Slovakia

Context at a glance

The Roma (also known as Romany or Gypsies) form the second largest ethnic minority group in Slovakia, with an estimated 320,000 currently living there. Early in this century, the Roma in Slovakia, as elsewhere in Europe, formed an ethnic community living on the social outskirts of the mainstream population. Of those living in Slovakia today, half (160,000) reside in exclusively Roma neighbourhoods.

Many of these communities are substandard settlements literally built on rubbish dumps with no access to running water or adequate sewage systems. Hepatitis, pneumonia, skin diseases such as scabies, head and body lice, respiratory infections, eye and teeth problems are common. The housing structure is usually a wood-framed shanty with mud-packed walls.

Habitat for Humanity programme

Roma families often live in slums, with no access to running water or electricity

In 1998, Habitat for Humanity began discussions with potential partners in Slovakia, resulting in a partnership with the University College of Cariboo and the local NGO KcPRO. The aim was to explore opportunities for working with the Roma community. A project to improve housing for the Roma community in Svinia was recently completed and in March 2006, Don Haszczyn and Paul Eckelschot from Habitat for Humanity visited the settlement …

On the edge of the village of Svinia, set in the picturesque Slovak countryside, lies an illegal Roma settlement, which is home to 137 families. The living conditions are shocking and it is amazing that this can happen within European Union boundaries.

But it used to be much worse. A recently completed Habitat for Humanity project, delivered with partner ETP Slovakia, has mobilized the Roma community and, as a result, the rats have fled, hepatitis and parotitis is no longer common and the constant knee-deep mud has gone. The water in the new water reservoir is now drinkable and constantly flowing from the natural reserves of the nearby forest, and homes are brighter and cleaner. Many families now sleep on proper beds – some the first they have ever had – with PVC flooring and wood burning stoves to help families cope with the harsh Central European winter.

All 137 families have actively participated in the home renovation project and through training and supervision, new skills have been acquired together with a sense of responsibility and motivation to further improve homes. In return for material help, families have been required to work in clearing and cleaning the settlement, working as a community to improve life for everyone.

Just as important has been the shift in attitude of the Local Council and the perception of non-Roma people in the village who observe not simply the improved living conditions but the basis upon which it has been earned. Perhaps most important of all, families have found a new sense of dignity and pride, and relationships between families have improved and strengthened.

Another success story is in the town of Nalepkovo in southeast Slovakia where about fifty percent of the population are Roma and fifty percent are Slovak. The local government in Nalepkovo secured funds to provide 20 apartments in five single-storey blocks for Roma families on an attractive site. When the basic structures are finished, Habitat will provide loans to families to raise the quality of their homes from basic shells to simple, decent homes. Another 30 families – Roma and Slovak alike – have taken loans to renovate their current homes.

A great strength of the project is that when these families pay their monthly loan instalments, a new family can start working on their own house. The aim of the project is to serve 50 families over a two-year period. The key to the project's success is that it involves a much wider community programme based in the village Community Centre and managed by a Habitat partner. Families have access to employment advice and legal assistance and there are after-school activities for children, mother and toddler groups and various self-help groups. The project has not only increased community involvement but has improved relations between Roma and non-Roma groups.

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