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Key international and intergovernmental organizations assess the size of the Roma population in Serbia to be around 4–600.000, rendering Serbia among the five countries in Europe with the highest percentage of Roma population. Although Roma in Serbia have a long history of self-organization, cultural and media organizations, and are formally recognized as national minorities with a National Council of the Roma National Minority as a body with political decision-making influence, the Roma community in Serbia, as in most other European countries, is the most disadvantaged and underprivileged group in the country, often living in underdeveloped neighbourhoods with limited access to social services, especially education and health.

The educational attainment of the Roma population in Serbia, as in other countries in Europe, is far below the attainment of the general population. The education indicators are showing a developing trend, albeit slow. Roma integration policies evolved in Serbia from the early 2000s in the general policy framework of Equity of Education and Inclusive Education and a comprehensive education reform agenda, promoted and legally endorsed by the 2009 Law on the Foundations of the Education System. As the consequence of such an approach, the Roma integration policies intertwined and mutually reinforced with other reform policy areas. The most important post-2000 policies supporting the integration of Roma students into education are the introduction of pedagogical assistants in elementary schools and preschool institutions as a profession, paid from the budget, abolishing the system of school readiness assessment, introducing individual education plans and intensifying affirmative action and scholarships for enrolment in secondary and tertiary education.

This paper aims to demonstrate a possible way in which cultural elements of minorities, in the specific case of the Romani, can be researched and operationalized in certain guidelines for designing housing intended for these groups. The paper was inspired by a constant failure of the present practice of solving the socially vulnerable Romani housing problems, namely, previous attempts have only achieved a negative outcome that, besides the partial satisfaction of urgent housing needs, does not respect the specificities of the Romani culture and lifestyle. The negative result has once again displaced this subject outside of the designing expertise and demands new examinations of strategical principles that precede the solving of the Romani housing question.

The authors create a methodological turn from the humanistic determination of the term culture towards the anthropological one, forming a clear methodological position of accessing the Romani culture. To test this approach on Romani settlements in Belgrade, this study used on-site observations of everyday life and informal interviews with residents.

As a practical result, this paper presents an operational knowledge base about Romani housing with design recommendations. In the social sense, this knowledge contributes to the scientific description and explanation of the characteristics of Roma housing. In a wider sense, this paper has the potential to shed light on similar problems of minorities that are present outside of the national borders of Serbia.

The topic of Romani housing is insufficiently researched, especially in the region of the Western Balkans. For this reason, the present study and the obtained results represent a significant contribution to scientific knowledge in this field.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the social and cultural context of the social construction of mental health (MH) by members of Romani communities in Ukraine.

The research collected qualitative data to gain a better understanding of how Romani communities in Ukraine view the social and cultural factors influencing mental health. This paper analyzes data from focus groups in Romani communities in Ukraine (from six different oblasts) from February to March 2020. A total of 49 persons 19–75 years of age participated in the research, including 17 men and 32 women.

This study identifies four clusters of perceived social determinants of Romani mental health, these being employment, financial difficulties, level of education and discrimination. The findings indicate specific cultural characteristics of the Romani community that are seen as helping to support mental health. Family values, mutually supporting and referring to other members of the community are seen as especially important. Such social cohesion is believed to have a positive effect on the mental health of members of the Romani community. This paper discusses the implications of the study and suggests possible avenues for future data-driven policymaking in the area of mental health that take account of the culturally-specific meanings of mental health for these communities.

Given the significant gaps, shortages and, in some cases, complete lack of data on Romani ethnic and cross-cultural psychology, research is urgently needed to fill this gap. Lack of understandings of how Romani construct mental health can lead to badly-matched, misplaced or ineffective actions and distrust. This paper aims to support better understandings of Romani among MH service providers and enhancing the mutual engagement of Romani and MH services, supporting the broader agenda of social inclusion of Romani people.

The purpose of this paper is to explore senses of powerlessness and empowerment among Romani in Ukraine in relation to such social circles as the extended family, the Romani local community and the whole Ukrainian society. The main research interest is focused on situations and factors that make people feel powerless or empowered.

The study was conducted using a semi-structured interview method via telephone. Romani NGO experts approved the interview content. Trained Roma-facilitators were interviewers. Every interview was transcribed for further thematic analysis.

The most prominent empowerment factors for Romani people are located within their families and local communities, while the bigger society (Ukrainians themselves and Ukrainian public institutions) is a main source of powerlessness. At the same time, the rigid role of family and community expectations is seen as detrimental for both males and females.

The paper is original in terms of its topic (senses of powerlessness and empowerment among Romani in Ukraine as social determinants of mental well-being) and research strategy (engagement of Roma-facilitators as interviewers).

Solving settlement and likewise housing problems of socially vulnerable Romani in Belgrade and Serbia still has not found the right design approach. In contemporary plural society, it is a process of interaction of theoretical and practical tryouts set beyond the disciplinary limits. Insufficient awareness on Romani lifestyle elaborated in Romanypen, i.e. the Romani cultural system causes a lack of methods, techniques and tools to choose from and develop for this untangled complex problem. The intent of this article is to show that a collective lifestyle represents the essence needed for developing adequate design decisions of Romani settlements, thus fulfilling the potential for improving adequate housing solutions.

The study starts on the assumption that in Romani settlements there is a strongly rooted relation between spatial and social level that enables an understanding of what this cultural group produces as its own place. The urban pattern of Romani settlements do not have an institutionally imposed organization; they are formed by the Romani themselves, by reflex rooted in needs of everyday life activities and consequently organized and built through inherited knowledge and skills. The subject of this study is aimed at recognizing and thus establishing spatial expressions of the Romani collective lifestyle in three types of Belgrade Romani settlements that, according to the differences in their inner habitational pattern, display a representative model. It is based on the field analysis of five already created and developed unplanned settlements in Belgrade through observing and residing within them and by talking and questioning to their residents.

This study shows that the key to understanding existing urban and architectural patterns, as well as the potential for future design actions lies in reading out the processes of everyday life. Then, it demonstrates a tool that has a potential to divert previous housing politics towards a revitalization of design in relation to social profiles specificities. At the end, the study opens a path to creating adequate architectural and urban parameters for housing care in accordance to the lifestyle acceptable for each and every socially perceptible group.

This paper aims to compare the health status of Roma in Europe and Aborigines in Australia, examining access to health care (both primary and long‐term), administrative and communication problems, environmental risks associated with location of residences, women's health, substance abuse and mental health.

The paper discusses issues generated by cultural practices by both health care providers and the target groups.

Both Roma and Australian Aborigines have significantly poorer health status than the majority of the societies they are embedded in, and are clearly amongst the most disadvantaged members of their respective societies. Nevertheless, affirmative action programs for Aboriginal people over the last 40 years have produced some significant changes, with Aboriginal doctors and nurses, and culturally appropriate service provision being found in many areas.

Although there are considerable similarities between the health status and situation of Romanies and Australian Aborigines, clearly, there are also substantive differences. The paper suggests possible culturally appropriate service provision for Roma, based on Australian Aboriginal experiences and models.

This introduction from Andrea Óhidy and Katalin R. Forray provides a brief overview of the social and educational situation of Roma in the Western Balkan region and the structure of this book. Like in the books Lifelong Learning and the Roma Minority in Central and Eastern Europe (2019) and Lifelong Learning and the Roma Minority in Western and Southern Europe (2020), Roma are here described as a ‘hidden minority’ (Cavioni, 2020, p. 68), because despite the great number and the century-long history of Roma people on the European continent, there is still only limited information and knowledge about them, both in public awareness and scientific research. Although most members of the Roma minority have been living for centuries in their European home countries, their situation is still different from the non-Roma populations: They often suffer from socio-economic disadvantages and hate-motivated harassment and discrimination (EU-FRA, 2020a). This is not only the case in the member-states of the European Union but also in the Western Balkan region. All across Europe, there are Roma groups, which are considered to be the most disadvantaged minority, regarding their health, employment and housing and also in education. To increase their situation, European Union member states have developed common strategies, which play a part in negotiations for an EU-membership status. The so-called Western Balkan states – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – might join the European Union in the coming years. The social inclusion of the Roma minority and the protection of their minority rights in these countries were formulated as a precondition for their application for EU membership. Therefore, several goals, policies and measures were implemented there to break the ‘vicious circle of poverty and discrimination’ (EU-FRA, 2020b). Participation in education and lifelong learning have become central elements of these political measures for Roma Inclusion. This book examines the education situation of Roma across the so-called Western Balkan region.

In this chapter, Andrea Óhidy discusses some pivotal issues of the book. Firstly, she shows the common challenges for current and future EU-member states to increase the participation and success of Roma people in education and lifelong learning. Then she discusses policy strategies and measures for Roma Inclusion in the Western Balkan states Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. They try to improve the social situation of Roma people but also to promote minority languages and cultures. She found the main cause of the similarities concerning the strategies and concrete projects for possible solutions in the adaptation of the EU Roma inclusion policy in the Western Balkan states as part of their negotiations for EU membership. She considers the implementation of these policy measures and also the educational attainment and success of Roma in the Western Balkans unsatisfactory.

Roma in Croatia are spatially, economically and politically marginalised. There is a social gap between Roma minority and the majority of population. Prejudice and stereotypes against the Roma community are deeply rooted in the mind of the local community due to their insufficient knowledge of the Roma culture. The women of the Roma ethnicity are doubly marginalised, because of their Roma ethnicity and their gender. Roma women, more than Roma men, lack the basic elements necessary for self-realisation: education, healthcare, cultural and political participation. Roma generally have poor access to healthcare, and most of them do not have medical records. The Roma in Croatia most often speak Boyash (bajaški) or Romani chib. They speak both their mother tongue (Romani) and the language of the country they live in – standard Croatian. Students can study the Romani language and culture in higher education, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Zagreb. Kali Sara, the Roma Association for the promotion of the education of Roma in the Republic of Croatia, organises courses for Roma children and young people on the Romani language, culture and life in general. As for the educational attainment of Roma, data show that Roma children are still rarely included in the preschool education system. A large number of Roma children do not complete compulsory education. They rarely attend secondary school. Very small number of Roma students graduate at the Faculty level.