The DigiUp project is the result of the cooperation of partner organizations from three countries - Slovenia, Croatia and the Republic of Northern Macedonia. Participating organizations in the project are identified at the local and regional level, as well as at the national level, as key actors in working with members of the Roma community in the implementation of projects aimed at the latter. They are also connected by common previous experience gained in participating in international projects.The project idea arose during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, when primary schools had to adapt to emergency situations, which required moving teaching from classrooms to the digital environment of online classrooms, for which primary schools were not prepared. This proved to be particularly difficult for pupils coming from the Roma community who did not find themselves in the digital environment of online classrooms, as they did not have the knowledge to access them, which led to them being completely inactive during the distance learning. All of this had a negative impact on their success at the end of the school year, as drop-out rates increased among Roma pupils compared to previous years.In order to solve the problems caused by the disadvantages of Roma children, partner organizations tried to solve or at least mitigate the situation during the pandemic so we looked for long-term solutions together with the primary schools attended by Roma pupils. We consider it important to empower primary schools to provide high-quality inclusive digital education for such a vulnerable group in the field of education as Roma pupils, thus enabling them to be equally involved in distance learning. For this reason, it is necessary to develop and upgrade the basic digital competencies of Roma assistants, and to train them to the extent that they will transfer the acquired knowledge to Roma pupils. To achieve these goals, the partner organizations will prepare a detailed study at the beginning of the project to analyze the current situation and needs in the field of digital competence development of Roma pupils in each country from which the partner organizations come, which will serve as a basis for further activities. Based on the study, a training program for Roma assistants will be created, which will take into account the specifics of distance learning for Roma pupils. The training program will include modules designed to develop digital competencies for Roma pupils at the grade level as well as for students at the subject level. As part of the training program, we will also dedicate individual contents to teachers who take care of the development of digital competencies in primary school, so that they can gain insight into why Roma pupils face a number of challenges when working in an online environment. Pilot training of Roma assistants will be carried out in all three countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Republic of Northern Macedonia), and 12 Roma assistants will be included in each pilot training.We will also create an online platform that will be a basic tool for Roma assistants, and will contain content and various digital tools and innovative approaches to transferring knowledge to pupils. We will also develop two curricula for the development of digital competencies of Roma pupils, one for the grade level and one for the subject level of primary education.The latter will be based on data of the needs of Roma pupils in the development of digital competencies, which will be acquired as part of the first intellectual result. It will serve Roma assistants so that, with prior consideration of the needs of Roma pupils in distance learning, they can follow the developed curriculum in order to be able to transfer digital skills or knowledge to Roma pupils as efficiently and effectively as possible. The project will last for 24 months, from March 2021 to March 2023, during which we will hold 6 international project meetings the first and last will be held directly in the countries of the participating organizations (Slovenia and Republic of Northern Macedonia). The remaining 4 international meetings will be held with the help of MS Teams, due to the unknown future situation or the unknown epidemiological picture in Europe.We will also take care of the dissemination of the project and project activities, for this purpose we will develop an information and communication strategy and promotional material that will attract the interested public to start following the project and activities within it.

The NEC4US project links partners from 3 countries – Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia, whose regular activity is preparation of educational programs and training for adult individuals that belong to the Roma national minority. The project will enable networking and creation of partnerships that will on a national level equalize and develop the process of social integration for Roma population. The partners in the project are active on areas where Roma population is widely spread and where the similar problems are constantly recurring and need to be systematically resolved.These includes the following problems:1. dispersing of Roma population both in the programs of formal as well as the informal education, and professional training 2. low success of Roma in most of education, trainings and learning, and poor outcomes of learning3. leaving educational problems for various reasons (poorly spoken national language, grapho-motoric problems, low self-esteem for several reasons, but mainly because of poor understanding of the national language, low motivation to gain motivation for reasons of having different life priorities, etc.)The aim of the partners, with regard of knowledge of poor life condition of Roma population and their problems, is to encourage them to be satisfied with their own accomplishments in several aspects of life – first of all - fulfilling the need for knowledge and education to enable proper social inclusion, because the goal is to increase the education level among the Roma population since it is a fact that most of them only finish primary education. The partners agreed on the fact that all types of education and raising the level of education among the Roma population are of paramount importance in order to give them a chance to leave the magic circle of social and economic poverty in which they have been living for generations.There are individual examples that show how quality approach actually completely integrated the Roma individuals in the life of its surroundings, but the key factor is their motivation and interest for success. Roma population is extremely emotional, their decisions are very often driven by emotions and current motivation, so working with them requires very subtle approach and a high level of understanding for diversity and specificity. This is very often the problem for teachers who work with them as adults because they do not have the knowledge nor the skills that are necessary. There is no formal program of education for future teacher which would show them how to treat and how to transfer knowledge to different national minorities in a way that respects their specific characteristics, whether they are material, linguistic or social. Another problem is that teachers very often don’t take into account the surroundings and conditions in which the participants of the program live, they do not know their culture and customs and have prejudices about the Roma population. The project will be dealing with those exact problems – how to develop competencies for teacher in formal and informal types of education to give them skills to work with adult Roma population and develop programs that will contribute to their better acceptance of work with individuals that belong to the Roma national minority. The program will contribute to:- knowledge of Roma culture, language, identity and habits;- better understanding of Roma topics regarding way of life, problems they encounter and that are following them because of life in Roma villages; - better understanding of social, ethic, linguistic and cultural diversity and recognition and adjustment of and to the same;- better understanding of andragogic and didactic approach that will be focusing on work with vulnerable target groups; - elimination of stereotypes and prejudices about Roma in education; - encouraging linking into partnerships of teachers from neighbouring countries and direct transfer of good practice in relation to educating Roma population; - encouraging multi-linguistic and multicultural environment in which we live and have an obligation to develop in all segments; - encouraging the motivation and satisfaction of teachers in everyday work. The program for educating the teachers will fulfil the needs and wishes of teachers to get more training, get new skills and knowledge in order to better provide their students with knowledge, especially to those that belong to the Roma national minority. The Training program and raising of competencies of teacher shall be based on former experiences and gained knowledge of adult trainers that have in the past encountered the problems of educating members of the Roma national minority. The program for increasing competencies of teachers will directly influence the fact that the educational system becomes more appealing to all participants, regardless to their opportunities and international networking and creation of strategic partnership between 3 countries