Our story
Baro Drom was born from the conviction that the future of Roma people in Romania should not be left to chance. We had seen too many beautifully written strategies with no effect on people’s lives, and too many talented children who left school before discovering what they could have become.
The name of the project comes from the Romani language and means “the great road”. It is the long road our ancestors travelled, and also the road we still have to travel: towards education, towards inclusion and towards a healthy relationship between the majority and the Roma minority.
The wheel in the logo is no accident. The Roma flag, adopted at the First World Romani Congress in 1971, has a blue half for the sky, a green half for the earth and, in the centre, a red wheel with 16 spokes that recalls the journey and the distant origins of the Roma people. We have kept those colours in the visual identity of this website too.
Our three goals
The project started out with three big tasks, and they remain unchanged today:
- Solutions for real inclusion. We want to propose and support genuine strategies for including the Roma community in Romanian and European society. That means concrete plans adapted to each local community, not vague ideas copied from one strategy to the next.
- Identity and education. We want to highlight Roma identity and the beautiful sides of Roma life and culture, and to empower young Roma through education so that they can have a better future and be truly included in society.
- Less racism. We want to reduce racism in Romania through dialogue, information and real encounters between people.
The reality on the ground
The photographs below were taken in August 2015, in a village and in a town in Romania. We do not show them to shock, but because they explain why we exist. We invite you to a simple exercise: how would you feel if you lived in conditions like these? And if you were a child, what future could you imagine for yourself?
To protect their privacy, the children’s faces in these photographs have been blurred.
For a child growing up in a house without running water, without enough light for homework and without an adult who can help with school, the road to education starts with a huge handicap. That is why we believe support has to come early and has to be consistent.
Discrimination starts early
Many Roma children learn what discrimination is before they learn to read. A nickname, a look, a seat in the back row or a label given only because of the colour of their skin leave marks that cannot be seen but stay with them for life.
The image next to this text needs no words: nobody is born with a label, it is put on them by others. It is up to all of us to stop doing it.
Our values
- Education first. It is the one investment that can never be taken away.
- Dignity. We talk with people, not about them. Every child and every family deserves respect.
- Dialogue. Prejudice fades when people get to know each other. We look for opportunities for the majority and the minority to meet.
- Responsibility on both sides. Society must offer real opportunities, and the Roma community must take them. Inclusion is a shared effort.
Who is behind the project
Baro Drom is a project of the Phoenix-Renaștem Vise Association. The association provides the framework through which the project runs its activities and builds partnerships with schools, universities, institutions and other organisations.
Baro Drom and the Phoenix-Renaștem Vise Association are represented by lawyer Laurențiu Tudorache. It was at his initiative, for example, that the meeting of 2 April 2026 between pupils from Cernica and Tânganu and the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest took place.
If you would like to learn more about us, propose a collaboration or support our work, get in touch. Every great road begins with a first step.