremists’ narrative  that  ‘Roma  are  unadaptable’ 
despite the millions of euros invested.   

Finally, the third area of this report addresses policies affecting mainstream society to fight 
stereotypes and reduce prejudice against Roma in Slovakia. The state action in this area 
could be significantly reinforced to reduce discrimination against Roma, and also to create 
more favourable conditions for Roma inclusion policies. While we recognise that changing 
deeply  ingrained  anti  Roma  attitudes  and  stereotypes  is  a  challenging  endeavour  and 
require sustained effort, we see very little efforts in this area. Well-meant state plans to 
left  without  any  tangible 
target  mainstream  society  and  prejudice  has  been 
implementation actions that one could expect yielding tangible results. A state educational 
system that is unable to tackle institutional segregation promotes stereotypes about Roma 
children as being inferior while doing very little to actually target children and reduce their 
prejudice.  Information  about  Roma  and  Roma  history  that  would  also  help  students  to 
understands the complex reasons behind Roma exclusion is scarce. Saliently, the potential 
of the system to equip children and youth to be able to critically assess massively shared 
hoaxes and misinformation about Roma is very limited.  

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ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH  

At the end of August 2018, a photograph of 13-year-old Roma girl Annamaria Horváthová 
standing on the first-place podium for the 800-metre sprint run went viral in Slovakia. The 
iconic picture captured Annamaria wearing ballet flats, in which she ran the race, unlike 
her professionally trained and appropriately equipped non-Roma competitors on the stand. 
The photo of the girl, raised in a single parent household in a poor home without tap water 
in  Moldava  nad  Bodvou  made  it  quickly  into  the  mainstream  media,  stirring  a  wave  of 
sympathy and financial donations to fund her training with the local athletic team. 1 

(Photo CVrček, Moldava nad Bodvou, 2018) 

Incidentally,  a  few days  after, incumbent  Prime Minister  Peter  Pellegrini  paid  an  official 
visit  to  the  newly  constructed  multimillion-euro  national  football  stadium  in  Slovakia’s 
capital  of  Bratislava.  The  stadium,  built  by  an  oligarch  with  close  ties  to  the  governing 
parties, was anticipated to be shortly bought off by the state. The state is planning to buy 
the  stadium,  but  at  a  significantly  higher  price  than  originally  agreed.  To  justify  the 
expense, including the additions, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini argued in an emotional 
speech that Slovaks deserve to have the highest standard facility, including the highest 
standard seating and lighting.2 

1 „Dievčatko z osady predbehlo súperky o kolo. Obuté malo namiesto tenisiek balerínky”, tvnoviny.sk, 31 
August 2018, available at: https://www.tvnoviny.sk/domace/1932858_dievcatko-z-osady-predbehlo-superky-
o-kolo-obute-malo-namiesto-tenisiek-balerinky  

2 Ján Petrovič, „Pellegrini: štát možno dá na stavbu Kmotríkovho štadióna viac”, aktuality.sk, 4 September 

2019, available at: https://www.aktuality.sk/clanok/620292/pellegrini-stat-mozno-da-na-stavbu-kmotrikovho-
stadiona-viac/  

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CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

(Photo, Pravda Ivan Majerský) 

There is vast research, especially in the context of integration of migrant communities, 
indicating that sport provides a valuable policy tool in addressing prejudice and tackling 
stereotypes. Sport can help children and youth to develop social capital that can be used 
later  in  their  lives  while looking  for  jobs  or  other  opportunities  and  can  more  generally 
support their integration into the broader society. There are also studies looking at the 
integration of migrant girls through sport, exploring the potential for overcoming multiple 
discrimination. Moreover, sport can help to build a community spirit and common identity 
and  promote  intercultural  learning.  Sport  is  furthermore  beneficial  for  the  healthy 
development  of  children  and  youth.  Sporting  can  provide  a  sense  of  importance  and 
meaning in life especially during the problematic period of puberty. In addition, sport can 
be  a  helpful  tool  to  prevent  criminality  among  youth  as  well  as  drug  abuse.  Sport  can 
furthermore  help  to  develop  a  positive  image  of oneself  that  can  help to  overcome  the 
negative  impact  of  racism.  Some  research  also  indicates  a  positive  impact  on  the 
development  of  motor  skills  and  on  the  development  of  cognitive  capacities  in  early 
childhood. Naturally, when organizing sports activities, school clubs have to respect the 
equality and equal standing of each of their participants. By contrast, if the organisation 
of a sport is based on the development of ethnically and socially homogenous teams, it 
can also reinforce racism and segregation.3  

Given the potentially enormous benefits of sport on the integration of Roma, it is striking 
how little attention is paid to this area. Indeed, the current state of affairs is well captured 
by the story of Annamaria and of the newly built stadium. An exceptionally talented girl is 
now practicing athletics only thanks to the private donations and efforts of the local team, 
brought  about  purely  incidentally  because  of  the  mass  media  attention.  Indeed,  as  we 
show  in  this  chapter,  it  is  at  best  only  the  gifted  children  that  have  the  opportunity  to 
participate  in  organised  sport.  Socially  disadvantaged  children  are  invisible  in  sports 
policies, while significant funds are invested into projects and, in fact, sports clubs with 
questionable  backgrounds,  as  illustrated  with the  case  of  the  national  football  stadium. 
Support of children from poor households is mostly left to the efforts of community centres 

3 For an overview of research with references see Elena Gallová Kriglerová, Zuzana Havírová,Alena Holka 

Chudžíková, Šport ako cesta z geta (Bratislava, CVEK, 2019) at 9-12, available at: http://cvek.sk/wp-
content/uploads/2019/12/Šport-ako-cesta-z-geta_final.pdf  

 
 
 
 
 ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH 

or individuals. Interestingly, even Roma integration plans fail to address these deficiencies 
of  system-level  sports  policies.  Roma  children,  especially  from  socially  deprived 
backgrounds,  face  enormous  barriers  in  accessing  sports  –  from  discrimination  in 
accessing sports facilities through financial barriers or their parents’ lack of social capital. 
In this group, Roma girls are even less likely to participate in sport as typically the only 
accessible  activities  are  related  to  so-called  boys’  sports,  facing  further  gender-based 
prejudice.  Equally  limited  sports  opportunities,  however,  are  provided  to  poor  children 
regardless of their ethnic background. 

The chapter explores this area through the perspectives of various stakeholders, ranging 
from  Roma  parents;  community  centre  leaders;  representatives  of  state  agencies, 
including  the  MERSaS;  and  physical  education  teachers  and  concludes  with  policy 
recommendations. 

State sports policy 

Sport for All 

The Conception of State policy in area of Sport  – Slovak sport 2020, adopted in 2012,4  
sets out the main policy framework based on two pillars: 1. Sport for All and 2. Support 
of Talented Youth.   

The Sport for All policy approach was formulated already in the 1970s by, among others, 
the Council of  Europe and was included in Slovakia’s legislation in the late 1990s. 5  The 
Sport for All approach endorses leisure-time, non-organised sports that are accessible for 
all segments of society, supporting their physical and emotional well-being and preventing 
health problems.6 Among the main policy tools is PE, taught at primary schools, secondary 
schools and universities. The Slovak version of the approach sets out among its objectives 
an increase of the number of physical education classes from two to three per week. This 
has not been implemented yet. 

Among  the  barriers  that  generally  curtail  PE  courses  at  elementary  schools,  the 
government’s sport policy included in a government resolution lists inadequate supply of 
sports  facilities  in  school  premises  for  so-called  traditional  sports  such  as  volleyball, 
basketball, handball, football or athletics. On the other hand, the state policy welcomes 
an increasing number of multifunctional facilities available for schools. In terms of access 
to sport, the state helps parents to cover expenses associated with attending after-school 
activities with vouchers worth 32 EUR per year with a yearly allocation of almost 20 million 
euros. However, the MERSaS was unable even to provide a rough assessment the portion 
of  vouchers  that  covers  sports  activities.    Moreover,  the  costs  of  the  vouchers,  i.e. 
3.20 EUR a month is insufficient to cover the costs of the monthly fees. 

More generally, the state sport strategy does not analyse financial or other barriers that 
can in practice prevent certain segments of children and youth from accessing sports. The 
state sports strategy at times even relies on institutions such as kindergartens, to which, 
for example, Roma children have limited access.7 At only one instance does the resolution 
state  that  community  centres  should  address  the  situation  of  socially  disadvantaged 
children,  acknowledging  that  they  are  unable  to  financially  access  regular  sports  clubs. 

4 State Conception in Area of Sport – Slovak Sport, adopted by government resolution No 703/2012 on 6 

December 2012, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/612  

5 Act No. 288/1997 Coll. on Physical Education, as amended, para 3 section 2. 

6 State Conception in Area of Sport – Slovak sport, adopted by government resolution No 703/2012 on 6 

December 2012, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/612, at 2. 

7 Please see further data on preschool enrolment of Roma children e.g. in Civil society monitoring report 

on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2019), at 64-65, available at: 
https://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/attachment/basicpage/3034/rcm-civil-society-monitoring-report-2-
slovakia-2018-eprint-fin-3.pdf  

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CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

There are no measures facilitating access to mainstream sports clubs. The document does 
not  analyse  the  situation  of  Roma  girls,  or  in  fact  girls  in  general,  who  may  be  further 
disadvantaged in access to sport. There is no account on whether sport can or perhaps 
should be used to integrate and/or tackle stereotypes.8   

Our interview with an employee of the MERSaS working at the sport department confirmed 
that the state policy in this area is lagging behind developments at the international level. 
Aside from noting that the official policy document adopted by the government is largely 
a  formal  instrument  without  providing  much  practical  guidance  for  the  MERSaS,  she 
recognised  that  matters  regarding  sport  for  socially  disadvantaged  children  remain 
neglected. In fact, drawing on her experience at various international sports policy-related 
events, she listed gender equality, overtraining and abuse of power of coaches towards 
athletes among the additional salient issues that remain ignored in the Slovak context.9  

The interviewed civil servant further pointed out that the section for Sport at the MERSaS 
has difficulties in cooperation with the department responsible for regional education. And 
this regional education department is responsible, for instance, for physical education in 
schools that is also an important item in the Sport for All approach. More fundamentally, 
the MERSaS felt that their capacities were limited concerning the support of inclusion as 
they sought their real role to be mainly in the distribution of funds for sport to the sports 
unions which distribute the funds to the clubs. However, the clubs receiving funding have 
no responsibility to promote participation of socially disadvantaged children in sport. 

Nevertheless, several other stakeholders have underlined the benefits of including sport 
for  socially  disadvantaged  children  into  the  centre  of  state  policies.  Vladimir  Horváth, 
assistant to currently the sole Member of Parliament of  Roma  background, argued that 
based on his experience, sport can be used also to promote school participation and more 
generally  improve  school  performance  of  poor  children.10  Peter  Németh,  who  leads  a 
community centre in Prešov, further added that sport can help to develop the motor skills 
of poor children. In  his view, among other things, sports activities designed to address 
prejudice among children proved to be very effective.11 An employee of a municipal office 
of a mid-size town in western Slovakia underlined the importance of sports activities, in 
terms  of  not  only  physical  conditions  but  also  mental  skills  such  as  being  responsible, 
punctual, patient or being able to integrate. However, they note that they have no specific 
policies targeting poor children.12 

Our mapping of PE courses, essentially the only pillar of the Sport for All approach included 
also the interviewing of five PE teachers working in elementary schools across Slovakia. 
We found that Roma children’s participation in PE classes is somewhat lower than children 
on average. In the teachers’ view, this was mostly due to the children often failing to bring 
proper  sports  attire  to  the  schools.  Alternatively,  some  teachers  underlined  that  the 
parents of Roma children disproportionally more often sought permission for their children 
to  be  absent  from  PE.  A  couple  of  PE  teachers  observed  that  Roma  children  feel 
uncomfortable  to  change  their  clothes  in  front  of  other  children  of  the  same  sex  in  the 
changing  rooms.  Especially  Roma  girls  either  do  not  exercise  or  change  their  attire  in 
washrooms  and  arrive  to  PE  already  in  their  sporting  clothes.  A  teacher  of  physical 
education at an elementary school specialised in sports observed that Roma children do 
not participate in any sports clubs. She could not relate the reasons but believed that the 

8 State Conception in Area of Sport – Slovak Sport, adopted by government resolution No. 703/2012 on 6 

December 2012, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/612, at p. 2. 

9 Interview at the MERSaS CVEK (October 2019). 

10 Interview with Vlado Horváth for CVEK (October 2019). 

11 Interview with Peter Németh from Community Center in Stará Tehelňa for CVEK (August 2019). 

12 Interview with a municipal office employee in Trnava for CVEK (October 2019). 

 
 
 
 ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH 

children  there  probably  were  not  interested.13  More  generally,  interviews  with  the  PE 
teachers across Slovakia indicated that they somewhat accept this status quo and invest 
limited efforts into addressing the causes of lower participation in sport or even compulsory 
PE courses.14 

Support of talented youth and children  

The other pillar of the state sports policy seeks to identify and support talented youth to 
eventually  become  elite  athletes.  The  State  Resolution  on  Work  with  Youth  Talented  in 
Sport for 2015-2020 anticipates that the support of youth to become elite athletes must 
be  systematic  and  based  on  state-wide  recruitment.15  The  support  shall  be  organised 
through  several  channels  –  centres  of  leisure  activities,  sports  classes  within  regular 
schools  and  elementary  and  secondary  sports  schools.  The  resolution  also  anticipates 
support in terms of sport for children and youth with disabilities.  

In the section “the main problems of the school system in support of talented youth,” the 
resolution acknowledged financial costs as one of the barriers preventing talented youth 
from becoming elite athletes. The objective of the policy is reduced to merely increasing 
Slovakia’s  sports  representation  at  international  events,  support  of  talented  youth, 
renovation  and  development  of  sports  infrastructure,  especially  of  the  national  football 
stadium  and  to  the  support  of  sport  for  people  with  disabilities.  The  strategy  mentions 
socially disadvantaged groups among the target groups; however, without a link to any 
specific activities. There are no remarks on the objective of gender equality in sport, which 
is  central  at  the  Olympic  games  level16  and  recognised  by  the  EU17  and  the  Council  of 
Europe.18  

In  2015,  the  parliament  adopted  a  new  law  regulating  sport  that  extends  to  the 
governance  of  this  area  between  the  MERSaS,  higher  municipal  units,  towns  and 
municipalities.  The  legislation  anticipates  that  the  organisation  of  sports  at  a  highly 
competitive and elite level is governed mostly through federations with separate budgets 
based  on  the  number  of  their  athletes  and  outcomes  measured  though  results  in 
competitions.  The  Sport  for  All  methodology  is  more  vested  within  the  governance  of 
higher territorial unites, towns and municipalities. Self-government administration units 
are responsible for the maintenance and development of sports facilities and should also 
develop  their  own  conceptions  of  support  for  Sport  for  All.  The  legislation  does  not 
anticipate any specific targeting of children with socially disadvantaged backgrounds.19  

In September 2019, the parliament adopted a new law on sport funding that anticipates a 
rather  autonomous  yearly  distribution  of  20  million  EUR  per  year  through  a  newly 
established fund for sport and includes both priorities: Sport for All as well as support of 
talented children.20 However, the act does not mention or focus on the situation of socially 
disadvantaged children, and given the silence or perhaps rather ignorance of this issue in 
public policies and among the current decision makers, it is unlikely that the fund will be 

13 Interviewed with PE teacher in Prešov for CVEK (August 2019). 

14 Information included in memos prepared by RAVS, ACEC and CCM for this report. 

15 Conception of work with talented youth in sports for 2015-2020, government resolution no. 564/2015 

of 14 October 2015, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/12368/1  

16 Please see for instance at: https://www.olympic.org/gender-equality. This is, however, a not discussed 

issue within the Slovak Olympic committee https://www.olympic.sk/novinky/5651  

17 Please see sport agenda at the European Institute for Gender Equality available at 

https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/policy-areas/sport  

18 Please see on the sport and gender equality agenda at the Council of Europe, available at: 

https://www.coe.int/en/web/genderequality/sport  

19 Act No. 440/2015 Coll on Sports, as amended 

20 Act No. 310/2019 Coll on the Fund on the Support in Sports. 

15 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

used  in  part  to  target  participation  of  Roma  or  more  generally  socially  disadvantaged 
children in sport.  

Nevertheless, one of the system-level measures that the MERSaS implemented to support 
talented children was nationwide testing of sport aptitudes among pupils enrolled in year 
one and year three of elementary school. However, the MERSaS, in their internal circular 
to the directors of elementary schools argued that the aim was not to identify the most 
talented children. The testing should rather help children and parents to choose the type 
of sport in which their children can be successful. The first pilot testing was implemented 
in 2017/2018 among pupils enrolled in year one while the first nationwide testing of all 
children  enrolled  in  year  one took  place  in  2018/2019.  The  Ministry  envisaged  that  the 
testing  of  this  age  group  cohort  should  be  undertaken  once  they  reached  grade  three. 
According to the plan, the Ministry anticipated that significant efforts would be invested 
into the preparation of the methodology and its incorporation into a rather sophisticated 
online  tool.  Interestingly,  the  resolution  merely  anticipated  that  each  child  could  be 
optionally  issued  information  for  the  child  and  parents  with  the  results  and  five 
recommended sports with a list of sports clubs in the region.21 At this point, the MERSaS 
is evaluating results from testing focused on the measurement tools and their relevance 
rather than follow-up activities.  

However, the testing does not envisage any comprehensive follow-up after the testing that 
would actually help parents and children in enrolling into sports clubs. In practice, we have 
seen that the testing was performed, and children received their grades based on charts 
prepared  by  the  MERSaS.  However,  there  were  no  follow-up  discussions.  No  plans  are 
envisaged  for  talented  or  socially  disadvantaged  children  that  are  accompanied  with  a 
financial and other support system. At best, one of the schools reported that they provided 
parents with a list of sports clubs in the region. Rather surprising was the reaction of one 
of the interviewed teachers, anticipating that it was the parents who failed to reach out to 
learn about the testing of the children: “parents do not seek out these results at all.”22  

Roma integration policies and sport 

While official state policies in sport are blind to the situation of socially disadvantaged or 
Roma children, the action plans implementing the NRIS do not cover sport. 23 Interestingly, 
the  strategy  was  adopted  after  the  Office  of  the  Government  Plenipotentiary  for  Roma 
Communities (OGPRC) organised a Roma youth symposium that in their official declaration 
called for the creation of a long-term programme aiming to seek out and support talented 
athletes and support sport counselling in order to increase the number of Roma coaches 
and to encourage the proper following of school curricula of physical education, in part in 
the  context  of  Roma  children.24  In  our  interview,  Tibor  Škrabský,  an  employee  at  the 
OGPRC,  noted that  they  have  no  specific  focus  on  sport.  Indeed,  Škrabský  pointed  out 
that they have limited knowledge about the use of sport for social inclusion. He argued 

21 Celoslovenské testovanie pohybových predpokladov žiakov prvých a tretích ročníkov základných škôl na 

identifikáciu športového talentu (podklady pre sekciu regionálneho školstva na poradu riaditeľov základných 
škôl), (not dated) available at: 
http://zsss.stranka.info/stranky/zsss/F/subory/sport_testovanie_identifikacia_sportoveho_talentu.pdf?PHPSES
SID=d1b6216aa9c4c8b91bcc73018da0f5a6  

22 Interview in Prešov for CVEK (August 2019) 

23 See the most recently updated Revised Action plans on NRIS until 2020 for years 2019-2020 for areas 

D.2.1 education, D.2.2. employment, D.2.3 health, D.2.4. housing and D.2.5 financial inclusion, government 
resolution 25/2019 adopted on 17 January 2019, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/963  

24 First Joint declaration of the congress of Roma youth adopted on 6 April 2018 in Bratislava. Available 

at: 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjKk6
e1y8HlAhUHohQKHcciAw4QFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.minv.sk%2F%3Ftlacove-
spravy%26sprava%3Dvieme-presne-co-chceme-odkazuju-mladi-romovia-
spolocnosti%26subor_spravy%3D292659&usg=AOvVaw2P4Q_imsGRu5eHMxiuNywj  

 
 
 
 ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH 

that they do not see any specific role of sport in relation to Roma children, meaning that 
it’s equally important for both Roma and non-Roma children. The office was also aware 
merely of random local initiatives, mostly focusing on football, which did not present as 
mixed activities engaging both Roma and non-Roma children. He also pointed out that in 
order to promote inclusion, it is necessary to focus on mixing Roma and non-Roma players 
into teams rather them letting the kids play against one another based on their ethnicity. 

Participation of Roma children in sports 

In practice, while looking at how Roma children participate in sports either for leisure or 
in a manner that could potentially lead to elite sporting, we have found merely random 
activities promoted mostly by community centres or individuals, typically with some ties 
or a prior experience working with Roma children or youth. These activities, however, have 
not been part of any policy efforts but really depend on the willingness of individuals, often 
working  in  community  centres.  Most  frequently,  Roma  children  do  sport  in  community 
centres as leisure activities, mostly playing table tennis or ball games that do not require 
major financial investments. These activities typically cater solely to Roma children living 
in a certain excluded locality. Only when a certain community centre caters to both Roma 
and  non-Roma  children  in  a  certain  locality  do  children  practice  sport  jointly.  This  is, 
however, a rather exceptional situation.25 

In our interviews, community centre employees argued that they have limited capacities 
to facilitate inclusion of Roma children into regular sports clubs. As admitted by one of the 
community centre leaders in Prešov, “also for us, sport is a secondary, tertiary issue; we 
do not have people, we have here a great deal of clients with enormous problems, there 
are three employees from the Implementation Agency; we are working as volunteers until 
the period when the next project starts, […] we do not have the capacity to organise sport 
here professionally; we can try, like we tried karate or table tennis  […] it’s only us, me 
and my colleagues […] if we see a kid that is extremely talented, such as has been the 
case with some football players, we try to help him to advance and convince the club to 
take this child.”26  

Also,  we  have  encountered  situations,  mostly  with  football  clubs,  where  they  lack  a 
sufficient  number  of  good  players  and  reach  out  to  children  and  youth  in  marginalised 
communities. Typically, this is mostly driven by sport clubs seeking football players. In 
Trnava, for example, Juraj Štofej, who leads the local community centre, drives four Roma 
children twice a week to a football club in a village at the outskirts of the town, outside his 
work duties. In our interview, Štofej noted that for children who spent most of their time 
in  a  segregated  urban  ghetto,  this  is  also  a  good  opportunity  to  get  outside  of  this 
environment and encounter non-Roma children. According to Štofej, the local football club 
did  not  have  a  sufficient  number  of  good  football  players  and  thus  reached  out  to  the 
community centre. The club is covering expenses for training sessions and tournaments 
while the community centre is paying for the transportation to the football club.27 If Štofej 
did not volunteer to help with the transportation, this activity would most likely cease to 
exist as the club is located outside the city limits of Trnava in a small village that is not 
easily accessible by public transportation. Similarly, in Veľký Krtíš, a local club in a nearby 
village provides transportation for several Roma from town, recognizing that commuting 
is an issue and without such efforts, their participation in the club would likely cease to 
exist.28 We have found a slightly different scenario illustrating another possible pattern of 
Roma  children’s  participation  in  sport  in  a  smaller  village  in  eastern  Slovakia.  In  a 

25 Information included in memos prepared by RAVS, ACEC, Roma media, Roma Platform and CCM for this 

report. 

26 Interview with Peter Németh of the Community Center in Stará Tehelňa for CVEK (August 2019). 

27 Interview with Juraj Štofej of the Community Center in Trnava for CVEK (October 2019) 

28 Memo prepared by the CCM for this report. 

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CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

community  with  hundreds  of  Roma,  only  five  boys  from  better-off  Roma  families  play 
football for the local village club supported by the municipality. The boys are children of 
parents who themselves play football at the local gym of the elementary school that is 
made accessible by the municipality.29  

In our mapping of recruitment strategies among bigger football clubs,  these only rarely 
reach  out  to  Roma  communities.  In  our  interview  with  the  manager  of  a  large  and 
nationally renowned football club located in the same town, he recalled having perhaps a 
couple of  Roma  players in the past. Indeed, these were  Roma  girls who were recruited 
from  a  foster  home  to  play  in  newly  opened  female  team.  They  were  recruited  rather 
accidentally  while  taking  part  in  a  charity  event.  Normally,  the  team  recruits  talented 
children  from  kindergartens  across  town.  Roma  children,  however,  rarely  attend  these 
kindergartens. Alternatively, it is the parents who reach out to the football club to enrol 
their child.30 The local athletic club in Trnava does not undertake any specific recruitment 
activities. According to the club manager, they used to approach schools, organise sports 
clubs at schools and even events where children could try different sports. Now, the club 
is  rather  large.  With  almost  five  hundred  members,  there  is  no  need  to  undertake  any 
outreach activities. Parents apply to the club instead. Nevertheless, the club has a special 
social fund for children whose families may have difficulties to cover expenses for talented 
children.31 

In our mapping, along with football, Roma children were also likely to engage in boxing 
and martial arts.32 A rather well-known example is the academy of Tomy Kid, which was 
established by Slovakia’s leading boxer in Galanta and supported through state financial 
mechanisms,  recruiting  children  from  socially  disadvantaged  environments,  including 
Roma children.33 We were also able to find a couple of local clubs in Veľký Krtíš focused 
on Thai boxing and similar martial arts. In Veľký Krtíš, Pavol Berky, who leads a local club 
for mixed martial arts, regularly visits the school and presents exhibitions that motivate 
the  children  to  attend.  Also,  teachers  can  contact  the  club  in  case  they  spot  not  only 
talented but also children that behave aggressively. The club is mixed in terms of ethnicity 
and gender, with 60 members from age 5 to 40  years. Children practice boxing and/or 
mixed martial arts three times a week and pay 35 EUR a month. Half are Roma children, 
including  children  from  poor  social  background  and  one-third  are  girls.  While the  fee  is 
rather high for poor families, the fees are exempted for poor children. However, they need 
to  attend  the course  regularly.  They can  afford  to  drop  the  fee  thanks  to  support  from 
private donors. According to Berky, sporting has an enormous positive impact on children: 
“Children come from elementary schools with no physical abilities, they train and they also 
learn collective spirit, respect of one another and gain self-confidence.”34  This observation 
is in line with available research on benefits of sport.35 In another town, Holíč, we found 
children  from  the  poorest  Roma  families  attending  the  local  boxing  club  under  the 
leadership  of  a  Roma  coach.  The  club,  similarly  to  the  one  in  Veľký  Krtíš,  trains  mixed 
athletes, including girls. One of the most successful athletes is a Roma girl. As the family 

29 Memo prepared by Romed for this report. 

30 Interview with manager of Spartak for CVEK (October 2019). 

31 Interview with a manager of a local athletic club for CVEK (October 2019). 

32 However, there is also a known sport club in powerlifting in Fiľakovo targeting Roma children from 
urban ghetto. See e.g. in Jana Čavojská „ Tréner rómskych silákov z Fiľakova: Som rád, ak v práci niekto 
z klubu odchádza, lebo je to kvôli práci”, January 6, 2019, Plus 7 dní, available at: 
https://plus7dni.pluska.sk/ludia/trener-romskych-silakov-filakova-som-rad-ak-niekto-klubu-odchadza-lebo-je-
to-kvoli-praci [Coach of Roma powerlifters from Fiľakovo: I am pleased is someone is leaving the club, it is 
because of getting a job] 

33 Please see more information at: https://www.tomikid.com  

34 Interview with Pavel Berky (October 2019). 

35 Please see sources cited in footnote 3, above. 

 
 
 
 ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH 

does not have funds to cover her expenses, her coach helps to cover the expenses with 
his own funds or with the help of private donors.36 

Barriers that Roma children face in accessing sports 

In accessing sport, especially as a non-organised, leisure form of activity, accessibility to 
sports  facilities  may  pose  one  of  the  most  obvious  barriers  for  children  living  in 
marginalised areas. This can be caused by the fact that a certain portion of such children 
live  in  segregated  or  separated  areas  with  no  available  playgrounds.  In  Trnava,  we 
observed  one  city  councillor  who  proposed  the  building  of  a  football  playground  in 
proximity to the urban ghetto. Together with local inhabitants of the ghetto, he cut the 
grass to prepare for the playground as well as for a community garden that would allow 
additional leisure-time activities to be held there. Eventually, however, other councillors 
rejected this plan, arguing that Roma kids should rather use the sport pitch of the local 
elementary schools. However, this appears to be a strategy to water down any efforts as 
these areas are either not accessible or poorly accessible.37  

Besides residential segregation, other direct or indirect discrimination practices can curtail 
access to sport facilities. For example, a few years ago in Moldava nad Bodvou, the city 
banned  access  of  Roma  children  to  the  local  outdoor  pool.38  In  2016  in  Hrčeľ,  the 
municipality  divided  the  operating  hours  of  the  multifunctional  playground,  newly  built 
from EU funds39, for Roma and non-Roma visitors. On odd-numbered days, the playground 
was accessible for non-Roma while on even-numbered days, it could be used by Roma. 
This regulation, presented as a written notice, was dropped after a challenge by Ondrej 
Dostal, one of the Members of the Slovak Parliament.40 

In  Veľký  Krtíš,  a  natural  swimming  pool  (called  a  bio-swimming  pool)  is,  in  practice, 
inaccessible to poor Roma families as they do not qualify for a city card that is provided 
only  to  those  without  any  outstanding  debts.  Thus,  they  do  not  qualify  for  significantly 
reduced fees and therefore cannot access the city facility. The city also has an ice-skating 
stadium. This is not attended by Roma children at all as they do not own skates, cannot 
afford rental fee or the entrance fees. The access to sports playgrounds in school areas is 
too complicated to be available for the children to play.41 

In another smaller village in eastern Slovakia, children tend to play just outside the local 
multifunctional playground. The rules for accessing it are rather complicated. It is locked 
and  only  a  designated  person  has  the  keys  and  no-one  among  Roma  knows  who  the 
designated  person  in  the  municipality  is.  The  Roma  parents  interviewed  for  this  report 
would welcome having a playground close to the settlement as they do not believe that 
their  children  would  be  welcome  using  the  facilities  for  the  majority  populations  in  the 
municipality.42 

In  terms  of  access  to  organised  sports,  most  of  the  respondents  agreed  that  actual 
availability of sports for Roma children living in marginalised areas is very poor. The state 
relies on parents, their social skills and capital along with a certain financial stability rather 

36 Memo prepared by RAVS. 

37 Interview with Juraj Štofej for CVEK. 

38 Memo prepared by Roma platform. 

39 Operational programme Development of Rural Areas (Rozvoj vidieka) during the programming period 

2007-2013, Priority axes 4, basic services for rural population, code of the measure 321, project code 
44181100004, information available at: https://oks.sk/oks-vyzyva-odstranit-segregacnu-prax-v-obci-hrcel/  

40 SITA,TASR „ Dostál upozornil na segregačné praktiky v obci Hrčel“, 12 March 2016, sme.sk, available 

at: https://romovia.sme.sk/c/20121173/dostal-upozornil-na-segregacne-praktiky-v-obci-hrcel.html  

41 Memo prepared by CCM. 

42 Memo prepared by Romed. 

19 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

than creating opportunities and reaching out to disadvantaged children. Families living in 
segregated environments, struggling to survive, are less likely to invest efforts to enrol 
their children into sports clubs than more affluent parents having social capital and perhaps 
a previous experience with participation in organised sport. Funding sports activities for 
parents living in material need was, according to one of the interviewed community centre 
leaders, “one of the lowest priorities […] for them [Roma parents], it is important to buy 
food, pay bills, school fees and millions of other fees…”43 However, we have encountered 
that better-off Roma families from larger towns actively seek out sports activities, often 
using the internet.44 Moreover, in a rural environment, in which most marginalised Roma 
live,  their  access  to  sports  clubs  is  generally  more  challenging  with  significantly  fewer 
opportunities than in larger towns. 

A  significant  barrier  is  posed  by  the  financial  costs  of  participating  in  organised  sport. 
Finances for club membership in a football club can cost between 30-100  EUR a month 
with additional expenses required for the proper attire as well as for costs associated with 
competitions or tournaments. Some clubs recognise this barrier and reduce or drop the 
fee for children from poorer families. Mostly, however, the fee is dropped only in cases 
where children are gifted. Furthermore, the economic backgrounds of children may play 
out differently in different sports, as pointed by one of the respondents. In the view of one 
of the interviewed athletic coaches, collective sports such as football create an incentive 
for unfair calculations when coaches may in some matches let children play depending in 
part on the capacity of their parents to sponsor the club. This practice is less likely in the 
case  of  individual  sports,  such  as  athletics,  that  depend  on  the  actual  results  of  each 
athlete. Athletes participate in competitions based on their individual results.45 Moreover, 
sports  such  as  gymnastics  and  also  others,  largely  depend  on  additional  support  of 
parents,  such  as  working  as  coaching  assistants,  judges  or  helping  with  driving  to 
tournaments, which may pose yet another barrier that is hard for socially disadvantaged 
parents to overcome. 

Finally, through interviews with one of the PE teachers, we have found that racism may 
pose  yet  another  barrier.  The  teacher  notes  that  non-Roma  parents  would  object  to  a 
“disproportionate presence” of Roma children in some of the sports clubs.46 At the same 
time,  racism  and  residential  and  school  segregation  may  be  somewhat  internalised  by 
Roma children who worry about joining ethnically mixed clubs. One of the Roma parents 
in our interview observed that sometimes “Roma children are more afraid, especially those 
that are not used to being among non-Roma” to do sport with non-Roma children, which 
can be an additional barrier in accessing sport.47 

Specific barriers experienced by Roma girls 

Our mapping furthermore revealed that girls are even less likely to participate in sport, 
both as a leisure-time activity as well as in organised sports, due to two main reasons. 
First, due to fewer opportunities for sporting for girls, especially in rural areas. Often the 
only available clubs or activities are viewed as designed for boys, such as football, even 
though  these  can  be  equally  played  by  girls.  In  Prešov,  the  community  centre  leader 
observed that If girls are sporting, it is typically only jumping using the elastics or similar 
activities  close  to  their  homes.48  Also,  girls  are  rather  stereotypically  led  to  participate 
merely  in  dancing  as  a  sport  or  a  leisure-time  activity  designed  for  girls,  especially  for 

43 Interview with community centre leader in Presov for CVEK. 

44 Interview with a Roma mother in Trnava for CVEK. 

45 Interview with an athletic coach in Trnava for CVEK. 

46 Interview with a PE teacher in Presov for CVEK. 

47 Interview with a Roma parent in Trnava for CVEK (October 2019). 

48 Interview with Peter Németh in Prešov for CVEK (August 2019). 

 
 
 
 ACCESS TO SPORTS FOR ROMA CHILDREN AND YOUTH 

Roma girls. Second, Roma girls’ chances to do sport are constrained by expectations by 
some families that sport is more of an affair for boys, typically opting for football, which is 
most widely available.49 ACEC observed that Roma girls in several smaller municipalities 
in eastern Slovakia tend to perform sport only when they are very small, before reaching 
the age of puberty.50 There are no policies or practices to respond to this traditions with 
the objective of facilitating participation of girls in sports.51 

Conclusions  

Given these potential positive benefits for the integration of excluded groups, combatting 
racism  and  prejudice,  and  for  developing  desperately  needed  social  capital  among 
disadvantaged  youth,  it  is  striking  how  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  sporting  of  Roma 
children  and  more  generally  to  the  socially  disadvantaged  perspective.  In  proposing 
changes,  we  believe  that  it  is  not  sufficient  to  merely  mainstream  the  cause  of  these 
groups  into  policies.  The  entire  system  of  support  for  sport  and  its  organisation  likely 
requires  a  mindset  of  reform  in  line  with  more  recent  developments  that  focus  on 
stimulation  of  a  less  competitive  environment  for  children  that  will  not  discourage  and 
stress  them,  in  line  with  principles  of  respect  and  dignity  of  athletes,  aiming  at  gender 
equality. Such reform should be also accompanied by a comprehensive system of support 
for  socially  disadvantaged  children  and  their  parents  and/or  members  of  deprived 
minorities.  Equally,  there  is  likely  the  need  to  reconsider  the  allocation  of  financial 
resources.  The  proposal  of  complex  reform  steps  is  beyond  the  scope  of  the  report. In 
chapter 5, we thus limit ourselves to merely several recommendations that may help to 
improve the standing of poor children with a disclaimer that much larger reform is needed. 

49 Interview with Juraj Štofej in Trnava for CVEK (October 2019). 

50 Memo prepared by ACEC for this report. 

51 Memo prepared by ACEC for this report. 

21 

 
 
 
MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION 
PROGRAMMES 

Slovakia  has  allocated  significant  funds  from  the  ESF  on  Roma  inclusion  through  so-
called  national  projects.  National  projects  are  prepared  and  implemented  by  state 
agencies  upon  a  specific  call  for  proposal  issued  by  a  governing  agency  of  the 
operational  programme  and  typically  also  implement  a  certain  national  policy.  52  In 
Roma inclusion policies, national projects with large, several-million EUR budgets often 
provide certain services in numerous localities in a rather uniform manner, e.g. social 
field workers, assistant personnel in school or health mediators provide similar services 
following the same methodology with the same costs.53  

Specifically, national projects that fund such positions can be questioned as paying for 
basic services that should be continuously funded through the state budget. A major 
disadvantage of project funding is the lack of continuity and months-long breaks that 
typically  disrupt  provision  of  services.  If  a  municipality  is  not  able  or  interested  to 
provide its own funding during this period, trained workers are discharged and are forced 
to look for other opportunities. With the inception of a new project in a new funding 
cycle, new staff must be recruited and trained, which may diminish the possible positive 
impact of previous work of field workers on the clients. Nevertheless, we observe that 
there is more or less an agreement among policy makers, mayors and NGOs that these 
types  of  services  are  needed,  and  that  national  projects,  if  running,  do  promote 
inclusion.  

In this chapter, we focus on monitoring and evaluation of the national Roma inclusion 
projects with the largest budgets. These projects derive from an assumption that they 
are effective and deliver inclusion. Yet, as we argue in this chapter, this assumption and 
indeed  the  actual  impact  may  be  questioned  mainly  due  to  two  main  reasons: 
monitoring of the quality of performed services is absent and the evaluations – even the 
most advanced - do not evaluate the actual impact of the programme and thus we are 
left merely with subjective perceptions that the programmes promote inclusion.  Such 
assumption  without  the  support  of  reliable  data  is  problematic.    There  is  a  risk  that 
projects repeat deficiencies and flaws and reinforce the popularly shared prejudice that 
despite millions of EUR invested into inclusion policies, there is no progress and that it 
is Roma’s fault as “they are unable to integrate”. 

Monitoring 

Projects funded from the European Structural and Investment Funds shall by monitored 
based  on  methodical  guidelines  and  strategic  documents.  The  key  policy  document 
issued by the central coordination unit, entitled System of Governance of the European 
Structural and Investment Fund, includes the monitoring of projects among the basic 
principles of their implementation.54 

During the implementation phase, projects are monitored through two steps. First is the 
implementation  of  progress,  which  provides  a  basis  for  refunding  of  undertaken 
activities. Second, monitoring officers gathers data to assess the implementation of the 
entire operational programme. After the project completion, recipients of funding submit 
their  final  monitoring  reports  as  required  in  their  contract.  The  guidelines  also 

52 This information is available at the web site of the Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs and Family, 

available at: https://www.employment.gov.sk/sk/esf/programove-obdobie-2007-2013/narodne-projekty/  

53 Please see for an overview of national projects web sites of the main implementing agencies at the 

MERSaS at  https://www.ia.gov.sk, OGPRC at https://www.minv.sk/?narodne-projekty,  

54 Systém riadenia európskych štrukturálnych a investičných fondov (Centrálny koordinačný orgán, 
Úrad podpredsedu vlády Slovenskej republiky pre investície a informatizáciu, 2019) (version 9), at 120-121, 
available at: https://www.partnerskadohoda.gov.sk/zakladne-dokumenty/  

 22 

 
 
 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION PROGRAMMES 

anticipates  that  project  activities  shall  be  sustained  for  a  certain  period  after  their 
completion, typically on a yearly basis.55 The operational programme Human Resources, 
which  funds  the  large-scale  Roma  inclusion  national  projects,  sets  out  quantitative 
objectives for each priority – for example, the number of members of marginalised Roma 
communities that use social services. The programme contains a baseline  number, for 
example, 37,639 clients in 2014 along with end value to be achieved in 2023 – 75,261 
recipients.56 The specification of a particular national project does not, however, contain 
baseline  data.  For  example,  the  national  project  funding  field  social  work  contains 
additional quantitative indicators to be measured and monitored: number of new social 
field  workers  participating  in  the  project,  number  of  newly  or  continually  employed 
persons from marginalised Roma communities employed as field social workers or their 
assistants – without baseline information. The end values are not disaggregated on the 
basis of gender. They also do not include qualitative indicators that would also monitor 
the  quality  of  the  provided  services.  57  Nevertheless,  each  national  project  contains 
further additional indicators that are set out to monitor activities in more specific terms, 
which allow the modification of activities, especially to ensure that they have a required 
composition of clients. According to our interview with an officer at the Implementation 
Agency, modification of indicators is doable, for example, in a situation when there is 
no longer a need to provide a certain service. Monitoring of larger-scale projects such 
as field social work or of community centres is vested with one monitoring manager that 
continuously gathers data on a weekly or a monthly basis. Data are analysed once a 
year at the level of the entire operational programme.58 All this information is publicly 
available through a dedicated system called ITMS.  

A rather striking aspect of the monitoring process is the lack of indicators would help to 
monitor  the  quality  of  services.  In  our  interview,  the  government  plenipotentiary  for 
Roma  communities,  Ábel  Ravasz,  indeed  underlined  that  monitoring  indicators  are 
mostly quantitative, not qualitative. In his view, this is “not such a strong aspect, but 
rather  a  weakness  of  these  projects;  I  accept  this.”59  However,  in  his  view,  regional 
coordinators perform monitoring through random on-site controls. He also underlined 
that  that  these  controls  of  actual  project  implementation  are  more  revealing  than 
monitoring through quantitative indicators. 

The MERSaS, implementing key inclusion projects through its agency, the Methodical- 
Pedagogic  Centre  (MPC),  monitors  quality  merely  informally  through  the  school 
implementing  the  project.  Veronika  Palková,  who  is  responsible  for  EU  funds  at  the 
MERSaS explained “Colleagues also perform also on-site control and thus they do not 
visit only the MPC, but also schools. Recently, when they went to eastern Slovakia, they 
also visited also schools and wanted to see, for instance, what a special pedagogue was 
doing, but did not check the content – that, is what a certain member of inclusive team 
is doing well; or what he or she is not doing well, this is not the role of our section. This 

55 Systém riadenia európskych štrukturálnych a investičných fondov (Centrálny koordinačný orgán, 
Úrad podpredsedu vlády Slovenskej republiky pre investície a informatizáciu, 2019) (version 9), at 120-121, 
available  

at: https://www.partnerskadohoda.gov.sk/zakladne-dokumenty/  

56 Operačný program Ľudské zdroje na programové obdobie 2014-2020, Ministerstvo práce, sociálnych 

vecí a rodiny SR, Riadiaci orgán pre OP, available at: 
https://www.employment.gov.sk/files/slovensky/esf/op-ludske-zdroje/oplz_final.pdf  

57 Vyzvanie na národný projekt Terénna sociálna práca a terénna práca s prítomnosťou MRK-II. Fáza, 

Zoznam povinných merateľných ukazovateľov, vrátane zadefinovanej relevancie k horizontálnym princípom, 
Appendix 5, available at: 
http://www.minv.sk/swift_data/source/mvsr_a_eu/oplz/vyzvania/np_terenna_socialna_praca_a_terenna_pr
aca_v_obciach_s_pritomnostou_mrk_ii/P5_Zoznam%20PMU.pdf  

58 Interview with employees of the Implementation agency (21 October 2019) 

59 Interview prepared for this report with Ábel Ravasz on 21 October 2019 

23 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

is undertaken by the school. Probably, if the school is not satisfied with a certain person, 
he is replaced by someone else.”60 

While  officers  interviewed  at  the  MERSaS,  Ministry  of  the  Interior  and  the 
Implementation Agency of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families claimed 
that changes in actions required on the basis of monitoring are envisaged and frequent, 
Ravasz  was  more  sceptical.  He  described  the  process  drawing  on  the  example  of 
changes in qualification criteria required for field social workers. “If one of the field social 
workers has a good idea on how to improve the project […] by changing the qualification 
criteria  to  ensure  that  one  can  employ  someone  in  the  project  who  has  some  other 
schooling or a field of study, he communicates it with the municipality. The municipality 
communicates  with  our  regional  coordinators;  the  proposal  arrives  from  the  regional 
coordinators  to  Bratislava,  we  are  communicating  with  our  intermediary  body,  the 
intermediary body communicates with the central coordination body and eventually the 
central body with the European commission and then it comes back. It can be not only 
months, but years before this  happens. If something gets into the system and is not 
useful but is kept there, it takes very long time to change. It is all because these projects 
come from the European funds.”61 

Monitoring is overseen by committees: one for the specific priorities relevant for Roma 
inclusion projects (priority axes 5 and 6 of the OP Human Resources) and one for the 
entire  operational  programme.  Among  the  numerous  members  are  also  several 
representatives of NGOs, however, with insufficient voting rights to change the decision 
of the majority of members representing state agencies.62  

Evaluations  

While monitoring is an obligatory aspect of each national project,  this is not the case 
with  evaluations.  We  were  not  able  to  find  out  why  certain  national  projects  plan 
evaluation and why others do not. It appears to be a rather subjective decision of the 
intermediary authorities. For example, Adriana Ďatková, responsible for monitoring of 
national  projects  administered  by  the  OGPRC  confirmed  that  none  of  the  national 
projects implemented by this office plan evaluations of the entire projects (i.e. support 
of  community  centres,  field  social  workers,  support  of  preschool  education  and  of 
legalisation of lands in settlements).63 In her view, the intermediary body at the Ministry 
of  the  Interior  made  such  decisions.  This  department  did  not  directly  respond  to  our 
question about the basis upon which evaluations were planned. Nevertheless, Ďatková 
also  added  that  given  that  there  is  a  certain  flexibility  in  allocation  of  funds, 
implementing  agencies  can  undertake  at  least  some  partial  evaluations  of  certain 
activities.  Specifically,  she  mentions  the  project  NP  PRIM  focused  on  support  of  pre-
school education of Roma children, which anticipates the evaluation of two programmes 
developed  in  the  course  of  the  project  –  assessment  of  children’s  needs  and  their 
stimulation  and  evaluation  of  work  with  family  –  which  are  viewed  as  innovations. 
However,  it  is  not  clear  whether  these  evaluations  will  be  performed  by  external 

60 Interview prepared for this report with Veronika Palková, head of department for Operational 

programme Human resources and operational programme Education on 28 October 2019. 

61 Interview prepared for this report with Abel Ravasz on 21 October 2019 

62 Information about monitoring committees is available at: 

https://www.employment.gov.sk/sk/esf/programove-obdobie-2014-2020/monitorovaci-vybor-op-ludske-
zdroje/  

63 Please see information about the projects and the method of their implementation in Civil society 

monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2018), at 21 
ff, available at: https://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/attachment/basicpage/3034/rcm-civil-society-
monitoring-report-1-slovakia-2017-eprint-fin.pdf  

 
 
 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION PROGRAMMES 

evaluators  as  Ďatková  declared  that  external  evaluations  are  not  planned  by  the 
OGRPC.64  

The Implementation Agency of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and by the MERSaS 
are more likely to undertake evaluation of their national projects. In our interview, one 
of the agency’s employees explained, “There are national projects with no evaluations. 
This is because of the decision of the ministry or there are other means how the project 
and  its  results  are  being  monitored.  Personally,  I  can  say  that  I  regret  this,  because 
evaluation reports, if professionally prepared, are a good precondition, in case European 
funds are to be used again, to ensure that this issue is moving forward. But there are 
other  means,  either  through  monitoring  reports  or  evaluation  reports  […]  however  it 
does not completely replace evaluation reports.”65 These officers, however, noted that 
some  of the projects that were evaluated  also  included a proposal of how field social 
work  could  continue  after  the  duration  of  the  project.  Generally,  they  believed  that 
evaluations were very important: “Our employees, because we put emphasis on this, to 
ensure that terms of references for these evaluations are well prepared and undertaken 
[…]  we  also  work  closely  with  the  evaluation  agency  to  define  questions  of  the 
evaluations as well as methods.”66 

The  interviewed  officer  of  the  MERSaS  believed  that  there  should  be  more  efforts  to 
really see what  the impact on the target group was is – i.e. the pupils. “We see that 
now  we  are  halfway  there;  I  would  say  […]  one  thing  is  what  is  requested  from  the 
system of governance that we are bound to do. It is not that we could not do anything 
beyond this framework – the evaluation provides us with a good opportunity to evaluate 
the  impact  in  time,  undertaking  of  both  internal  and  external  evaluations  –  but  it 
requires financial means and someone who would coordinate it all somehow…”67 

Available evaluations: What is missing?  

Aside from availability of evaluations, another important aspect is the quality of available 
evaluations.  We  have  thus  selected  three  evaluations  that  were  produced  in  the  last 
several years focusing on provision of key services  – community centre workers, field 
social  workers  and  support  staff  at  schools  and  kindergartens  promoting  inclusive 
education.  These  projects  also  tend  to  repeat  and  provide  services  that  are  largely 
agreed to be useful. We have selected evaluations that represent better standards even 
though not being  counterfactual. As we discuss in relation to each of them, they still 
share common deficiencies that prevent us, among others, to accurately tell what the 
impact of the provides services is. 

Community Centres 

The first reviewed ex post evaluation was prepared by a team of academic experts in 
Roma studies, Rastislav Rosinský, Tatiana Matulayová and Jurina Rusnáková, in 2015. 
The authors evaluated pilot national project of community centres with a budget of 17 
million EUR implemented from 1 January 2014 until 31 November 2015.  

The  evaluation  asked  four  main  questions:  What  was  the  basic  structure  of  the 
participating community centres? How effective was the national project (in terms of its 
administrative  governance)?  What  were  the  results  at  the  local  level  regarding  the 
community and target groups of the community centres? Which factors influenced the 
quality of activities of the community centres? The evaluations relied on both qualitative 
and quantitative research methods, such as desk research, questionnaires distributed 

64 Written responses to our questions prepared for this report, received by Adriana Ďatková on 21 

October 2019. 

65 Interview at the implementation agency, Zuzana Valentová and Miroslav Repka, 21 October 2019 

66 Interview at the implementation agency, Zuzana Valentová and Miroslav Repka, 21 October 2019 

67 Interview with Veronika Palková, head of department for Operational programme Human resources 

and operational programme Education on 28 October 2019. 

25 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

to  providers  of  community  centres  and  expert  employees  of  the  community  centres, 
focus groups with coordinators of community workers and field work with community 
service  providers.  The  evaluation  thus  provided  a  good  overview  of  the  structure  of 
community service workers and their geographical set up. Also, we can learn about the 
type of activities pursued by these centres; however, only on the basis of information 
submitted by community centre workers. Also, evaluation of their quality is derived only 
from the perception of those who were undertaking them.  

The  evaluators  did  not  have  at  disposal  baseline  data  and  thus  indeed  unable  to 
accurately  tell  us  accurately  results  and  impact  of  the  project.  The  authors  did  not 
engage in a method that would help to evaluate the actual impact of the programme on 
social inclusion. We do not learn about how many clients improved their capacities in 
finding jobs, improved school attendance or school performance, improved capacities to 
support  their  children  or  how  community  workers  were  able  to  shape  mainstream 
institutions to be able to integrate Roma. Also, a common problem, is that the report 
does not reflect the views of the target group  – clients of the community centre. The 
evaluation  reproduced  the  view  of  the  community  centre  workers  who  believed  that 
their  activity  was  meaningful  for  the  clients  and  consequently  authors  assumed  that 
“this perception should also play out in changes (educational, social,  behavioural  and 
others) of the impact group.”68  

Overall,  this  evaluation  likely  provides  a  useful  feedback  for  the  organisation  and 
implementation  of  the  project  as  perceived  by  community  centres  provides  and 
community centre workers. The evaluation, however, does not inform about the impact 
of  the  activities  or  indeed  even  their  quality.  The  gender  perspective  is  also  absent. 
Nevertheless,  the  authors  conclude  that  the  project  provides  a  “comprehensive 
approach to addressing problems of the target group and problems in municipalities.”69  

Field Social Work  

The 2016 evaluation prepared by Daniel Škobla, Jan Grill and Jakob Hurrle focused on 
another key policy measure – field social work as provided through a national project 
implemented in 2007-2013.70 This time, the goal of the authors, social scientists and 
anthropologists was to evaluate the  programme in relation to the target groups (both 
Roma and non-Roma) and its relevance to social inclusion based on quantitative  and 
qualitative research methods.  The ambition of this evaluation was more advanced as it 
sought  to  explore  the  workings  of  the  programme  and  its  ability  to  ‘transform 
structures’.  The  authors  asked  what  changes  in  municipalities  were  brought  by  field 
social work. The evaluation also aims to review how the method of implementation of 
field social work contributed to the quality and how different actors perceive social field 
work.  The evaluation adopted several methods: statistical analysis of available data on 
social  field  work  based  on  the  projects  database;  questionnaires  distributed  to  field 
social  workers,  field  social  worker  assistants  and  regional  coordinators;  in-depth 
interviews  with  field  workers,  experts  and  project  managers;  and  representatives  of 
NGOS.  This  evaluation,  however,  rather  exceptionally  in  the  Slovak  standard,  also 

68 Komunitné centrá: Národný projekt komunitné centrá : Evalvačná správa (Implementačná agentúra 

ministerstva práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny, 2015) available at: 
https://www.ia.gov.sk/data/files/np_kc/Dokumenty/V_stupy/Evaluacna_sprava_november_NP_KC_fin.pdf, 
Section 2.4. the of study that does not have pages numbered. 

69 Komunitné centrá: Národný projekt komunitné centrá : Evalvačná správa (Implementačná agentúra 

ministerstva práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny, 2015) available at: 
https://www.ia.gov.sk/data/files/np_kc/Dokumenty/V_stupy/Evaluacna_sprava_november_NP_KC_fin.pdf  

70 Daniel Škobla, Jan Grill and Jakob Hurrle, Exploring field social work in Slovakia (Evaluation of the 
programme funded by the European Social Fund in 2007-2013) (Bratislava: The Institute for the Research 
on Labour and Family, 2016) available at: 
https://www.academia.edu/23319843/Exploring_field_social_work_in_Slovakia_Evaluation_of_the_program
me_funded_by_the_European_Social_Fund_in_2007_-_2013_  

 
 
 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION PROGRAMMES 

included reflections on the programme of the targeted communities through case a case 
study of three localities.   

The evaluation, translated into English, provided what are likely to be valuable academic 
insights into  the operation of the programme  assessing its potential at the local level 
and acknowledging power hierarchies. The evaluations also provided anthropologically 
interesting categorisation of types of social field workers on the basis of their approaches 
towards  clients  or  their  previous  life,  career  experience  and  also  types  of  shared 
stereotypes.  We  also  learn  about  the  administrative  challenges  associated  with  the 
implementation of the projects and the quality of their offices.  

However, similarly as in the case of the first evaluation discussed above, we learn little 
about the results and impact of the project in quantifiable terms. We do not learn about 
the results of the field social workers’ actions vis-à-vis their clients. How were the field 
workers able to help their clients to acquire  the skills to able to find and keep work? 
What  were  the  outcomes  in  terms  of  their  financial  situation  given  that  most  of  the 
activities  focused  on  dealing  with  client’s  depts?  What  about  the  impact  of  the 
programme on the educational outcomes of the clients’ children? Moreover, the authors, 
despite  their  efforts  to  integrate  also  the  perspective  of  the  clients  as  well,  end  up 
describing the impact only through the lens of field social workers. Gender perspective 
is also absent from the evaluation.  

Inclusion in education 

The  third  evaluation  that  we  have  selected  focuses  on  the  key  national  project  in 
education  called  School  Open  for  All.    The  MERSaS  has  repeatedly  argued  that  this 
project provides the critical contribution towards desegregation.71 The project, with its 
overall budget of almost 30 million EUR,  funded  pre-school activities mostly for Roma 
children who were unable to attend regular kindergarten and support staff of teachers 
and  assistants  (so-called  inclusive  teams)  to  promote  inclusion  of  Roma  children  at 
elementary schools. Preparation of local plans for desegregation was one of the project’s 
activities. The project running from February 2016 until November 2019, targeted 50 
kindergartens and 200 elementary schools where the share of socially disadvantaged 
children should be at a minimum of 20 per cent.72 

The  evaluation,  prepared  by  a  group  of  mostly  independent  experts,  relied  on 
quantitative  and  qualitative  methods. The  evaluation  measured,  among  other  things, 
also the impact of the interventions on the learning and social capacities and skills of 
the targeted children departing from baseline data gathered at the project’s inception. 
The  evaluation  also  rather  thoroughly  reviewed  study  plans  of  the  targeted  schools. 
Nevertheless, similarly to the previously mentioned evaluations, the impact on children’s 
capacities  is  measured  merely  through  the  subjective  assessment  of  participating 
teachers  or  school  directors,  not  by  independent  experts.  Also,  views  of  the  Roma 
parents of the targeted children were not taken into consideration at all.  

One of the most striking aspects of the evaluation is its avoidance of the problem of 
segregation. According to EU MIDIS-II data gathered by the FRA, 62 per cent of Roma 
children experience segregation, i.e. attends classes with mostly or exclusively  Roma 
peers.73  The  project  targets  200  schools  with  major  Roma  communities,  with  the 

71 See e.g. reaction of the MERSaS to the reasoned opinion sent to Slovakia as the next stage of 
infringement procedure initiated against Slovakia for violation of Race Equality Directive for segregation of 
Roma children, in TASR, „Rezort školstva reaguje na EK: Školský zákon zakazuje diskrimináciu”, teraz.sk, 
19 October, 2019, available at https://www.teraz.sk/slovensko/rezort-skolstva-reaguje-na-eu-
skolsky/425163-clanok.html  

72 Information about the project is available at the project’s dedicated web site at: http://npsov.mpc-

edu.sk  

73 Please see: FRA, Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey: Roma – Selected 

findings (Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union, 2018), at 28, available at: 

27 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

minimum  share  of  Roma  children  (assessed  through  a  proxy  category  of  socially 
disadvantaged children) of 20 per cent.  It is thus unavoidable that the project targets 
also schools that have a problem with segregation of Roma children.  

The evaluation does not refer to the ethnic composition of classes and schools. Inclusion 
is presented merely as an attempt to integrate children with disabilities. This ignores 
the fact that Roma children can also experience spatial segregation in the regular school 
track.74 

The  MERSaS  presented  to  the  media  that  in  the  course  of  the  project  117  of 
desegregation plans were prepared and 1211 teachers were trained desegregation and 
preparation of local plans without any further details on the impact.75  The evaluation 
does dedicate a separate chapter to these desegregation plans. However, this chapter 
does not discuss these plans or even present an ambition to evaluate them.  Rather the 
author of this chapter Emil Komárik argued “the Project SOV was conceived as an effort 
to be able to educate children from the majority with the children from the minority who 
are handicapped by the low income of their families, and especially children of parents 
living in excluded Roma communities without knowledge of language of instructions or 
children of parents who do not view education as a value and do  not  view as values 
basic  moral  norms,  hygienic  rules  and  often  principles  of  elementary  ethnic  of 
interpersonal  relations.”76  Inclusion  was  reduced  merely  to  the  ‘adaptation’  of  Roma 
children  to  a  potentially  ethnically  mixed  environment.  Interestingly,  the  evaluation 
instead  of  using  segregation/desegregation  concepts,  uses  arguably  a  more  ‘neutral’ 
term of  the best interest of the child. The author  asked teachers whether they were 
willing to share their ideas about “what to do to ensure that the school can as well as 
possible link the principle of inclusion with the principle of respect of each child.”77 Out 
of 200 participating schools, 47 responded to this call and provided some of the insights. 
In practice, the author avoided   evaluating the impact of the project on desegregation.78  

The project builds on similar initiatives worth tens of millions of EUR79 and is presented 
as a basis for further projects and policies. The inability (or perhaps unwillingness) to 
actually  independently  and  genuinely  evaluate  the  impact  on  desegregation  may,  in 
fact, reinforce the perpetuation of policies and projects that at best preserve the status 

https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2016-eu-minorities-survey-roma-selected-
findings_en.pdf  

74  Ladislav Alberty et al, Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená všetkým 

(Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické centrum, 2019), available at: http://npsov.mpc-edu.sk/dolezite-
oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-ohladom-implementacie-narodneho-projektu  

75 Information provided by the MERSaS in writing on 26 September 2019. However, the MERSaS  and 

MPC refused to provide us with examples of the prepared desegregation plans. 

76 Emil Komárik, “V najlepšom záujem dieťaťa – desegregačné plány škôl“ in Ladislav Alberty et al, 
Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená všetkým (Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické 
centrum, 2019), at 272, available at: http://npsov.mpc-edu.sk/dolezite-oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-
ohladom-implementacie-narodneho-projektu 

77 Emil Komárik, “V najlepšom záujem dieťaťa – desegregačné plány škôl“ in Ladislav Alberty et al, 
Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená všetkým (Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické 
centrum, 2019), at 276, available at: http://npsov.mpc-edu.sk/dolezite-oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-
ohladom-implementacie-narodneho-projektu 

78 Emil Komárik, “V najlepšom záujem dieťaťa – desegregačné plány škôl“ in Ladislav Alberty et al, 
Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená všetkým (Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické 
centrum, 2019) available at: http://npsov.mpc-edu.sk/dolezite-oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-ohladom-
implementacie-narodneho-projektu, 

79 Please see National project MRK – Through education of pedagogical employees to inclusion in 

marginalised Roma communities“ (2011-2015), 24 million euro, information available at: 
https://www.minedu.sk/narodny-projekt-skvalitnil-vzdelavanie-viac-ako-22-000-romskych-ziakov/, Project 
MRK II, Inclusive model of education at pre-school level (February 2013- November 2015), budget 7,4 
million EUR, information available at: https://www.minedu.sk/data/att/4257.pdf (National Project PRINED, 
Project of inclusive education (May 2014- November 2015) budget 16 million euro, information available 
e.g. at: https://www.minedu.sk/projekt-prined-ma-plny-pocet-prihlasenych-skol-najviac-je-zo-spisa/  

 
 
 MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF ROMA INCLUSION PROGRAMMES 

quo of Roma without addressing the core of exclusion. In the long run, this strategy not 
only fails to deliver tangible progress in reducing inequalities, but also feeds into  the 
extremists’ narrative that ‘Roma are unadaptable’ despite the millions of EUR invested. 

National ESF project “Monitoring and Evaluation” 

Furthermore, monitoring and evaluation is anticipated also through a separate national 
project  called  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  of  Inclusive  Policies  and  their  Impact  on 
Marginalised  Roma  Communities  anticipated  (2016-2022)  with  allocation  of 
approximately 3 million EUR. Through data collection on the socio-economic conditions 
of Roma, the projects should provide comprehensive monitoring and evaluation. So far, 
the OGPRC, in its administration of the project, has funded the preparation of the new 
Atlas of Roma communities. Atlas data were released in an Excel chart in late 2019.80 
More detailed analysis of this data should follow. The Atlas should provide insights into 
the  quality  of  housing  and  perhaps  also  on  residential  segregation,  but  actually  very 
little about other aspects of inclusion, such as for example in education. Moreover, the 
project also funded the specialised EU SILC gathering in 1,500 Roma households. 81The 
project  should  also  provide  funding  for  thematic  quantitative  and  qualitative  data 
gathering  in  selected  localities.  However,  the  Government  Plenipotentiary  Ravasz 
indicated that the implementation of these tasks may be delayed as their have to follow 
regular rules of public procurements, which he deemed rather lengthy.82 Yet, these rules 
were known before the project was designed. Still, these gathering activities would not 
be able to replace proper monitoring  and evaluation of projects, in particularly those 
with the largest budgets.  

Conclusions  

In  conclusions,  monitoring  and  evaluation,  especially  of  projects  with  the  largest 
budgets  require  significantly  more  attention.  Ideally,  monitoring  and  especially 
evaluation should be performed also in part by independent actors with a professional 
reputation. According to evaluators that preferred to stay anonymous, independence of 
hired  experts  is  absolutely  critical  as  they  are  often  hired  on  employed  contract  and 
exposed  to  pressures  of  national  project  coordinator  not  to  present  project  in  a  very 
negative  manner.  Furthermore,  mainstream  gender  perspective  and  involve  target 
groups and Roma in both actions. It is critical that monitoring focuses also on the quality 
of performed actions and provides a certain flexibility for modification. Also, all large-
scale  projects  should  include  evaluation  of  results  and  impact  on  Roma  inclusion. 
Evaluations should consider the perspectives of all stakeholders, including the clients or 
target groups to provide a basis for further actions that will actually target the core of 
exclusion and segregation. 

80 Data is available at: https://www.minv.sk/?atlas-romskych-komunit-2019  

81 Please see further information about the project at: https://www.minv.sk/?zber-dat-od-

ministerstiev-a-ostatnych-organov-statnej-a-verejnej-spravy  

82 Interview with Ábel Ravasz on 21 October 2019. 

29 

 
 
 
TARGETING THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY 

The  third  area  of  this  report  addresses  policies  affecting  mainstream  society  to  fight 
stereotypes and reduce prejudice against Roma in Slovakia. We believe that state action 
in this area could be significantly reinforced to reduce discrimination against Roma and 
also to create more favourable conditions for Roma inclusion policies. Indeed, while we 
note  and  appreciate  that  thanks  to  the  numerous  initiatives  acknowledging  positive 
initiatives in Roma inclusion policies and conscious efforts of the media and also some 
politicians to portray Roma success stories, social distances towards Roma have reduced 
as captured in part by the 2019 Eurobarometer data.83 At the same time, recent data 
prepared by the Slovak Academy of Sciences signal that anti-Roma stereotypes are still 
prevalent,  and  in  political  communication,  most  respondents  prefer  hostile  political 
communication towards Roma.84 We believe that more significant action targeting the 
mainstream  would  create  a  more  favourable  conditions  for  genuine  inclusion  policies 
rather  than  those  that  merely  aim  to  improve  the  standards  of  Roma  education  or 
housing without addressing the segregated setting in which they operate.85  

In this chapter, we focus on official state action plan of the NRIS, which has the objective 
to target the mainstream, as well as on the measures within the educational system to 
fight prejudice and stereotypes. The chapter argues that this  area is at the bottom of 
policy priorities. We argue that more robust efforts must be invested to raise capacities 
of teachers to be able to improve literacy skills and to raise the students’ ability to think 
critically which is much needed, among others, to be able to recognise myths and hoaxes 
that  are  spread  through  social  media  and  questionable  media  outlets  and  about  the 
Roma. 

83 Eurobarometer 2019 data on social distances to Roma signals that while Slovakia is still being below 
EU 28 average, social distances have in the last five years reduced. When asked about how one would feel if 
one of her or his colleagues were Roma in 2015, 36% respondents would feel completely uncomfortable, 
21%moderately comfortable and 23% completely comfortable. In 2019, the share of those feeling totally 
uncomfortably dropped to 15%, as well those that felt moderately comfortably to 15% while the share of 
those feeling totally comfortably increased to 61%. Also, the question of how respondents would feel of one 
of the children was in a love relationship with a Roma (regardless of whether they actually have children), 
signals significant reduction of social distances. While in 2015, 65% would feel totally uncomfortably, 13% 
moderately comfortably and only 11% totally comfortably, in 2019 the share was 44%, 16% and 29% 
respectively. Please see data from 2015 Eurobarometer gathering on discrimination available at 
https://data.europa.eu/euodp/sk/data/dataset/S2077_83_4_437_ENG, and data from 2019 at: 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwi7sa6C9NPnAhVUi1
wKHRmMBwsQFjAAegQIBRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fec.europa.eu%2Fcommfrontoffice%2Fpublicopinion%
2Findex.cfm%2FResultDoc%2Fdownload%2FDocumentKy%2F87621&usg=AOvVaw2wr64raXDDynmFqoNPQ
mEa  

84 The Slovak Academy of Sciences in June 2019 indicate that anti-Roma stereotypes seems to be still 

prevalent. 80% of respondents approved statements suggesting that Roma have access to benefits that 
they do not deserve and are in some areas privileged. Moreover, almost 64 % of respondents agreed with 
negative stereotypes about Roma, such as that Roma are lazy and steal. Only 50% approved statements 
underlying the value of Roma culture, such as Roma can be proud of their cultural heritage. Interestingly, in 
terms of political communication, most respondents preferred hostile political discourse about Roma that is 
based on negative statements about Roma, about their criminality and attitudes to work (45,2% agreed 
while and 23% disagreed). A discourse underlying the need to help Roma noting that are not able to help 
themselves preferred 26,9% respondents (more that 50% disapproved). The least popular discourse was 
so-called unifying suggesting that both non-Roma and Roma must stand against. Less than one fifth would 
be willing to invest personal or public resources to improve standing of Roma in Slovakia. Data was 
gathered as part of the project Pol Roma supported by DG Justice, led by Barbara Lasticova and Xenia-
Daniela Poslon, Department of social communication of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, available at: 
https://www.sav.sk/index.php?lang=sk&doc=services-news&source_no=20&news_no=8688   

85 Please see chapters on education and housing in Civil society monitoring report on implementation 

of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2018) and Civil society monitoring report on 
implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2019) 

 30 

 
 
TARGETING THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY 

NRIS and targeting the mainstream  

Slovakia’s NRIS prepared in 2011 stipulated the need to target the mainstream society 
through  communication  activities  as  a  precondition  for  successful  implementation  of 
social inclusion policies. The strategy argues that there is a widely shared prejudice that 
in  terms  of  social  rights  and  social  security,  the  Roma  are  in  a  somewhat  privileged 
position in comparison to the non-Roma population.86 According to the NRIS: “The goal 
of  the  initiative  is  to  tackle  stigmatisation  of  the  Roma  population  through  targeted 
inclusion  into  the  society.  Through  awareness  raising  and  education,  [the  strategy] 
seeks  to  promote  objective  knowledge  about  Roma  and  consequently  support    their 
acceptance.”87 The strategy presents that its communication action should be based on 
three pillars: 1. Communication focused on tackling myths associated with Roma and 
awareness raising, 2. Support of inclusion approaches, education and development of 
expertise and 3. A joint integration platform for action. While the first pillar is focused 
more generally on mainstream society, the second specifically targets key professionals 
such  as  teachers,  health  care  professionals,  law  enforcement  bodies  and  journalists 
within  schools,  hospitals,  media  outlets,  law  enforcement  bodies,  and  municipalities. 
The third pillar anticipates creation of a joint integration platform pursuing a common 
coordination of communication of all stakeholders, data gathering and monitoring. 88  

These  rather  vaguely  drafted  and  unspecified  objectives  were  not  translated  into  a 
specific  action  plan  until  September  2017.89  The  action  plan  was  derived  from  a 
communication strategy prepared by the Open Society Foundation in 2014, noting that 
in terms of social distance, Roma are among the most negatively perceived groups in 
Slovakia. The action plan argued that the majority population does not have sufficient 
objective  information  about  Roma;  believing  that  Roma  are  unchangeable  and  even 
pose a threat to the majority. A significant segment of the population believed that it is 
acceptable to keep a social distance to Roma and it is even socially desirable. Most Roma 
are construed in the media as ‘problematic’ inhabitants of settlements, participating in 
criminal activities. The action plan sets out as the main objective: de-ethnicization of 
public discussion, which would allow for a debate without prejudices  through a public 
educational campaign.90  

The government’s plan set out as its general aim the reduction of mutual prejudice and 
the  reinforcement  of  solidarity  between  Roma  and  non-Roma.  The  fulfilment  of  this 
objective should be measured through indicators of social distance as produced by the 
FRA and other unspecified surveys. Additionally, the plan should measure the progress 
on the basis of numbers of items about Roma in mass media that perpetuate stereotypes 
as well as perception of discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity. Partial goals aim to 
gather  information,  undertake  surveys  and  to  support  proactive  communication  of 
objective information. Specific actions include the creation of a working group on the 
issue,  data  gatherings,  developing  a  long-term  communication  strategy,  work  with 
media  and  awareness  raising  among  key  professionals.  The  action  plan,  however, 
anticipates that the costs of actions for three years will be merely 270,000 EUR, partially 

86 Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of Roma until 2020, adopted by the government 

resolution 1/2011, at 47. 

87 Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of Roma until 2020, adopted by the government 

resolution 1/2011, at 47. 

88 Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of Roma until 2020, adopted by the government 

resolution 1/2011, at 47 

89 Action plans of the strategy of the Slovak Republic for integration of Roma until 2020, for years 
2017-2020 for areas D.2.6 area of non-discrimination and D.2.7.are of attitudes toward majority society – 
Initiative integration of Roma through communication, adopted by the government resolution 423/2017. 
Available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/22311/1  

90 Action plans of the strategy of the Slovak Republic for integration of Roma until 2020, for years 
2017-2020 for areas D.2.6 area of non-discrimination and D.2.7.are of attitudes toward majority society – 
Initiative integration of Roma through communication, adopted by the government resolution 423/2017. 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/22311/1  

31 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

covered by ESIF (78,000 EUR) and the remainder should be covered by the state budget 
or co-financing of projects recipients.91  

In 2019, the OGPRC prepared a monitoring report of all activities relevant for the NRIS’s 
action  plans,  including  one  focused  on  the  mainstream  society  in  the  year  2018.  
According  to  the  report,  out  of  20  anticipated  activities,  13  were  marked  as  being 
continuously implemented or already completed, six were in the progress and only one 
was indicated as not fulfilled. Interestingly, implementation of these activities has costs 
nothing as no funds have been used.92 In a more detailed examination of the monitoring 
report, we find that most activities marked as being under implementation consist of 
coordination  meetings  or  “communication”  of  the  OGRPC  with  other  agencies.  No 
communication strategy or campaign has been prepared.  Indeed the only activity that 
seems to be on going is a regular leaflet produced by the OGPRC that informs about 
“positive  programmes”,  one  training  that  took  place  in  Nitra  for  40  participants  and 
several seminars for young Roma journalists that eventually lead to one of them being 
employed by the Slovak Television.93  

Indeed,  in  our  interview  Abel  Ravasz,  the  Government  Plenipotentiary  for  Roma 
communities, acknowledged that this action plan is the weakest one. He observed: “not 
necessarily in its quality, but in its outputs for sure. I sense that people take plans more 
seriously in more tangible areas such as employment or housing.” According to Ravasz, 
no palpable change can be delivered through  the rather the formalistic preparation of 
the  plan  and  its  formal  evaluation.  He  confirmed  that  coordination  meetings  of  the 
working group likely did not yield any results. Also, no anticipated studies on attitudes 
were prepared. However, Ravasz also underlined that in this area they contributed to 
improvement  through  his  own  communication:  “our  media  department  plays  a  huge 
role, communicating with the media on a daily basis. I personally perform a great deal 
of informal work, communicating directly with journalists, often convincing them to use 
different language, to handle the issue differently […] I am explaining what is needed. 
We present numerous positive press conferences, and a lot of people are accusing us of 
using this as self-promotion, but that’s not the point. Our point is to present as many 
positive examples as possible.”94 

Targeting the mainstream society and fighting prejudice in education 

Learning about Roma 

Nevertheless, aside from time-limited action plans, the key role in tackling stereotypes 
and building cohesive societies should be played by the educational system.  In response 
to  our  questions  on  how  the  schools  address  prejudice,  the  MERSaS  listed  several 
objectives that are streamlined into the educational system: development of pre-school 
age  children’s  capacities  to  cooperate  through  games;  school-age  children’s  civic 
education  to  learn  to  be  tolerant  to  the  opinions,  values  and  cultures  of  others;  and 
through  ethics, children should learn about the attitudes and skills needed to participate 
in  their  social  environment  and  about  the  meaning  of  human  dignity.  In  year  7  at 
elementary  school,  civic  education  focuses  on  analysis  of  society  based  on  age,  sex, 
religion, education and nationality. In year 8, the civic education looks at human rights 

91 Action plans of the strategy of the Slovak Republic for integration of Roma until 2020, for years 
2017-2020 for areas D.2.6 area of non-discrimination and D.2.7.are of attitudes toward majority society – 
Initiative integration of Roma through communication, adopted by the government resolution 423/2017. 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/22311/1  

92 Monitoring report of the fulfilment of Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of Roma until 

2020 for 2018. The Slovak Government on its meeting on 25 June 2019 discussed this material and 
concluded as being taken into consideration. The material is available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/992  

93 Annex to the Monitoring report of the fulfilment of Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of 

Roma until 2020 for 2018, available at: https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/992  

94 Interview with Abel Ravasz on 21 October 2019. 

 
 
TARGETING THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY 

and  especially  children’s  rights.  Also,  pupils  should  be  able  to  identify  examples  of 
gender stereotypes in media and their social environment as well as specific examples 
of discrimination. Furthermore, learning curricula for high schools contain plans to learn 
about diversity and tolerance to others. The MERSaS also refers to learning lists that 
teachers can access on subjects of human rights and discrimination, sexual violence and 
abuse of children through a joint portal.  Furthermore, the MERSaS listed courses and 
seminars attended by teachers focused on the teaching of children from marginalised 
backgrounds.95 

It is the scope of this report to evaluate how these activities are performed which should 
be  indeed  subjected  to  thorough  scrutiny  and  evaluation.  Based  on  our  anecdotal 
experience, the quality varies depending on the skills and efforts of individual teachers. 
What is notable, however, is that subjects focused on human rights are incorporated 
rather  lately  in  lower  secondary  schools  and  grammar  schools.  There  are  no  actions 
targeting secondary vocational schools or lower education. Moreover, efforts to promote 
tolerance undermines the institutional segregation experienced by a significant segment 
of  Roma  children96  that  promotes  acquisition  of  prejudice  and  feelings  of  superiority 
among non-Roma children while stigmatising Roma children.  

information 

to  allow  pupils 

Furthermore, formal educational settings provide a valuable opportunity for the state to 
allow children to acquire objective information about Roma, to understand the complex 
reasons for the cycle of poverty and exclusion of some of them and to promote tolerance 
and  understanding,  in  part  through  learning  about  Roma  and  Roma  history.  In  the 
recent  review  prepared  by  the  Council  of  Europe,97  Slovakia’s  textbooks  only  rather 
occasionally  provide  some  information,  and  this  information  is  often  inaccurate  and 
biased. For example, recently published 9th revision of a widely used History book for 
year nine includes several factual mistakes about Roma and fails to provide contextual 
and  comprehensive 
to  understand  present-day 
marginalisation.  The text book asserts that Roma, prior to the WWII, lived as nomadic 
groups, which is not true for most Roma who have been settled since the 15th century.98 
This statement is often perpetuated as a myth to reinforce the understanding of Roma 
as nomads who are unwilling to adapt to the norms of the majority and have no ties to 
Slovakia. While mentioning that Roma were placed into labour camps, the historians in 
this  textbook  fail  to  inform  about  other  restrictive  measures  that  lead  to  the  current 
exclusion,  including  the  regulation  that  Roma  families  should  be  expelled  to  isolated 
areas that were visible from the main roads on lands that the families did not own and 
lead to the present-day problem with illegal settlements. Also, the information about 
the Roma Holocaust is rather scarce. Moreover, the authors of the history book try to 
assert  that  the  Roma  were  offered  material  aid  during  the  communist  regime  but 
underestimated deeply held customs and traditions of the Roma ethnic group. This type 
of explanation fails to present an accurate view of forced assimilation policies, forcing 
students  to  engage  in  debate  as  to  whether  such  a  policy  can  be  successful.  The 
historians merely place the burden of “inadaptability” on Roma.99 A more accurate and 

95 Written response of the MERSaS requested for this report, received in October 2019. 

96 Please see on segregation in education chapters on education in Civil society monitoring report on 

implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2018) and Civil society monitoring 
report on implementation of the national Roma integration strategies in Slovakia (2019) 

97 The Representation of Roma in European Curricula and Textbooks – Appendix 1, Lits of References in 

European Textbooks, Analytical report, (Council of Europe, Ref, Georg Exkert Institute, 2020) available at: 
https://repository.gei.de/bitstream/handle/11428/306/COE%20-
%20The%20Representation%20of%20Roma%20Appendix%201.pdf?sequence=13&isAllowed=y  

98 See e.g. in Viera Bačová, “Rómska menšina: vznik a charakteristika rómskej menšiny na Slovensku” 

in Anna Zeľová et. al. Minoritné etnické spoločenstvá na Slovensku v procesoch spoločenských zmien ( 
Bratislava: Veda, 1994). 

99 Dušan Kováč, Viliam Kratochvíl, Ivan Kamenec, Herta Tkadlečková (2016) Dejepis pre 9 ročnik, 
Bratislava: Orbis Pictures Bratislava, 324, reproduced in The Representation of Roma in European Curricula 
and Textbooks – Appendix 1, Lits of References in European Textbooks, Analytical report, (Council of 
Europe, Ref, Georg Exkert Institute, 2020) available at: 

33 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

detailed account of Roma history can be found in a textbook for third year of secondary 
grammar  school,  including  information  about  Roma  persecution  and  genocide  during 
the  WWII  and  rather  detailed  information  about  mass  murders  of  families  in  several 
localities  in  central  Slovakia.  However,  this  information  is  merely  accessible  to  a 
segment of secondary students, as it covers only grammar schools.100  

Civics textbooks contain basic information about  diversity in Slovakia in terms of the 
territorial  concentration  of  legally  recognised  national  minorities,  without  providing 
further information about the accuracy of public data gathered through public censuses 
or issues associated with cohabitation of diverse groups. Civics textbooks merely focuses 
more on analysis of extremism. Geography textbooks contain data on the ethnic make-
up of Slovakia’s regions. 

The State Pedagogical Institute has been preparing a textbook on all legally recognised 
national  minorities  that  should  contain  more  detailed  information  also  on  Roma  and 
Roma history – indeed the first efforts to provide teachers with such material. History 
teachers of lower secondary and higher secondary schools expected this item already in 
January  2018.101  While  the  MERSaS  did  not  explain  the  reason  for  this  delay,  they 
clarified  that  this  is  not  an  official  textbook,  but  a  complementary  informational  and 
methodological  material.  The  aim  is  to  support  mutual  understanding  and  tolerance 
among pupils and currently the material is “being finalised”. The MERSaS added that 
the state curriculum is sufficiently flexible and allows teachers to integrate Roma history 
and information about Roma into their learning as much as they wish to pursue.102 

Development of critical thinking skills among children and students 

In our view, along with learning towards tolerance, respect to each other and learning 
about minorities, including the Roma, the education should equip students with skills  to 
be able to critically understand information presented in social and other media and be 
able to recognise hoaxes and myths that frequently target minorities, especially Roma.  
Indeed,  the  most  recent  widely  shared  hoax  was  about  participation  of  Roma  at 
antifascist  protests  organised  by  local civil  society  actors  in  several  towns  in  eastern 
Slovakia. These protests were against fascism and were in opposition to the meetings 
of the People’s Party Our Slovakia. A youth organization with close ties to this extreme 
right wing party prepared a video that intentionally and fraudulently portrayed Roma as 
being drunk and aggressive, trying to incite fear of Roma.103 Moreover, one the most 
widely shared hoaxes ever in Slovakia has been an eight-year-old Facebook post that is 
still  being  shared.  Without  any  reference  to  facts,  the  post  relates  a  story  from  a 
pharmacy, arguing that unlike others, Roma do not have to pay for medications.104    

Recent  the  Programme  for  International  Student  Assessment  (PISA)  results  have 
revealed  significant  deficiencies  in  learning  literacy  skills  among  children,  signalling 
limited capacity to be able to recognise that false and misleading information shared by 
conspiracy web sites, in periodical or shared by social media. Only 5 per cent of 15 year-
old students achieved level 5 or 6 in reading literacy tests meaning, among other things, 

https://repository.gei.de/bitstream/handle/11428/306/COE%20-
%20The%20Representation%20of%20Roma%20Appendix%201.pdf?sequence=13&isAllowed=y  

100 Letz Robert, Maria Tonkova and Bockova Anna (2015), Dejepis pre 3. ročník gymnazií (Bratislava: 
Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo), 3rd grade of high school, ISCED  2 reproduced in ibid. at 324-325. 

101 See e.g. Ivana Štefúnová, „Do škôl mieri učebnica o menšinách“ Pravda daily, 26 January 2018, 

available at: https://spravy.pravda.sk/domace/clanok/456000-do-skol-mieri-ucebnica-o-mensinach/  

102 Written responses to our questions prepared by the MERSaS 

103 Vladimír Šnídl, Kotlebovci šíria fámy o opitých a agresívnych Rómoch, ktorí si na nich chystali 
zbrane, dennikN. Sk, 22 January 2020, available at: https://dennikn.sk/1726380/kotlebovci-siria-famy-o-
opitych-a-agresivnych-romoch-ktori-si-na-nich-chystali-zbrane/?ref=tema  

104 Opäť sa šíri 8-ročný hoax,že Rómovia nemusia platiť za lieky, reaguje aj ústredie práce“, omediach, 

26 November 2019, available at: https://www.omediach.com/hoaxy/16710-opaet-sa-siri-8-rocny-hoax-ze-
romovia-nemusia-platit-za-lieky-reaguje-aj-ustredie-prace  

 
 
TARGETING THE MAINSTREAM SOCIETY 

that they can establish a distinction between fact and opinion, based on implicit clues, 
content  or  sources,  which  is  salient  in  being  able  to  distinguish  manipulative  hoaxes 
from verified facts.105  

Rather  disturbing  has  been  a  recent  survey  indicating  that  even  teachers  have 
difficulties  to  distinguish  between  trustworthy  and  manipulative  media  that  produce 
false, misleading and hateful information also about various minorities, including Jews, 
Roma or LGBTI. According to this recent representative survey of teachers, more than 
half of them would recommend most influential conspiracy portal called Hlavné správy 
and a periodical called Zem a Vek to their pupils as trustworthy. Indeed, in a ranking of 
trust, teachers scored as the third internet portal Hlavné správy. It was recommended 
by  57  per  cent  of  teachers,  while  only  34  per  cent  found  it  not  trustworthy.  Hlavné 
správy is the most influential conspiracy portal, producing reports without using proper 
sources  with  questionable  ownership  scheme.106  More  than  50  per  cent  of  teachers 
would recommend their students also a periodical called Zem a Vek, which is also listed 
among  periodicals  producing  and  reproducing  conspiracy  theories.107  Recently,  the 
editor-in-chief of Zem a Vek, Tibor Rostas, was convicted for hate speech for publishing 
his article that was spreading anti-Semitism.108 A significant share of teachers clearly 
has difficulties in telling the difference between a conspiracy media outlet and a reliable 
source. Indeed, reliable media outlets such as SME or DENNIK N were listed as scoring 
worse than Hlavné správy or Zem a Vek with only 49 per cent (in the case of SME) and 
39  per  cent  (in  the  case  of  DenníkN)  inclided  to  recommend  these  dailies  to  their 
students as reliable resources.109  

In response to our question of what the MERSaS plans to do to as a response to this 
survey,  the  Ministry  argued  “On  the  basis  of  a  research  prepared  by  the  Centre  of 
Scientific-technical Information of the Slovak Republic (CVTI) on a sample of more than 
2,000 students of primary and secondary schools is preference of internet websites are 
as  follows:  Facebook  82.2  per  cent,  Google  75.1  per  cent,  YouTube  55  per  cent, 
Wikipedia 49.7 per cent, referaty.sk 29.3 per cent. The listed media [Zem a Vek and 
Hlavná správy] did not make it to the list of the 22 most sought-after websites.”110 

To  sum  up,  PISA  data  on  children’s  literacy  skills,  the  survey  among  students  on 
reliability  of  mass  media  resources    as  well  as  the  response  of  the  MERSaS  to  this 
situation cited above indicate significant need for further actions in developing critical 
thinking targeting not only students, but also teachers and officials at the MERSaS.  

Conclusions  

We recognise that changing deeply ingrained anti Roma attitudes and stereotypes is a 
challenging endeavour and require sustained effort. However, we see very little efforts 
in this area. Well-meaning state plans to target mainstream society and prejudice have 

105 OECD, Slovak Republic, country note, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 

results from PISA 2018, at 2, available at: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_SVK.pdf  

106 Please see on this e.g. Jakub Goda “ Pod falošným menom som písal hoaxy pre Hlavné správy“, 
dennikN.sk, 11 January 2018, available at: https://dennikn.sk/995647/pod-falosnym-menom-som-pisal-
hoaxy-pre-hlavne-spravy/, or at website that is specifically focusing on websites producing and reproducing 
conspiracy theories and hoaxes, available at: 
https://www.konspiratori.sk/assets/screenshots/s.php?i=hlavnespravy.sk.png  

107 See e.g. at https://www.konspiratori.sk/zoznam-stranok.php  

108 Rostas was convicted by a specialiomanimancourt that has jurisdiction also on so called crimes of 
extremism that includes also hate speech and hate crimes. Rostas was fined 4000 euro. Please see e.g. in 
Lucia Osvaldová, Rostas je vinný z hanobenia rasy a národa, Harabina vykázali z miestnosti“, dennikN.sk, 
16 December 2019, available at: https://dennikn.sk/1688183/rostas-je-vinny-z-hanobenia-rasy-a-naroda-
harabina-vykazali-z-miestnosti/  

109 Filip Struhárik, „Učitelia považujú Hlavné správy a Zem a vek za dôveryhodné média, odporučili by 

ich žiakom  

110 Written response of the MERSaS requested for this report, received in October 2019. 

35 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

been  left  without  any  tangible  implementation  actions  that  one  could  expect  to  yield 
tangible  results.  A  state  educational  system  that  is  unable  to  tackle  institutional 
segregation  promotes  stereotypes  about  Roma  children  as  being  inferior  while  doing 
very little to actually target children and reduce their prejudice. Information about Roma 
and Roma history that would also help students  to understands the complex reasons 
behind  Roma  exclusion  is  scarce.  Saliently,  the  potential  of  the  system  to  prepare 
children for massively shared hoaxes and misinformation about Roma that constructs 
and perpetuates anti-Roma stereotypes is very limited. 

 
 
 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

Access to sports for Roma children and youth 

To  the  MERSaS,  to  the  Government  Plenipotentiary  for  Youth  and  Sports  in 
coordination with the OGPRC: 

1.  For the preparation of the next state policy plan on sport due in 2020, a thorough 
quantitative and qualitative study focused on access to sport to marginalised and 
socially  disadvantaged  children  should  be  prepared,  the  outcomes  of  which 
should be reflected in the policy plan. The policy plan should, on the basis of this 
analysis, present outreach and support, and both a financial and personal system 
based on cooperation of schools and community centres that will help to facilitate 
access of marginalised children into regular sport clubs The plan should include 
also  specific  indicators  measuring  how  many  socially  disadvantaged  children, 
including Romani, are participating in organised sports.  

To MERSaS in partnership with the Plenipotentiary for Youth and Sport, Fund 
for Sport Support 

2.  Sport clubs should be provided with new funding schemes (perhaps through a 
new  fund  for  sports)  for  the  integration  of  socially  disadvantaged  children 
(membership, commuting and other expenses) as well as methodical guidance 
on how to integrate disadvantaged children and address and prevent racism in 
sport.   

3.  Responsible  state  agencies  should  develop  methodical  guidance  on  the  use  of 
sport  in  addressing  racism,  prejudice  and  promoting  tolerance  to  be  used  in 
schools and school clubs. 

Evaluation and monitoring of Roma inclusion programmes 

The Ministry of Transport and Construction in partnership with the OGPRC 

4.  Roma integration programmes using ERDF should focus also on the development 
of  playgrounds  close  to  deprived  areas  and  sports  facilities  in  non-segregated 
settings. 

5.  Funding schemes using the state budget as well as ESF should be available to 
sports clubs, NGOs and schools, promoting after-school leisure sports activities 
targeting all children available. 

To  all  ministries  and  relevant  directing  authorities  implementing  large  scale 
programmes using ESIF 

6.  Ensure  that  each  project  with  large  budget  (at  minimum  so-called  national 
projects)  provides  for  independent  monitoring  of  quality  of  provided  activities 
and services 

7.  Ensure  that  each  project  with  large  budget  (at  minimum  so-called  national 
project) provides for independent evaluation of results and impact of undertaken 
interventions, considers the views of all key stakeholders, including Roma clients, 
ensure  participation  of  Roma  in  the  evaluation  and  mainstream  gender 
perspective. If possible, provide for counterfactual evaluation. 

Targeting the mainstream society 

To the Government and the OGPRC 

8.  Comprehensive  actions  should  be  targeting  mainstream  society  through,  for 
example,  well-targeted  public  campaigning  using  innovative  strategies,  and 
conventional as well as social media.  

 37 

 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

To the MERSaS 

9.  The educational system must thoroughly integrate human rights education and 
from  pre-school  age  along  with  genuine 

education  towards  tolerance 
desegregation efforts.  

10. The MERSaS and the responsible agency the State Pedagogical Institute, should 
revise  existing  textbooks  containing  information  about  Roma  and  provide 
accurate and comprehensive materials (including integration into newly prepared 
textbooks for history, civics, geography and ethics) providing the provision of a 
comprehensive understanding among pupils and students.  

11. Relaying  on  already  available  innovative  Slovak  or  international  strategies, 
methods,  textbooks  or  materials  on  critical  thinking  and  media  literacy,  the 
MERSaS  should  develop  and  implement  a  plan  with  measurable  indicators  on 
how to improve the skills of both teachers as well as children. 

 
 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Alberty, Ladislav et al, Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená 
všetkým (Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické centrum, 2019), available at: 
http://npsov.mpc-edu.sk/dolezite-oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-ohladom-implementacie-
narodneho-projektu 

Bačová, Viera “Rómska menšina: vznik a charakteristika rómskej menšiny na Slovensku” 
in Anna Zeľová et. al. Minoritné etnické spoločenstvá na Slovensku v procesoch 
spoločenských zmien (Bratislava: Veda, 1994) 

Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration 
strategies in Slovakia (2018), available at: 
https://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/attachment/basicpage/3034/rcm-civil-
society-monitoring-report-1-slovakia-2017-eprint-fin.pdf  

Civil society monitoring report on implementation of the national Roma integration 
strategies in Slovakia (2019), available at: 
https://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/attachment/basicpage/3034/rcm-civil-
society-monitoring-report-2-slovakia-2018-eprint-fin-3.pdf  

FRA, Second European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey: Roma – Selected 
findings (Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union, 2018), at 28, available 
at: https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2016-eu-minorities-survey-
roma-selected-findings_en.pdf  

Gallová Kriglerová, Elena, Havírová, Zuzana and Holka Chudžíková, Alena, Šport ako 
cesta z geta (Bratislava: CVEK, 2019) available at: http://cvek.sk/wp-
content/uploads/2019/12/Šport-ako-cesta-z-geta_final.pdf 

Komárik, Emil, “V najlepšom záujem dieťaťa – desegregačné plány škôl“ in Ladislav 
Alberty et al, Záverečná evalvačná správa národného projektu Škola otvorená všetkým 
(Prešov: Metodicko-predagogické centrum, 2019), available at: http://npsov.mpc-
edu.sk/dolezite-oznamy/pracovne-stretnutie-ohladom-implementacie-narodneho-
projektu 

Komunitné centrá: Národný projekt komunitné centrá : Evalvačná správa 
(Implementačná agentúra ministerstva práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny, 2015) available 
at: 
https://www.ia.gov.sk/data/files/np_kc/Dokumenty/V_stupy/Evaluacna_sprava_novemb
er_NP_KC_fin.pdf 

OECD, Slovak Republic, country note, Programme for International Student Assessment 
(PISA), results from PISA 2018, available at: 
https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_SVK.pdf  

The Representation of Roma in European Curricula and Textbooks – Appendix 1, Lits of 
References in European Textbooks, Analytical report, (Council of Europe, Ref, Georg 
Exkert Institute, 2020) available at: 
https://repository.gei.de/bitstream/handle/11428/306/COE%20-
%20The%20Representation%20of%20Roma%20Appendix%201.pdf?sequence=13&isAllo
wed=y  

Škobla, Daniel, Grill, Jan and Hurrle, Jakob Exploring field social work in Slovakia 
(Evaluation of the programme funded by the European Social Fund in 2007-2013) 
(Bratislava: The Institute for the Research on Labour and Family, 2016) available at: 
https://www.academia.edu/23319843/Exploring_field_social_work_in_Slovakia_Evaluatio
n_of_the_programme_funded_by_the_European_Social_Fund_in_2007_-_2013_  

State Policies 

Action plans of the strategy of the Slovak Republic for integration of Roma until 2020, for 
years 2017-2020 for areas D.2.6 area of non-discrimination and D.2.7.are of attitudes 

 
 
CIVIL  SOCIETY  MONITORING  REPORT  ON  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE  NATIONAL  ROMA  INTEGRATION  STRATEGY  
in Slovakia 

toward majority society – Initiative integration of Roma through communication, adopted 
by the government resolution 423/2017, available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/22311/1  

Celoslovenské testovanie pohybových predpokladov žiakov prvých a tretích ročníkov 
základných škôl na identifikáciu športového talentu (podklady pre sekciu regionálneho 
školstva na poradu riaditeľov základných škôl), (not dated) available at: 
http://zsss.stranka.info/stranky/zsss/F/subory/sport_testovanie_identifikacia_sportoveho
_talentu.pdf?PHPSESSID=d1b6216aa9c4c8b91bcc73018da0f5a6  

Conception of work with talented youth in sports for 2015-2020, government resolution 
no. 564/2015 of 14 October 2015, available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/12368/1  

First Joint declaration of the congress of Roma youth adopted on April 6, 2018 in 
Bratislava,  available at: 
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=
8&ved=2ahUKEwjKk6e1y8HlAhUHohQKHcciAw4QFjAAegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2F
www.minv.sk%2F%3Ftlacove-spravy%26sprava%3Dvieme-presne-co-chceme-odkazuju-
mladi-romovia-
spolocnosti%26subor_spravy%3D292659&usg=AOvVaw2P4Q_imsGRu5eHMxiuNywj 

Monitoring report of the fulfilment of Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of 
Roma until 2020 for 2018. The Slovak Government on its meeting on 25 June 2019 
discussed this material and concluded as being taken into consideration,  available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/992  

National project MRK – Through education of pedagogical employees to inclusion in 
marginalised Roma communities“ (2011-2015), available at: 
https://www.minedu.sk/narodny-projekt-skvalitnil-vzdelavanie-viac-ako-22-000-
romskych-ziakov/,  

National Project PRINED, Project of inclusive education (May 2014- November 2015) 
available. at: https://www.minedu.sk/projekt-prined-ma-plny-pocet-prihlasenych-skol-
najviac-je-zo-spisa/  

Project MRK II, Inclusive model of education at pre-school level (February 2013- 
November 2015), available at: https://www.minedu.sk/data/att/4257.pdf  

Revised Action plans on NRIS until 2020 for years 2019-2020 for areas D.2.1 education, 
D.2.2. employment, D.2.3 health, D.2.4. housing and D.2.5 financial inclusion, 
government resolution 25/2019 adopted on 17 January 2019, available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/963 

Operačný program Ľudské zdroje na programové obdobie 2014-2020, Ministerstvo práce, 
sociálnych vecí a rodiny SR, Riadiaci orgán pre OP, available at : 
https://www.employment.gov.sk/files/slovensky/esf/op-ludske-zdroje/oplz_final.pdf  

State Conception in Area of Sport – Slovak Sport, adopted by government resolution No 
703/2012 on 6 December 2012, available at: 
https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Negotiation/612  

Strategy of the Slovak Republic for Integration of Roma until 2020, adopted by the 
government resolution 1/2011. 

Systém riadenia európskych štrukturálnych a investičných fondov (Centrálny koordinačný 
orgán, Úrad podpredsedu vlády Slovenskej republiky pre investície a informatizáciu, 
2019) (version 9), available at: https://www.partnerskadohoda.gov.sk/zakladne-
dokumenty/  

Vyzvanie na národný projekt Terénna sociálna práca a terénna práca s prítomnosťou 
MRK-II. Fáza, Zoznam povinných merateľných ukazovateľov, vrátane zadefinovanej 
relevancie k horizontálnym princípom, Appendix 5, available at: 
http://www.minv.sk/swift_data/source/mvsr_a_eu/oplz/vyzvania/np_terenna_socialna_p
raca_a_terenna_praca_v_obciach_s_pritomnostou_mrk_ii/P5_Zoznam%20PMU.pdf  

 
 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Legislation  

Act No. 288/1997 Coll. on Physical Education, as amended 

Act No. 440/2015 Coll on Sports, as amended 

Act No. 310/2019 Coll on the Fund on the Support in Sports. 

 
 
 
  
 
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