Cesta Von

2025 Honourable Mention

Slovakia

Cesta Von’s Story

In a small room inside a caravan, a mother sits on the floor holding her child, not yet old enough to walk. Across from them a woman wearing a shirt that reads “OMAMA” (an old German word for grandmother) and smiling encouragingly, leads them through a series of exercises to look at different colours and shapes. She then offers the mother a book which she opens up and reads to her child, enjoying this moment of shared learning and engagement.

The Roma population in Slovakia face levels of discrimination and social exclusion that are difficult to imagine in Europe in 2025. More than one third of the community’s children do not complete elementary school. Almost 70 percent rely on social assistance. And it can be difficult, especially for women, to find work outside of the settlement.

In this context Cesta Von, Slovakian for Way Out, works alongside Roma communities to help break the cycle of poverty that has keep many Roma from participating fully in broader Slovak society.   Cesta Von’s work is perhaps best exemplified in its OMAMA initiative, where Roma women who often have no formal education themselves, are employed as mentors to mothers in their communities to support with children’s learning and development. It has shown such success that the Ministry of Social Affairs has approved a groundbreaking early childhood development strategy based on the OMAMA model.

The program helps more than 1,100 children and their families across 40 communities in Slovakia. Widely respected, OMAMA is lauded as a best practice for early childhood development. It is now being implemented in Czechia, and various organizations from other countries have also expressed interest in the model.

In addition, Cesta Von runs an afterschool program for Roma young people, called Zebra, where they can engage in music lessons, dance classes and find mentoring support with their homework. Its FILIP initiative engages social workers who work in partnership with families to tackle the financial challenges they would most like assistance in overcoming. And the organization’s Amal (“friend”) volunteer online program connects Roma and non-Roma through mentorship and language practice sessions—providing a window into each other’s lives and building a foundation of friendship and understanding. Building connections is Cesta Von’s goal—to create a society without the exclusion of Roma people where all can prosper, belong and dream beyond the boundaries of poverty and discrimination.