Guide · Research

What the research says. One study on churches among Roma, one on the youngest children.

What they studied, where, how they measured it, what they found, and where their limits lie. Neither of them is about us; both are about the field we work in.

First study

What happens when the church serves among the Roma.

Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences · 2010

Boh medzi bariérami. Sociálna inklúzia Rómov náboženskou cestou

Tatiana Podolinská, Tomáš Hrustič. SIRONA research 2010, a team of 20 researchers. ISBN 978-80-89027-34-7.

Full study (PDF), 2010
  • The question: what changes in the lives of Roma who go through a religious change, and whether it leads to their inclusion. p. 10
  • Two parts: first they mapped all the missions among Roma in Slovakia, then they went to selected locations for interviews. pp. 10 and 22
  • Religious change here means turning to a church, but also that a person begins to live their faith fully. p. 11
  • According to the authors, no such research had been done in Slovakia until then. p. 10
What they mapped

Nineteen churches and movements, about 130 locations.

19

churches and movements worked among Roma: 14 registered churches and 5 unregistered movements. They contacted 30.

Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, pp. 24 and 52
130

locations with a mission, approximately. The study also gives an estimate of 150.

Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, p. 24
8 000

Roma the missions worked with, approximately. The study also gives an estimate of 10 000.

Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, p. 24
225

interviews in 15 locations, about 170 hours of recordings.

Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, p. 24
Where and with whom they spoke

Fifteen locations, three groups of people.

Bardejov-Poštárka, Cinobaňa, Čičava, Hanušovce nad Topľou, Hlinné, Kecerovce, Kežmarok, Krížová Ves, Plavecký Štvrtok, Rankovce, Rudňany, Sabinov, Slavkovce, Slovinky and Ulič. Each location represented one church or movement. The researchers stayed in the village for several days, did 15 interviews and attended one service or gathering. Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, pp. 7, 24 and 53

Clergyfirst group

Those who lead the mission

Priests, pastors, missionaries and their helpers.

Memberssecond group

Roma who live in the church

At least five interviews in each location, men and women, of different ages.

Witnessesthird group

People from outside

Mayors, officials of the labour office, teachers, field social workers and non-Roma neighbours who do not belong to that church.

So it is not only those who lived through the change who speak about it, but also those who look at it from outside. Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, pp. 52 to 54

Indicators

Fourteen things they asked everyone about.

Most of them were proposed by the churches themselves, based on what they saw in the field. People could first describe the change in their own words, and only then were they given the list. Institute of Ethnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010, pp. 96 and 97

What there should be less of
  • Debt
  • Usury
  • Petty crime
  • Alcohol and other addictive substances
  • Gambling
  • Ingrained stereotypes
What there should be more of
  • Children's school attendance
  • Effort in looking for work
  • Finding a place in the job market
  • Literacy
  • Communication skills
  • Social skills
  • Good contacts with Roma from other villages
  • Good contacts with the majority
What they found

Where faith changed, everyday life changed too.

“Religious change also brings social change.”That is, a change in the habits and behavior of individuals and of the whole group. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 11
All 14 indicators showed a success rate of at least 80 %.Averaged from the answers of clergy, Roma members and outsiders. Neighbors, mayors, teachers and clerks at the employment offices confirmed it. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 12 and 97
The strongest changes: fewer addictions, far less petty crime, fewer debts.Among those Roma who became members of a church or a movement. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 98
Prejudices change the slowest, on both sides.Here too the study speaks of 80 % success, but these changes need more time. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 98
What people gained, they keep.They do not lose the skills they acquired, even if they leave the church or stop being active in it. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 12
Change lasts best when the whole community goes through it.Not one person alone. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 12
People added other changes themselves.Better relationships in marriage and between parents and children, a different way of handling money in the family. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 98
What the study advises the churches

Stay, don't hand things out, raise up local people.

Stay

For a long time, in one place.

A successful mission should expect to work for the long term right in the locality, and it stands on intense and lasting work in the community.

Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 116 and 117
Do not hand out

Gifts will not sustain a mission.

“Giving gifts to members and building a mission on gifts to its members is highly ineffective.”

Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 117
Raise up local people

Roma leaders.

What has proven itself is an emphasis on training Roma leaders and on giving as many Roma members as possible a place in the life of the congregation.

Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 116
With us: through work, not handouts.This is our experience, not the study. We deal with money trouble through work. We do not give out cooked meals; we give flour and oil and teach people to bake bread.
Limits of the study

What the study does not say.

It does not measure hard numbers.It records change as people in the localities saw it, not by an employment rate. The authors say so themselves. The figures for the individual indicators are not in it. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 10 and 11
It looked at successful missions.The churches themselves named these localities as their most successful. So the study does not say how every mission turns out. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 11 and 57
Change is not yet inclusion.Even a change that everyone sees as good does not lead to inclusion by itself. Prejudices on both sides stand in the way, and so do barriers between the churches. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, p. 96
The church cannot replace the state.According to the authors, pastoral work among the Roma cannot replace state programs. In localities with a successful mission, many Roma also live who did not join the church. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 8 and 9
It is from 2010 and it is not about us.Christian Roma Mission has been registered since 2020. About the Orthodox Church the study then wrote that “they do not carry out special pastoral work with the Roma, but work in Roma communities individually, based on the interest of particular priests”. In Slovinky, where it studied an Orthodox parish, according to the Roma themselves “no more noticeable social change has yet occurred”. Markovce is in it only on the map, among the Orthodox congregations. Ústav etnológie SAV, 2010, pp. 38 and 78
Follow-up works

Where to read on.

2011Religion as a path to change? The Possibilities of Social Inclusion of the Roma in Slovakia in EnglishFriedrich Ebert Stiftung, Ústav etnológie SAV 2014Religious Change and its Effects on Social Change for Roma in Slovakia in EnglishActa Ethnographica Hungarica 59 (1) 2019Atlas rómskych komunít: churches carry out pastoral work in 154 communities p. 88VEDA, 2020

The 2014 article concludes that religious change has a strong potential to bring about social change, which, however, leads to inclusion only in some cases. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 2014, abstract

Where the church serves, life around it changes.
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Second study

What support in the first years of life can do.

Cesta von · University of Oxford · 2022

Pilot research on the Omama program

The INTER-NDA method. Neurodevelopment of two-year-old children: thinking, speech, fine and gross motor skills, social behavior. 251 children took part in the measurement.

cestavon.sk, research 2022
  • Three groups: children from the Omama program, children from excluded communities without this support, and children from the majority.
  • Children from the program had an 88 % lower chance of delayed neurodevelopment than their peers from the same communities.
  • “The effect is even of medium size, which is wonderful! With these types of early-development programs we usually don't see that.” Dr. Michelle Fernandes, researcher and pediatrician at the University of Oxford
  • Children from the program still lag behind children from the majority. The same researcher says so.
  • This is pilot research. We take the numbers from the website of Cesta von, which runs the program.
What one omama does.Three to four lessons a day in homes, about 18 a week, and one parents' club a month. cestavon.sk, as of 12. 10. 2026
What the teachers saw.In an evaluation with Schola Empirica, teachers at kindergartens and primary schools gave good marks to the program's graduates for being ready for kindergarten and school, for good attendance and for their attitude to school. cestavon.sk, as of 12. 10. 2026
Why we write about it.The omamas are with children up to four years old, we from six. Their work comes before ours, and it matters to us.
More studies and analyses

Where the numbers on this website come from.

Each in one line, with a link to the full text.

2026Rómovia medzi nami: Vylúčená menšina alebo vylučujúca väčšina bookletSlovenská akadémia vied 2022Prieskum Rómov v desiatich krajinách Európy surveyEU Agency for Fundamental Rights 2020Revízia výdavkov na skupiny ohrozené chudobou alebo sociálnym vylúčením analysisMinisterstvo financií SR 2019Atlas rómskych komunít mapping of municipalitiesÚrad splnomocnenca vlády SR 2018Inklúzia Rómov je celospoločenskou výzvou analysisInstitute for Financial Policy and OECD 2012Poradenstvo pri integrácii Rómov v Slovenskej republike reportWorld Bank
What they mean for SlovakiaAnswers to common objections
Next in the guide
Children and School

What the numbers say about school.

From kindergarten to secondary school, and what we do about it. →
Who helps

We are not alone.

Who is beside a child from a Roma settlement, and at what age. →
Missionaries and Parishes

For Christians who want to serve.

The mission's approach and how a parish can join. →
Get Involved

We are looking for volunteers.

To teach and play with Roma children in central and eastern Slovakia. The first two years in the community are mostly games, and little by little there is more and more teaching.

We use Christian materials. If that would go against your conscience, get in touch with us anyway.

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