Volkshilfe Österreich – a future for Roma in the labour market

With an eye to the opening of the European labour market in 2011, Thara, the employment advice centre for Roma and Sinti, launched a new initiative entitled “Advice and dialogue” on 1 September 2009 that focuses on international cooperation and intensifying contacts.

“Thara” means “tomorrow” or “future” in Romani. What “thara” will look like depends importantly on the possibilities for work and further education: for both the Roma ethnic cultural minority and for “gadje” (non-Roma). Work helps in finding an identity and participating in the social and economic life of a community.




The Volkshilfe Österreich project, which is subsidised by the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, is founded on this basic principle. Thara offers employment measures specifically for Roma and Sinti – regardless of whether they were born here or have a migrant background – treating orientation in the labour market and ethnic identity as interdependent considerations. The initiative is already a known quantity thanks to previous projects over the last four years. The Thara.Amaro Trajo project from 1 December 2007 to 31 November 2008 and the Thara Rominja/Roma in Transition project from 1 December 2008 to 31 August 2009, for example, were unique in Austria and also exceptional in Europe.

Successful project outcome

Roma and Sinti celebrated the conclusion of Thara Rominja/Roma in Transition with those responsible for the project in July 2009. From 1 December 2008 to 31 August 2009, job opportunities for young and adult Roma and Sinti (between 13 and 65 years) were the subject of a specific focus on three levels. “Amaro Trajo”, which means “our life” offered multilingual advice for individuals and groups wishing to improve their career prospects. The aim was to help clients to make their way in the labour market and to identify realisable aims. The Nevodrom (“new way”) preparatory course for finding jobs and training positions was aimed specially at Roma and Sinti between the ages of 14 and 25 years. According to Thara collaborator Usnija Buligovic, staff involved in the project require intercultural training, i.e. lessons in Roma history and culture, in order to help this target group: “Roma and Sinti often live in as many as three different cultures. It is therefore important to find the right balance between the different values.” If the young people can work on their own identity, they can develop self-confidence, which will help them in their working life. The third project level involves networking and public relations to provide Roma and Sinti with a bridge to the majority society.

“Thank goodness there is a tomorrow”

In spite of the closing celebration, the new project entitled “Thara advice and dialogue” carries on the work of the previous one. “Thank goodness there is a tomorrow. We are pleased that the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection has extended the Thara project,” says Erich Fenninger, managing director of Volkshilfe Österreich. Until 2010 international cooperation will be a further focus along with the Amaro Trajo and Nevodrom thrusts. When the transitional arrangements come to an end in 2011, Austria and other countries will have to lift their restrictions on access to the labour market for the new members of the European Union. Thara seeks to cultivate and intensify contacts with Roma associations in neighbouring countries with a view to opening a new chapter in the process of convergence within the EU in cooperation with economic and political stakeholders and NGOs.