Dear Madames and Sirs!

My name is Barbara Zeidler and I am currently starting a project about self-starting Roma initiatives in middle- and south eastern Europe.

The project documents the Romanies’ own economic, social and manual initiatives and projects as well as their framework conditions which were launched without any external incentives or pre-financing. By concentrating on these positive examples, we would like to give a new perspective to some of the current controversial debates.

Our aims with this project are following:

1) Disproving the stupid prejudices, f.e. “Romanies do not work and only live from social benefit ” to the general public
2) detect the success factors and strategies of these initiatives to make them known and help others to imitate them
3) Helping these initiatives to get publicity and crosslink them with others
4) Finding positive role-models for others (also for Non-Roma, as I strongly believe that a lot of Non-Roma can learn a lot from these Roma and their capability, knowledge and staying power)

We would like to document these initiatives to find the success factors and strategies, which were necessary to implement the project / company / initiative.

The results will not only be presented during a conference with our partners in autumn 2014, but also published in 2 ways:

1) an extensive publication (about 60-80 selected companies / initiatives / projects in English and Romanes)
2) a much more substantial website / database presenting them in word and picture including the possibility to network and connect amongst themselves.

Additionally we will cooperate with Katalin Barsony of Romedia, who will make a film about these initiatives. A series of exhibitions and lectures is in a planning state for 2015.

For the implementation of the project we need to find partners who help us finding these initiatives and getting into contact with them. The project would like to cover following countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Moldova.

We would be glad, if you find our project of interest for your organisation and if you would like to get into contact with us! Please do not hesitate to contact us in case of any questions or for further information!

With best regards from Vienna,

Barbara Zeidler and Abbé J. Libansky

Institut für kulturresistente Güter
Wallrißstrasse 120
A-1180 Wien
Austria

Tel.: +43-6991-94 78 125

Email: barbara@zeidler.co.at

Skype: barbara.zeidler