Vision:

Roma women active, equal and recognized in the community.

Mission:

We are a feminist organization which through activism, knowledge and specialized services empowers Roma and other minority women to live without vipence in Vojvodina.

The Association of Roma Novi Becej was founded in 1999 and registered on June 17^th, 2000. Since then, we have actively implemented around 300 projects independently and/or in partnerships, working in 65 Roma settlements in Vojvodina and Serbia. About 40.000 people (Roma, Roma women, children and other national minorities) have gone through our programmes since the beginning of work. We established the first SOS Helpline on languages of national minorities in 2007, which has been actively operating since then. We founded the Roma Women's Network of Banat, which today has grown into an active Roma Women's Network of Vojvodina and in 2018 we launched a multi-ethnic networking initiative in Vojvodina whose work and development was interrupted by the pandemic. We are actively working on the gender sensitive Strategy for Improvement of Roma Status in Serbia, the adoption of gender-sensitive local strategies and action plans, and we are improving local mechanisms for protection against gender-based violence in Vojvodina. We actively participate in the process of drafting reports on the implementation of the CEDAW Convention and the Istanbul Convention in Serbia.

The Association of Roma Novi Becej is a member organization of: the Network of Women against Violence, SOS Vojvodina Network, World Roma Federation, Network of Civil Society Organizations for Monitoring the Implementation of NAP 1235 and the European Women's Lobby in Serbia. The organization is also a member of the National Coalition against Child Marriage in Serbia and we have consultative status within the work of the Roma Inclusion Office in AP Vojvodina.

The activities of the Association are divided into 6 groups:

The first group of activities is field work in the form of workshops, panels, forums, public actions and marches, where we also include psychosocial workshops with women and girls who have experienced violence and institutional discrimination. By our presence in the community and through dialogue, we gain the influence and support of the community, we have an insight into the problems that the communities face and we publicly point to them, but we also look for solutions together with the community.

The second group of activities is the SOS Helpline in minority languages ​​(Romanes, Hungarian, Romanian and Russin) within which we provide consultation and professional psychological support women and girls survivors of gender-based violence and who have experienced the practice of child, forced marriage. Within this group of services, we also provide support services for victims of rape and sexual violence.

The third group of activities is a Legal Aid that provides free legal counselling to women survivors of violence, but also represents Romani women and other minority women before the courts in matters of domestic violence, trafficking, institutional discrimination and racist attacks. The organization is a registered provider of free legal aid services within the Ministry of Justice since 2021.

The fourth group of activities are activities focused on the area of human trafficking and the problem of modern slavery, which has started in 2023 through various projects, and the aim was to strengthen competences and understanding of these problems, especially from the point of view of child, forced marriage and increasing offers for working abroad.

The fifth group of activities covers the area of support and development of feminist activism, especially the resilience and development of Roma women's activism, primarily in the area of Vojvodina, as well as the coordination of the work and development of the Roma Women's Network of Banat and the expansion onto Vojvodina.

The sixth group of activities is focused on the area of advocacy for the advancement of institutional mechanisms for the improvement of the position of the Roma national minority in Serbia, with special reference to the position of Roma women, strengthening the protection of women's rights from gender-based and partners’ violence and the protection of Roma girls from child, forced marriage. As part of these activities, we also report on the implementation of relevant conventions for the protection of the rights of women and minorities and strengthen the organization's status in dialogue and networking with institutions.