Within the scope of the DREAM ROAD project, the project partner Harghita County Council from Romania, organized the Dream Road International Conference on Deep Poverty, in the days between April 7th and 10th, 2021. The event was organized to contribute to the direct generation of positive changes in Roma communities, in addition, it benefitted the establishment of a transparent cooperation process. Besides the presentation of the international good practices related to poverty management and social inclusion, the DREAM ROAD project was also presented in detail. 

The date was not chosen coincidentally, because in the mentioned period we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Roma World Congress. In addition, on 7th of January there was a huge fire which affected the Roma community in Miercurea Ciuc, prompting us to organize this event. 

As the DREAM ROAD project emphasizes, the cooperation between Roma communities, local authorities and local citizens ie essential for the establishment of the development-led community ecosystems. Therefore within the event we involved local actors and specialists, who are interested in the competency development of the Roma communities and in the process of social inclusion. Representatives of local and regional institutions, politicians, teachers, specialists and Roma leaders were invited to participate in the event. Through this we contributed to the specific objectives of the Dream Road project that stipulates the collection of the local, specially experimented, transferable results and good practices and their presentation to the decision makers.

During the 4 days event, 22 presentations within 4 sections (2 plenary sessions and 2 workshops) were held. Within the event several topics related education, health, housing and policies were presented, besides these there we also presented the methodologies that assist social inclusion and good practices as well. Within the cultural programmes Roma artists and Roma cultura related artists performed their programs, which contributed to the promotion of the traditional Roma culture values and to the sensitization of the society.

Over 50 people participated in the daily sections in person, while online streaming was followed by approximately 1000 people. Interpretation into 3 languages was provided.