Ashoka
Joanna Talewicz addresses the lack of institutional visibility and support for the Roma community, which reinforces the separation between the Roma and non-Roma communities. By transforming how major institutions operate, she empowers Roma people to participate in society, creating a supportive framework that also benefits other minority groups. This fosters a shared narrative of diversity, respect, dignity, and pride, bridging gaps between Roma and non-Roma communities
PROBLEM: 72% of Poles do not know a single person from the Roma community. However outdated and harmful stereotypes about the Roma community, which often depict them as impoverished, dishonest, and nomadic are very present in Polish society. Compounding this problem is Roma's lack of visibility and opportunity to shape their own narratives. These externally imposed portrayals reinforce societal biases and discrimination, affecting how the Roma are perceived and how they perceive themselves. This cycle of negative imagery perpetuates exclusion and limits opportunities for success and changemaking. Joanna's work aims to disrupt these narratives, paving the way for a more accurate and empowering representation of the Roma community.
SOLUTION: To counteract these stereotypes, Joanna reshapes the societal contexts where Roma narratives are formed and perceived. She focuses on key areas such as education, media, employment, and law enforcement to challenge outdated perceptions. By fostering partnerships with cultural and commercial institutions, Joanna creates visibility for the Roma community, allowing them to tell their own stories and assert their identity. Through these efforts, Joanna opens up new opportunities for the Roma community to participate fully in society, fostering integration and creating pathways for changemaking.
Reshaping Roma perceptions and creating pathways for inclusion
Joanna grew up in communist Poland. After the pogrom and expulsion of Roma people in 1981, she was the only half-Roma child in a city of 40,000 inhabitants. She experienced injustice and with the support of others developed resilience. It fueled her determination to belong and be seen, driving her to become a leader in her school and community. As a teenager, Joanna initiated an educational program to share her uncle's story, a Roma genocide survivor, and organized meetings with other survivors. She successfully advocated for the inclusion of Roma narratives in Holocaust workshops at Auschwitz, ensuring that the Roma's experiences were acknowledged and remembered, laying the groundwork for her future work in narrative change and empowerment.
Building on her early efforts, Joanna recognized the need for a structured approach to creating change. Therefore, in 2012, she founded the Foundation Towards Dialogue with her friend Małgorzata Kołaczek – an organization dedicated to transforming societal perceptions of the Roma community. Her goal is to change how key institutions across sectors like education, media, and law enforcement support the Roma community, enabling them to shape their own narratives and increase their visibility in society. The organization emphasizes collaboration with both Roma and non-Roma entities to build bridges and create opportunities for dialogue and understanding.
Central to her strategy is enabling Roma to assert their identity and actively participate in shaping their future. Foundation Towards Dialogue fosters self-belief and creates opportunities by addressing barriers like poverty, which often lead to social inactivity. By working with role models and developing community leaders, Joanna and the Foundation inspire others to take action and drive positive change within their communities.
Joanna creates space for community voice. She and her team, through partnerships with institutions, media, culture, and municipalities, give Roma a platform to be visible and share their perspective and experience. For example, her collaboration with Netflix on the series 'Infamia' enabled the community to participate in co-creating the TV show, integrate Roma people into mainstream narratives, and provide them with visibility in a major production that reaches millions of viewers.
Similarly, Joanna initiated a collaboration between the Foundation Towards Dialogue and IKEA, which includes training programs and social campaigns. This partnership highlights the perspectives of successful Roma individuals in a supportive work environment. Through these initiatives, Joanna is not only changing narratives but also creating tangible opportunities for the Roma community to engage with and contribute to society.
Joanna is actively countering discrimination against Roma, particularly in policing and education. In law enforcement, Roma individuals often face bias, being wrongly perceived as perpetrators. Joanna's Foundation Towards Dialogue, in collaboration with POLIN, has trained over 800 police officers to better serve Roma communities, fostering trust and encouraging crime reporting. In education, Roma children are unfairly placed in special schools due to biased assessments. Joanna's research exposed these biases, leading to the adoption of culturally neutral tests, benefiting Roma and other minority children.
Through her dedicated efforts, Joanna transforms societal institutions and amplifies Roma visibility, making significant strides in Roma integration. She works on educational policy changes to ensure better integration of Roma children and other minorities, including refugees from Ukraine. Her advisory role in media projects like the Netflix series ‘Infamy’ has challenged stereotypes on a global scale. Collaborations with organizations such as UNHCR have enabled Roma to engage with humanitarian efforts, ensuring they are involved in decision-making processes that affect their communities. Her work with journalists has resulted in impactful media coverage and visibility campaigns. Joanna's initiatives have provided crucial support to Ukrainian Roma during the ongoing conflict.
Joanna's work through Foundation Towards Dialogue fosters meaningful interactions between Roma and non-Roma, enhancing social cohesion and breaking down barriers. By bringing Roma culture into the spotlight and facilitating exchanges of ideas and values, she is creating a more inclusive society, reducing long-standing prejudices, and fostering mutual respect and integration.