Page 200 - Proceeding 2015

FAMP BRI?CARIU Roxana
CCASP LAKE OF UTILITIES. ACCESS TO LOCAL UTILITIES OF ROMA CITIZENS COMPARATIVE WITH
NON-ROMA POPULATION

In Serbia only 78% of Roma homes benefit from safe drinking water, 79 % have electricity, only 60 %

are situated nearby paved roads and street lighting, and only 14 % are connected to the sewerage
system (European Roma Rights Centre, 2012, p. 11).

In Romania, 2009 data reveal large differences in access to the main utilities network between Roma

ethnics and the rest of the population, "75 % had no access to gas supply (compared to 21% in other
groups), 72 % had no access to sewage (compared to 15% in other groups), 73% had no running
water in the house (compared to 10 % in other groups), 12 % were not connected to the power network

(compared to 1% in other groups), while 14% are using waste for home heating or they are not heating
the household at all" (Housing Conditions, 2009, p. 66).

My analysis is based on research that was conducted in 2013 by the Împreună agency at Observatorul

pentru romi’s initiative, with main purpose in exploring and describing all forms of exclusion of Roma
population compared to other ethnicities. The main research directions were: employment, health,
education, housing and infrastructure, but also specific issues: migration, inter-ethnic relations, public

participation. Worth mentioning the authenticity of the research through its design and practicality, by
using two separate samples, one for the general population and one for citizens of Roma ethnicity.

(Sandu, 2005, p. 32) PROCEEDINGS OF THE 11 TH ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ”Strategic Management for Local Communities” 30 th – 31 st October 2015 Bucharest

The two samples were created based on the random sampling method, multi-staged, stratified, and
representative at national level, with a margin of error of 3% at a 95% confidence interval (Cace et al.,

2013, p. 14).

The volume of the two samples was represented by 2050 respondents, 1025 respondents from Roma
households and 1025 respondents from other ethnicities households.

3. ACCESS OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

I will further explore the infrastructural dimension of the issue, with focus on the Roma population’s
degree in using all of these utilities in comparison with the degree in which the general population does.

Living conditions and the quality of life determine the socio-economic development of a household.
(Fésüs, 2012, p. 26) This includes aspects of health status, the educational act, and professional
development, only to finally get to Maslow's paradigm claiming that we need to satisfy our basic needs

in order to reach perfection.
If we are to look at the health dimension we can identify in the specialty literature a direct causal

connection between access to utilities and health, Masseria and Co identifying in Bulgaria, Hungary and
Romania the following:”developing illness because of living in unhygienic conditions were estimated

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