Senad Sejdovic has a successful career as a journalist for Montenegro's public service broadcaster RTCG. But the road to his chosen profession was not an easy one, belonging as he does to one of Montenegro's most disadvantaged and discriminated-against groups - the Roma.

"When I worked as a plumber, I never even dreamed that I would do what I am doing today or that I would achieve significant success for myself, for my family and my people," he says.

Sejdovic is one of more than 300 Roma individuals who have benefited from an OSCE project to broaden the opportunities of Roma in Montenegro through education scholarships. The project enabled him to be trained at the journalism school organized by the Montenegro Media Institute.

"The basic problems of the Roma population in Montenegro are in the domains of education, employment, living conditions and housing, social and health status," says Aleksandar Sasa Zekovic, Executive Director of the Roma Scholarship Foundation (FSR), which was set up in early 2005 as part of the OSCE project.

Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians are the most vulnerable part of Montenegro's population, with the highest poverty rate (52.3%), illiteracy rate (80%) and unemployment rate (43.3%). The situation is even worse for women from these groups, with illiteracy and unemployment rates of over 80%. "The situation is difficult, but not hopeless," says Zekovic.

Opportunity through education

Education is key to changing the life opportunities for Roma. FSR scholarships help Roma of different ages attend elementary school, secondary school, university or adult education. In addition to financial support to pay for expenses such books, fees and lodging, each beneficiary is included in various programmes on capacity building and skills to benefit their local communities. They are also mentored and given support against any institutional discrimination they may face.

"The programme is focused not only on the customized educational needs of particular students, it also created a mechanism for transferring that education to a larger number of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian population through the establishment of the FSR," says the Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Ambassador Paraschiva Badescu. "The programme places the government and civil society in a partnership context, which is its added value".

Biljana Alkovic enrolled at the Faculty of Political Sciences after a 13-year break from her studies. "I managed to sign up and pass through high school. In the meantime, I finished the School of Journalism of the Montenegro Media Institute. The Faculty was something that I had always dreamed of but never had the courage. All Egyptians and Roma are just looking for equal access and equal opportunities," Alkovic says. Under the OSCE-supported project, she worked with pupils in the multiethnic elementary school Marsal Tito in Ulcinj on a children's magazine.

Foundation for the future

"Montenegro has made significant progress on every Roma issue in recent years," says Veselj Beganaj, President of the Executive Board of the FSR. "Today, Roma are present in the political, economic and social debates. Ten or more years ago this was not possible. We were silent and invisible."

Asked about the way forward, he replies that "it is essential to re-enrol children who have left school or have never attended, and to employ those Roma who have completed high school or vocational training. We must work together in order to strengthen the capacity of the labour market, to accept the Roma work force, to accept us without limitation or discrimination."

At the Faculty of Philosophy in Niksic student Emrah Jefkaj has no doubt about the benefits of his FSR scholarship for his future: "Only education can change everyday life and inheritance from the past," he says.

Back at RTCG, Senad Sejdovic explains that the challenges to overcome for Roma are not only about getting good jobs, but being fully confident in those positions once they have them: "I wish all colleagues could understand the importance of what we have achieved. But the hardest thing is that I still do not see myself as a journalist, but as a Romani journalist."