Comission
The jury 2011
Expert panel of judges
Michael Kocáb
Chairman of the panel of judges
Vice-President of the Czech Helsinki Committee
An artist and a politician who has had a wealth of experience in involvement against totalitarianism. After completing his composition and organ studies at the Prague School of Music , he went on to perform with the band Pražský výber – a group which often met not only with displeasure and repression from the Czech communist political nomenclature, but also with affection from fans. The breaking point in Michael Kocáb's life came with the velvet revolution. In the spring of 1989 he established the Most (bridge) initiative, which went on to become the first platform for his future political career. Since the 17th of November 1989 he has been the founder member of Občiana fóra (Civic forum), which was the equivalent of the Slovak Verejnosť proti násiliu (the public against violence) civic initiative. As a member of the Civic forum centre crises management team, he organised all the negotiations with the then prime minister Adamec. In addition to this he also negotiated with military representatives and Soviet military emissaries on non-intervention in the course of the revolutionary events. Furthermore, he initiated steps which lead to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces coming to an end and recommended Vaclav Havel as the republic's president.
From December 1989 he acted as a Czechoslovak Federal assembly deputy in the international committee. In the first free elections in 1990 he gained 54% of the popular vote (coming in second behind A. Dubček) and once again became a member of parliament. It was during this time that he intensively became involved in the withdrawal of the Red Army from the former Czechoslovakia. He took time out from his political career in 1991. In 1992 he amassed 250 000 signatures in support of a referendum on the Czechoslovak federal republic being split. Between 1993 and 2003 he worked as an external advisor to Vaclav Havel. In 2001 he established a foundation for literature support Between 2003 and 2008 he continued working prolifically with Vaclav Havel in various areas. Additionally, between 2003 and 2005 he fully revamped his musical activities, resulting in a Pražský výber comeback featuring the original line-up. In 2008 he accepted a Czech senate candidature proposal as an independent senator for the Green party. After being successfully elected in 2009, he was named the Czech minister for human rights and national minorities.
Nicholas Martyn
Deputy Director General (Directorate-General for Regional Policy)
Nicholas Martyn was born in England in 1951. He studied history as a first degree at Cambridge University, followed by law in order to qualify as a solicitor. He practiced as a solicitor in England for 10 years working in a variety of areas from support for local community groups to commercial litigation in the High Court in London. In 1988 he succeeded in a competition for a post as a civil servant in the European Commission in Brussels. He has during his career with the Commission worked as a lawyer in the area of agriculture, held posts relating to financial control and audit, and for the last ten years worked in the Directorate General for Regional Development. He was recently director of a geographic directorate responsible for the management of programmes in six Member States. From 1 March 2011 he was appointed Deputy Director General with overall responsibility for policy development and coordination. During his time as geographic director he was closely involved with the use of regional funds to support integrated actions for the marginalised Roma community in Slovakia. In his current post, he is responsible for the team running pilot projects supporting innovative approaches to problems facing Roma communities.
Costel Bercus
Chair of REF Board (Roma Education Fund)
Costel Bercus is a Romanian Roma, graduated in International Relations and European Studies from the Spiru Haret Faculty in Bucharest. Since 1997, he has been working as a human rights activist with Romani CRISS (Roma Center for Social Interventions and Studies), which is a well-known human rights organization in Romania. In 2000, he was appointed Executive Director of Romani CRISS, which made him exposed to extensive international activities and ultimately led to his appointment in 2005 as Board Member of the Roma Education Fund (REF). The same year, he was asked to take the Chairmanship of the REF Board which he is carrying on still today. Between 2006 and 2008, he was leading the Roma Civic Alliance of Romania, a network organization linking over twenty Roma NGOs in Romania. He has also worked as an international consultant providing technical assistance in policy development on Roma inclusion for several countries in the Western Balkans and Romania, commissioned by different international development agencies.
Zeljko Jovanovic
Roma Initiative Director (Open Society Institute)
Photo: Jozsef Gazso/Open Society Foundations
Zeljko Jovanovic is director of the Open Society Roma Initiatives. He is involved in activities such as training for Roma activists, research on the concrete challenges faced by local Roma communities, advocacy campaigns targeting local and national governments, and voter registration initiatives.
Before joining the Open Society Foundations in 2006, Jovanovic worked for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From February 2005 to August 2006, he was an officer in the OSCE Mission to Serbia, working with the government of Serbia on EU-funded municipal projects for Roma and the introduction of Roma teacher’s assistants and Roma municipal coordinators. Before that, from April 2003 to May 2004, he served in the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights as manager of the regionalproject “Roma Use Your Ballot Wisely!” In 2000–2003, Jovanovic worked with Catholic Relief Services on local Roma initiatives and project-management training for Roma organizations.
Of Roma ethnic background, Jovanovic comes from a family that, through determination and a belief in education, moved from extreme poverty to the middle class. He has an academic background in law and has completed the Harvard University Executive Education program on Strategic Management for Leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations. In secondary school and during his university studies, Jovanovic was involved in protests against the Milosevic regime. During this period, he also volunteered as journalist for a Roma radio magazine broadcasted on B92, the only independent broadcaster in Serbia at the time, and was an activist for a Roma political party.
Katarína Mathernová
Senior Adviser for the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank
Between 2007 and 2010 Katarina was a Senior Adviser for the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. Previously she worked as Deputy Director General for development, coordination and communication Cohesion Policy at the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional Policy. Katarína is also the former manager for Institutional Reform at the World Bank and was also a leading adviser to institutional and Political Affairs Vice-Minister of the Slovak Republic for the economy.
Katarína Mathernová was born in Slovakia. She graduated from civil and public law at the Law Faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava and the Michigan Faculty of Law University. Between 2001 and 2002 she worked in public policy at the Open Society Institute and the German Marshall Fund Campus Fellow .
Miroslav Pollak
Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities
"As the Slovak delegate for Roma communities I am trying to reduce tension between the majority population and Roma communities. I'm attempt to help disadvantaged groups of citizens with their integration into society and to address the concentrated poverty in Roma settlements."
Miroslav Pollák (1957 v Levoči) is the Slovak Government Delegate for the Roma community.He performs tasks aimed at addressing the issues faced by Roma communities. He graduated in mathematics at the Košice P. J. Safarik University Faculty of Science. He worked as a deputy in the Slovak National Council. He passed the rigorous examination. He welcomed social change after the November revolution in 1989, which uncovered some of the problems in our lives. For this very reason - despite having completed his education- he felt the need to address socially deprived citizens and studied social work - graduating at the University of Ružomberok. This then led him to the situation in the region of his origin. He was born in Levoca and lived in Košice. It is the eastern part of Slovakia that is knownfor its concentration of marginalised Roma settlements and high unemployment. He schooled and trained Roma activists, disadvantaged population groups, various government representatives and NGOs. He initiates and supports action that leads to the elimination of multiple discrimination against Roma.
Activity of the year panel
LEILA ABASSOVÁ
Panel chairwoman
Professional host
Foto: Jakub Ludvik
Leila Abassová started her career at Galaxy television at the age of 18 where she hosted the only Czech version of MTV. She then briefly worked for TV3 where she filmed reports from clubs. Subsequently, she got into TV Ocko, where she worked for six years as a presenter and screenplay writer. Leila hosted the Big Brother night show on TV Nova. She worked for Czech Television on the Home Alone show for a year and a half. In addition, for several years she has hosted social events, sports events and events for children. At the age of 21 she became the spokeswoman for the League of ethnic minorities, through which she became acquainted with the adopting children from a distance project. For roughly five years she worked as program coordinator for long distance adoption for Kenya, thanks to which she lived in Kenya for half a year. She later established the Asante Kenya fund and Medela project seeking to help disadvantaged children around the world. In 2008 she received a bronze medal from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for merits in development aid. Leila worked for 16 months as a spokeswoman and adviser to the Minister of the Czech Republic for Human Rights.
Eva Babitzová
Radio Expres general director
In 1989 Eva graduated from physical electronics and optics for Mathematics at the Physics faculty of Comenius University in Bratislava. Until 1992 she worked as a reporter for Slovak Radio, in 1992 she became the director of the Charlie center. At the same time she worked externally for Rock FM and later Radio Twist. From 1993 -1995 she was the marketing manager for the SME daily. Between 1997 – 2000 she worked as a reporter for the Trend weekly and also worked as executive director of the Council for Advertising and board member of the European EASA. Since 2000, she has worked for Radio Expres. Since 2004 she has been a member of the Arbitration Commission of the Council for advertising. In February 2006 she became the Managing Director of Radio Expres. She is the president of the Association of Independent Radio and television stations, a member of the Presidium of the Council for advertising, a member of the Slovak IPI (International Press Institute) Board. She teaches externally at the Music Academy in Bratislava.
Silvia Jaslová
Health education assistant - Chminianske Jakubovany
A panel member directly from the field. This full time mother of five children spends all her free time providing aid to the local Roma community. Silvia Jaslová from Chminianske Jakubovany is still only 37 years old, but she has managed to do a lot. She worked as a Roma assistant teacher and taught children in the "Removing barriers to Roma children entering the first grade” project. She is now an health education assistant in the Healthy Communities project where she takes particular care in respect of mandatory vaccinations and preventive examinations of children from local villages. In addition, each day she shuttles children in nursery school and supervises their attendance. The Chminianske Jakubovany settlement has about 1500 inhabitants. With this sheer number of people, Silvia Jaslová works for the community to the maximum. Besides all this, however, she manages to study because her dream is to become the terrain worker. For her initiative, selfless assistance and active approach to life Silvia Jaslová has become a member of the panel of judges for the Activity of theYear category.
Slávka Mačáková
ETP Slovakia director
Slávka Mačáková, PhD. is the director of the ETP Slovakia civic association Center for Sustainable Development. Over the past twelve years, ETP Slovakia under the leadership of Slávka have introduced pilot runs of many innovative ways to provide services to disadvantaged Roma families living in marginalized communities in central and eastern Slovakia. Slávka, along with her team, have set up and restored local multi-purpose community centers in nearly thirty cities and villages in Slovakia, where trained experts provide residents with comprehensive services (social, occupational, health, legal and financial counseling, various types of educational activities tailored to needs and talents in disadvantaged communities) with the "from the cradle to the grave" approach.
Among the innovative programs implemented in Slovakia exclusively by ETP there are the Slovakia Savings and Micro-loan programs, through which more than five hundred Roma families have improved the quality of their housing.
In 2009, ETP Slovakia - under Slávka’s leadership won the Gypsy Spirit NGO award for "comprehensive, authentic and highly professional work and services for disadvantaged and marginalised population groups, tackling poverty and social exclusion in Slovakia, with particular regard to the Roma in segregated settlements. For applying a concept of social mobilisation that encourages mutual aid and assistance, in particular for the creation of temporary and permanent jobs. "
Jozef Šivák
STV reporter
Jozef Šivák - is the first Roma in Slovakia to work on national television as a presenter. His beginnings are connected with the East Slovak region and Roma show which he hosted. Joseph Sivák worked as an editor for the Blesk lifestyle magazine, Ľudia na jednotku (people on 1), and Extra. At Slovak Television he has also served as a production assistant and producer. At present he works in the public institution as the main editor of STV. Jozef Šivák is also the director of the International Gypsy Fest and professional supervisor of the Visegrad four Gipsy Televion Roma WebTV. He is a graduate of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra and the St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work in the fields of social work in the Roma community and social work.
Miroslava Hapalová
People in need Slovakia director
Miroslava Hapalová has studied psychology, worked in educational and psychological counselling as a field worker in the Roma settlement in eastern Slovakia. As an external trainer and researcher she has cooperated with several NGOs, academic and research institutions. Since 2008 she has been the director of the Slovak branch of the People in Need Foundation which focuses on the integration of socially excluded Roma localities. She is the co-author of numerous publications, primarily focused on the education of children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
The jury
The gypsy Spirit awards prize-winners receive their awards from renowned judges of merit in the field of inter-human relations, peace policies and human rights in the social sphere and culture.
The specialist panel of judges is made up of a 5 member commission which assesses the nominations and work in all categories with the exception of the 'Activity of the year' category. The winner in this category is to be decided by popular vote, In this case a five member panel made up of project partner representatives, the media and the organisation committee.
The panel's decisions will not be published and shall remain secret until they are officially announced at the awards ceremony itself. The specialist and popular vote panels are legitimate if more than half the members are present.
The voting process takes place over three rounds. The first round will be judged by the preparation and organisation committee (POC), with submitted nominations being assessed on a scale of 1 to 100, whereby 100 is the highest score possible. On the basis of the attained score, the organisation committee creates a list of five nominations in each category who are to proceed to the next round. In the second round the respective panel selects three finalists from the five nominations from the first round for each category via means of a secret ballot. The third round is the final held on the 16th of April, where the panels announce the winners in each category.
Michael Kocáb
The Czech minister for human rights and national minorities
„As the Czech minister for human and minorities, Roma affairs fall under my agenda. It's certain that the Slovak public has registered the rise of extremist power in the Czech republic as well as other alarming events in segregated areas which have occurred over the past few months.We are currently working on a proposal featuring specific systematic steps aimed at Roma inclusion - however I am convinced that as long as there is will and willingness on the part of all involved, ineffective and spineless legislative mechanisms will continue to be put in place.It is for this very reason that I whole-heartedly welcome all activities which lead towards support for the positive perception of Roma uniqueness and culture. The Gypsy Spirit project in my opinion is a great example of how to show society benchmarks of positive communication between the majority and the Roma minority"
Michael Kocáb is an artist and a politician who has had a wealth of experience in involvement against totalitarianism. After completing his composition and organ studies at the Prague School of Music , he went on to perform with the band Pražský výber – a group which often met not only with displeasure and repression from the Czech communist political nomenclature, but also with affection from fans. The breaking point in Michael Kocáb's life came with the velvet revolution. In the spring of 1989 he established the Most (bridge) initiative, which went on to become the first platform for his future political career. Since the 17th of November 1989 he has been the founder member of Občiana fóra (Civic forum), which was the equivalent of the Slovak Verejnosť proti násiliu (the public against violence) civic initiative. As a member of the Civic forum centre crises management team, he organised all the negotiations with the then prime minister Adamec. In addition to this he also negotiated with military representatives and Soviet military emissaries on non-intervention in the course of the revolutionary events. Furthermore, he initiated steps which lead to the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet forces coming to an end and recommended Vaclav Havel as the republic's president. From December 1989 he acted as a Czechoslovak Federal assembly deputy in the international committee. In the first free elections in 1990 he gained 54% of the popular vote (coming in second behind A. Dubček) and once again became a member of parliament. It was during this time that he intensively became involved in the withdrawal of the Red Army from the former Czechoslovakia. He took time out from his political career in 1991. In 1992 he amassed 250 000 signatures in support of a referendum on the Czechoslovak federal republic being split. Between 1993 and 2003 he worked as an external advisor to Vaclav Havel. In 2001 he established a foundation for literature support Between 2003 and 2008 he continued working prolifically with Vaclav Havel in various areas. Additionally, between 2003 and 2005 he fully revamped his musical activities, resulting in a Pražský výber comeback featuring the original line-up. In 2008 he accepted a Czech senate candidature proposal as an independent senator for the Green party. After being successfully elected in 2009, he was named as the Czech minister for human rights and national minorities.
Alexian Santino Spinelli
Musician and organiser of the Roma culture and arts festival in Italy
„Dear Sirs,
I want to express my deeply positive emotions about the competition named Gypsy Spirit. As a member of the Romani community in Italy I feel close relation with all Roma all over the Europe. This kind of the activities – in my opinion – make the issue of Roma more visible, show the positive things and give the society really human dimension.
It was pleasure for me to cooperate with the team and to learn about so many good things done for the community in Slovakia, to learn about the brave men and women working, helping and supporting those who need it the most.
I am really sorry that the situation in my region Abruzzo doesn't allow me to participate at the event. As you know the earthquake caused real disaster of many people and my help is needed there.
I wish you all the best and hope to meet with you next year since I truly believe this is just the beginning of our further and wider cooperation."
Santino Spinelli is a Roma who is active in his home town of Lanciano in the Italian Abruzzo region. This accordionist, singer and composer – along with his group Alexian – presents Roma culture via tours in locations where Roma roots can be found, from Punjab to the French Camargue. In terms of education he is a musical theoretic, having been awarded a doctorate of music and being one of the first Roma to become a lecturer at the Pescare university of music. In addition to his academic, research and publishing work in Lanciano, he has also built his own art school, at which he teaches accordion and singing. In 2001 he was elected into parliament as the only Italian representative in the international Roma Union. He is the founder and president of the Romano Them (Roma world), which supports artistic efforts, talents, talent development and education within Roma communities. This organisation hosts an annual international competition under the name of Amico rom (friend of the Roma) where personalities from the international Roma movement are given awards – which in turn also highlight non-Roma activists and institutions which are helpful towards the Roma. Spinelli was also one of the founders of the international Roma writers collective in Helsinki in 2002. Since the same year Spinelli has been the head of the Triest university Roma language and culture faculty. He is the first Roma in Europe to have obtained a position of this magnitude at a university. Spinelli's poem Auschwitz is set to be immortalised on a well which is an as yet unfinished memorial to the Roma murdered during the national socialism period in Germany's capital city – Berlin.
Rumyan Russinov
The Roma Education Fund – based in Budapest. Executive director
"Dear Sirs,
When I started to work in the field of the Romani issues (what was about 15 years ago), I many times met with people – both Roma and Non-Roma, from Slovakia. I knew Slovakia as the country which was young, fighting with many problems but it was always in progress. Nowadays you in Slovakia managed re-shaping of the society, changed the way of the people's thinking and brought the theme of supporting Roma to the daylight.
I am very happy that I could have been a part of the whole procedure of the competition Gypsy Spirit. I feel honoured that I was asked to participate as the juror – which was really very hard work.
I made decisions about the nominees according to my best beliefs and knowledge and I hope the final results of the competition will bring out those who really are the best.
I see the whole initiative of Gypsy Spirit as a really big step forward for Roma as well as for the whole society. I wish the organizers as well as the participants good luck and success."
Rumyan Russinov has a Master of Economics qualification. Since 1993 he has been an active participant in the Roma rights movement, and in 2000 worked in Sofia for the Human Rights Project, which defends the human rights of Roma. In 1997 he initiated and lead a campaign for the policies on the fight against Roma discrimination to be accepted by the government. Subsequently, in 1998, the Bulgarian government accepted a framework program on the equal integration of Roma into Bulgarian society. This political bill brought Bulgarian Roma wide support and space for growth. As a result he became the establisher of government policy towards the Roma for the next few years. Between 2002 and 2005 Rumyan Russinov was the director of the Open Society Institute and the Roma Participation Program in Budapest. It was in this position that he initiated and headed up actions which led to the desegregation of Roma in schools in central and eastern Europe.
Dr. Sylvia Porubänová
Work and family research institute, deputy director and research worker
"The open ambition of modern society is integration. Integration as mutual acceptance between the minority and the majority. Integration as a long term. Dynamic process of mutually respected rights and responsibilities such as social adjustment which guarantees the individual's right to keep their identity based on their roots as a component of a wider identity.
The point is that Roma identity should not be a stigma for anybody! Moreover, fellowship, solidarity and cohesion should not be mere 'politically correct' expressions. Activities and projects such as Gypsy Spirit which prove that we want to and know how to live together as opposed to next to each other are a precedence of integration itself. The key issue is the goodwill to mutually perceive, understand, respect and support each other."
Dr Sylvia Porubänová studied sociology at the Bratislava Comenius university philosophical faculty. After completing her studies in 1994 she was a scientific research worker at the Slovak academy of science sociology department until 1994. In 1994 she became a scientific research worker in the international centre for family studies, where she is still employed today and where she has also been the deputy director since 2004 (in March 2006 the institute was renamed the Institute for research, work and family). She is the founder of the young family support movement. During her career she has written an abundance of specialised articles and publications dedicated to family issues and various social matters.She has received many awards for her work, including the UN certificate of merit (1995), the International year of the family gold medal (1995) and both silver and bronze international year of the family medals (1994).
Jaroslav Kiska
Consumer Finance Holding Inc. – chairman of the board of directors, and the co-founder of the Quatro and Triangel groups and also the founder and board of directors member of the dobry Anjel (good angel) project.
"In my opinion, currently more is said about supporting the Roma community than is done, and this is one of the reasons I accepted a place in the Gypsy Spirit project judging panel . I would be glad to personally contribute to negative stereotypes being transformed into positives and remain convinced that improved circumstances for the Roma in Slovakia equates to an improved situation for us all in the end."
Jaroslav Kiska was born beneath the Tatras and apart from a brief stint in America has lived there all his life. In Poprad he studied at the industrial high school an in Kosice at the technical university engineering faculty. After finishing his education he joined Tatramat as a development constructer. But he wanted to achieve more in life. He was lured by international business and life to Australia. He spent five years learning English and eventually travelled to America at the age of thirty with his brother. It was there that they both learned about social investment at petrol stations whilst eating hamburgers and steaks. First of all less, and then more successful ventures. Since 1996 they have taken turns in setting up new loan sector companies. First of all triangle in 1996 and then Quatro in 1999. In 2005 they sold Quatro, triangle, Q – car, SLPO and SKK, however they agreed to run the companies for a further three years. Jaroslav Kiska still runs them to this very day. In 2006 became a part of Consumer Finance Holding inc. In 2008 Jaroslav Kiska was nominated as manager of the year. In addition to business, Jaroslav Kiska is also involved in charities – where he has also met with great success – in August 2006 he played a role in setting up the well known Good Anjel charity project.