EVENT

Pro Bono Action Forum

By Pontis Foundation

In December 2016, representatives of business sector, government, non-profits and academia met to openly discuss the main barriers to employment of marginalized Roma in Slovakia. Based on the discussion, the Pontis Foundation has issued recommendations for employers in Slovakia that suggest appropriate business conditions and improvements in cooperation with authorities and NGOs outside of the private sector. However, the lack of positive examples from the corporate environment persists, and employers often lack the capacity to take new action in favour of the employment of this group.

Drawing from both the success of the last year’s debate and this year’s Pro Bono Marathon, we decided to combine the two events in the first pro bono event, where experts from NGOs will be helping businesses. We are bringing together the biggest employers in the impoverished regions in Slovakia to prepare them a tailored action plan that will help them to find and retain loyal, disciplined employees from socially excluded communities – primarily the long-term unemployed Romani people. The set of steps will be created by a group of experts based on previously identified needs and problems of the firms. The action plan will be made available to the public and the Pontis Foundation will publish recommendations for other potential employers.