REF Executive Director Judit Szira has indicated her intention to step down as Executive Director of REF in 2016. The Board of REF-CH would like to express our gratitude to Judit for her many years of dedicated service.
REF Executive Director Judit Szira has indicated her intention to step down as Executive Director of REF in 2016. The Board of REF-CH would like to express our gratitude to Judit for her many years of dedicated service.
As one of its first employees, seconded from the Open Society Foundations, Judit has been instrumental in setting up REF and launching it on its successful path. She has served as a senior expert supporting the work of the Executive Directors that preceded her, both as a crucial source of historical memory and as a former teacher and Ministry of Education official who knows from the inside how education systems function (and malfunction).
In 2010, as Toby Linden was preparing to leave the Executive Director position to return to the World Bank, Judit declined to apply for the position, believing that others (and in particular, Roma) should be considered. Then in 2011, a rocky leadership transition left REF on the brink of crisis. The Board asked Judit to step in as Executive Director and she agreed. She quickly restored a sense of calm and confidence in the organization and ensured that the organization continued doing what is was meant to do: ensuring a better future for Romani children.
Under Judit’s leadership, REF has enjoyed a substantial growth in programming volume and complexity, reaching approximately 100,000 beneficiaries annually. The REF presence expanded from our Budapest headquarters and Romania to Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia. In addition, REF has engaged more actively with national governments, cooperating on several different programs through joint administration and funding. REF leveraged its long-time donor support by raising money from a variety of new sources, including EEA, IPA and private foundations. In a first for any Roma initiative, the Council of Europe Development Bank provided EUR 1.5 million in loan funding.
In addition to being a donor to NGOs working in cooperation with municipalities, REF became a successful implementer of programs, working directly with school officials, teachers and NGOs in the field to deliver the services that Romani children need in order to succeed.
During this time, REF also expanded cooperation with a variety of educational and evaluation experts, from the World Bank, MIT’s Poverty Action Lab, Sussex University, Umea and Seville University. The introduction of an improved electronic application system resulted in better data collection, monitoring and follow up.
For the past three years, REF has earned ISO 9001:2008 certification, reflecting the highest standards in quality management and assurance after a rigorous auditing procedure. Under Judit’s leadership, financial management has been enhanced to keep pace with added demands, ensuring that REF remains accountable to its donors as well as its beneficiaries.
The REF Board will soon commence a search process to identify a new Executive Director. Our objective is to select a new Executive Director in time to commence work at the beginning of 2016. Judit will remain in the organization for the first half of 2016 to ensure a smooth transition. We will come back to you soon with more details about the search process.
Sincerely on behalf of the REF Board,
Andrzej Mirga, Chair
Rob Kushen, Deputy Chair
