ERGO Network General Assembly 2025
We held our annual General Assembly on 28-30 May 2025 in Prague, Czechia. This year’s Assembly, hosted by Slovo21 and RomanoNet, was particularly important for us as our members and staff gathered to explore ERGO Network’s new branding and experience Roma culture during the Khamoro Festival organised by Slovo21.
The assembly brought together our members from 25 European countries. During the fully packed days, we discussed, shared news, projects, and updates. This General Assembly was a little different from the others because we also held some external meetings. In addition to Khamoro, we met with the Czech Governmental Council for Roma Affairs, a branding agency, and new participants attending the Jekhipe conference. All of this is below.
From Visual Identity to Cultural Activism
The first day of the General Assembly was dedicated to sharing members’ news and exploring ERGO Network’s new branding and visual identity. We were fortunate to have Mirna Silajdzic, the founder of Love Your Mother consultancy, who led the rebranding of ERGO Network and the branding of Roma Week and our new ROVA project. Mirna could share her firsthand expertise and motivated our members to think of visual identity as a tool to communicate their work in the best possible way.
The day continued with the Jekhipe project “Using Culture to Fight Antigypsyism” in cooperation with Slovo 21. The official event began by focusing on the Czech context, with activists from across the country sharing their work and experiences. Later, the discussion shifted to the European context, where our members, Saska Jovanovic from Italy, Bianca Galusca from Spain, and Nina Trollvige from Sweden, spoke about the specifics of their work in their respective countries. And this is not all! To conclude our day with even more Roma culture, we attended the Khamoro festival at La Fabrika and enjoyed beautiful music performances by bands from Czechia, Greece, and Spain.
Elections and New Members
The next day, the assembly continued with a statutory session, during which our members voted on the ERGO Network’s Strategy until 2030, and the Annual and Financial reports for 2024. Our Network grew bigger and stronger as we also elected the new associate members: Ara Art (Czechia) and 1Hungary (Hungary). We also welcomed the European Media People organisation to become our new Friend of ERGO.
And our associate members from last year – Romni APS (Italy), Suomen Romaniyhdistys (Finland), and Trajosko Drom (Sweden) – were promoted to the full member status and finally could also participate in the voting.
Festival KHAMORO Parade
The definite highlight of our assembly was the Festival KHAMORO parade, which started at Wenceslas Square in the Old Town Square of Prague. It was unforgettable to see Roma music and dance from across Europe filling the city of Prague, and we were proud to be part of it and share our identity with the world. You can see some more photos from the parade here
Our journey continued to the Liechtenstein Palace, where we met with Lucie Fukova, the Czech Commissioner for Roma Affairs; Mr. Enrico Lakatoš, a diplomacy student and member of the Roma Affairs’ Council; and Michal Miko from RomanoNet. Czechia. The Czech Governmental Council for Roma Affairs shared insights into its impressive work over the years. They shared their achievements and aspirations for the future in the Czech context, and we could draw inspiration from the progress made in Czechia.
Conclusion
The 2025 General Assembly concluded with reflections on the shared experiences. Gabriela Hrabaňová, ERGO Network Director, closed the day by expressing her gratitude to all participants and inviting them to the next General Assembly. We left the ERGO Network General Assembly 2025 in Prague with new inspiration, new friendships (and strengthened old ones), tools to combat antigypsyism, and, most of all, gratitude for the strong network we have.
