The document summarizes an action research project called "Cash Cash" conducted between 2007-2010 in Italy. The project explored the dynamics of street work among Romanian Roma youth and their families, promoted social inclusion, and supported institutional knowledge-building. Ethnographic fieldwork and a biographical laboratory were conducted. Youth participated in peer research on relationships. Collaboration with services sought to increase capacity and access. Results provided insight but political challenges remained. Future directions recommended working at higher levels, clearly defining populations, and considering different group situations.

1. Oana Marcu
Post-doc researcher at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Researcher for Codici | Agenzia di ricerche
Milano
ROMA YOUTH AND GENDER
DYNAMICS
Action research with youth involved in street-
work

2. Roma in Italy
Different Roma groups, with different citizenship status, labeled
“nomads” (e.g. Sinti, Kosovo Roma, Camminanti, Romanian Roma).
Regional legislation adopted in the ’80s, and still applied, instituted the
“nomad camps” as a minority protection measure.
Inclusion strategy:
lack of a global approach for decades
locally effective experiences and networking
focused on housing and leading to residential segregation.

3. Romanian Roma:
 “Nomads”, “irregular migrants” and EU citizens
at the same time.
 Low levels of employment
 Living conditions:
 regular (authorized nomad camps)
 irregular (“abusive” encampments, squats)
 Street-work as a survival strategy for youth
and families.

4.  May 2008 - the “Security Package” and the
“Nomadic Emergency Plan” legislative acts
replaced politics of care with politics of eviction
and control for Roma.
 Services access: fragmented between countries
and between regions in Italy.
 Social and health services access conditioned
by the legal residence.

5. Objectives
 To explore the dynamics of street work and more generally the
migratory paths of young people and their families.
 To promote participation, empowerment and social inclusion for
Romanian Roma youth involved in street-based activities.
 To disseminate active knowledge and awareness in order to build
equal opportunities for Roma youth.
 To support change and good practices construction in institutions and
services.

6. CASH CASH: The project
Was provided Italian, private funding by
Fondazione Cariplo, aimed at Social Inclusion,
Partners:

7. Cash Cash: the action-research (2007-2010)
Multiple professional figures (researchers, social-workers, photographer, peer-educator, ethno-
psychologist);
Team of three members and a coordinator.

8. METHOD
CONTEXTS AND
ACTIONS TARGET STRATEGIES AND TOOLS
TIME
Milan, Rome,
Ethnography Craiova
Ethnography & Participation 22 months
Interviewing (individual/group,
biographical)
Romanian Roma
Photography & visual research Milan
Biographical youth & families
methods 6 biographies
laboratory Peer-research 8-14 hours each
Narratives
Music
Milan
Peer research
3 ½ months
Institutional
ethnography & Milan, Craiova
networking Medical & counseling
Participation & shadowing
centers
Mediation
Juvenile justice and
Knowledge co- Exchange of know how Milan
protection institutions
costruction Training & teaching 30 hours of
Operators, volunteers,
seminars Online blog training
policemen, youth,
Reporting & publishing
citizens
Public comunication Online

9. Ethnographic fieldwork
Started in
public places,
by building
rapport with
young people,
who
introduced us
to their homes
and families

10. Biographical laboratory
Collaborative
life story
writing,
interviewing
and
photography
explored
youth’s
representations
of self.

11. Participated research with youth
 A group of 7 young people (aged 16-20)
conducted peer research, on a topic
chosen by themselves: romantic
relationships between Roma youth.
Introduced  They reflected on gender and the role of
a spotlight tradition, cultural change and
on gender
dynamics
integenerational gaps.
 Conducted peer interviewing, produced
images and interpreted the results, with the
support of project researchers.

12. Peer research (2)
Group
building

13. Peer research (3)
Field
research

14. Peer research (4)
Strong
Strong Our law: no
Our law: no
One
One respect for
respect for tribunals, but
tribunals, but
language
language rules and
rules and appointed
appointed
traditions
traditions gipsy judges
gipsy judges
Focus Difference
groups for between
data men and
analysis women
Virginity:
Feminine
a valued
attire Marriage principle
rituals and
practices

15. Peer research (5)
Exploring different ways of
storytelling

16. Intervention with services
 Involved a wide array of professionals figures,
working in various services (health, social
services, NGOs, institutions).
 4 months of collaborative ethnography with
professionals juvenile justice institutions:
 increasing services’ capacity in the social inquiry;
 maintaining and mediating contact between social
workers, young people, and families.

17. Group work
 Active learning techniques such as conceptual
maps, brainstorming, simulations and case
studies.
 Focus groups in trainings sessions in order to
understand and reflect upon the most frequent
and relevant situations that professionals met.

18. Data analysis
 Qualitative (thematic) data analysis for
interview transcrips and ethnographic field
notes;
 Metaphorical analysis for visual data
 Produced a wealth of qualitative data, useful
for understanding and interpreting the
phenomena, but no quantitative data

19. Results
 Insight into the gendered nature of street work
 Understanding of transnational circuits and relationship
between migration and informal economies
 Increase of social workers’ knowledge and abilities in
addressing vulnerabilities linked to the migration of
Romanian Roma to Italy
 Supported peer researchers in reflecting on their
experience and producing knowledge about it.
 Increased participants’ knowledge of available services
and facilitated access to services

20. Limits
 Conducted in an extremely harsh political
moment, repressive measures taken towards
irregular Roma (forced evictions) made it
difficult to pursue all contacts.
 Although efficient at an operational level, the
action research did non have the expected
impact at decisional levels
 Required a lot of time and emotional
resources for rapport to be built.

21. Future directions for Action Research
 Working at higher decisional level (authorities
administrations, policy-makers)
 Although their participation is often difficult to obtain (e.g. SRAP,
Roma-net)
 Good definition of the population in question (avoiding
the over-generalizing “Roma”)
 Unambiguous criteria for population definition absolutely
necessary in order to conduct quantitative research with large
samples
 Being sensitive to the different situation of various
groups (e.g. immigrant vs. citizens Roma, irregular vs.
regular migrants, etc)

22. Contacts
If you want to contact us for details or collaborations,
please do so!
www.codiciricerche.it
Oana.marcu@codiciricerche.it
Photography:
Luca Meola
Luca.meola@codiciricerche.it