About Us

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION

Center for Roma Initiatives (CRI) is the first female Roma and Egyptian organization that was founded in September 2004, on the initiative of “SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence” in Niksic and members of the Roma and Egyptian communities, with the aim of creating unique opportunities for improvement of social, economic, cultural and educational situation of Roma and Egyptian women in Montenegrin society.

CRI has significant experience in the preparation and implementation of a significant number of projects in various program areas, it is very involved in the life and functioning of the target population at the national and the local community.

Since its establishment, despite strong challenges, constraints and weaknesses, CRI is an example of the development of integration of the Roma and Egyptian population in Montenegro and of establishing of cooperation between different stakeholders at national and local level in this field.

CRI works directly with users in the community through home visits, educational workshops, trainings, campaigns; it cooperates with other Roma and non-Roma organizations and with institutions to improve the status of women and children from the Roma and Egyptian population.

In 2010 CRI founded the first female Roma and Egyptian Network “FIRST”, which is composed of Roma and Egyptian women activists from five towns in Montenegro – Niksic, Podgorica, Berane, Ulcinj and Herceg Novi, which deals with the problems of Roma and Egyptians women.

As the crown of the work of the CRI, in April of 2012, CRI had been declared the winner of the Anna Lindh Award for leadership and women’s participation, organized by the Memorial Fund “Anna Lindh” from Sweden, among organizations from 57 countries of the world, for which we are nominated by the long-term donor Kvinna till Kvinna;

In March of 2013, Fana Delija, Executive Coordinator of the Center for Roma Initiatives, received the Ambassador’s award for civic activism from the US Embassy in Podgorica.

In October of 2014, the organization got the Award for Roma integration by the EU Commission