Position Statement with Recommendations on the need to strengthen bottom-up approaches in the implementation of the National Policy of the Republic of Bulgaria for Equality, Inclusion and participation of Roma for the period 2021-2030
By INTEGRO ASSOCIATION and Local Organisations-Members of the National “Intellect” Coalition
In recent years, Integro Association, as member of the ERGO Network, has been actively engaged in monitoring and supporting the implementation of the LEADER approach. This approach was transformed in 2014 into the Community Led Local Development – CLLD approach for addressing local issues of the Roma community in Bulgaria The importance of the Community-Led Local Development approach came on focus after the analyses of the Decade of Roma Inclusion and the European Union Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies 2011-2020.
In short, these analyses identified a failure in both initiatives, mainly due to the lack of real Roma participation in policy-making and implementation, as well as due to the inadequate monitoring and evaluation system and weak political commitment. The failures of the two major Roma inclusion initiatives over the past two decades are a clear indication that paternalistic and top-down funding approaches to Roma inclusion require an essential review to achieve more positive results.
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This statement has received financial support in the framework of the project “New solutions to old problems”. The project “New solutions to old problems – exchange of new type of approaches in the field of Roma integration” is funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.