Author: Ana Rozanova

Over the last five days, Roma women activists Simona Torotcoi (Romania) and Dafina Savic (Canada) took part in the sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women which takes place from the 5 to 17 of March 2023. The session considers the priority theme of “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls“.

CSW 67 NGO Forum Side Event on CDWD women

As part of the Global Forum of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFOD), ERGO Network contributed to the organization of a parallel event during the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) titled “Addressing Barriers in Accessing Technology & Transforming Women’s Lives from Communities Discriminated by Work & Descent.”

The event examined the role of structural inequities and disparities as uniquely experienced by women and girls of CDWD about technology, innovation, and education in the digital age. It highlighted the imperative to foster resilience and achieve technological transformation for CDWD women and girls.

The main discussion points of the event highlighted the challenges faced by CDWD women, identified gaps in their access to technology and innovation, and explored how innovation and technological change, as well as education in the digital age, can be improved and extended to effectively prevent and promote CDWD women’s rights.

Dafina Savic, who is the founder of Canadian organisation Romanipe,  raised the issue that Roma women face significant barriers to education and healthcare, which can exacerbate their marginalization. A 2019 report by the Council of Europe found that only 15% of Roma women in Europe have completed upper-secondary education, compared to 51% of non-Roma women. Roma women are also more likely to experience maternal and infant mortality and other health disparities than non-Roma populations.

Women of marginalized communities face numerous barriers to entering the workforce, including discrimination, lack of access to education and training, and gender-based violence. According to the International Labour Organization, globally, women earn 23% less than men.

According to Dafina, Roma women in Europe face significant barriers to accessing healthcare, including discrimination, language barriers, and segregation in hospitals. Overall, technology has the potential to break down barriers to equity and empower women in a range of ways. However, for technology to be truly equitable, it is important to ensure that it is accessible to all women, regardless of their socioeconomic status, education level, or geographic location. This requires investment in infrastructure, connectivity, and digital literacy programs, as well as policies and initiatives that promote inclusivity and equity in the technology sector.

She finally recommended bringing the dialogue between member states and civil society organisations from the official setting of sessions like this one to more informal channels such as social media.

Simona Torotcoi, who is a Roma expert within the CDWD framework of Rights Experts, set up together with the ERGO Network spoke on the existing digital divide between the rest of society and the Roma communities. While our lives become more and more dependent on efficiently using ICT tools the lack of access for Roma women and girls living in poverty to quality training and education in the ICT field is concerning.

As the main barrier in accessing technology, Simona identified the intersectional discrimination as well as the poor housing situation.

Simona emphasized that digitalisation could act as an equalizer because it empowers women and girls to denounce injustices, discrimination, domestic violence and abuse among many other issues. According to her, the right to access technology will help CDWC women to overcome the compounding barriers and difficulties posed by gender, economic poverty, caste, occupational discrimination, social exclusion, and underdevelopment.

More about CWDC women

Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD) are regarded as the most vulnerable groups in terms of social, economic, and political development. In CDWD, women and girls experience compounded oppression because of overlapping social constructs of work and descent, caste, class, and gender. CDWD women and girls primarily live in rural areas, where poverty measures and a reduction in education budgets directly and significantly impact their survival.

In industries such as agriculture, plantations, brickwork, and sanitation, many rural CDWD women and girls are forced to work in exploitative and violent conditions. CDWD women are highly present in patriarchal communities and exposed to mainstream discrimination and abuse. They have a voice, yet they lack political representation and public participation and are sidelined and downsized by mainstream women’s organizations.

A call for action within the CSW

CWDC women urge the Commission on the Status of Women to recognise issues of women from Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD) and adopt an intersectional approach in all programmes and policies both within the United Nations (UN) and government policies and to establish a working group to examine the status and current gaps in protection for women from communities discriminated on work and descent in terms of normative standards as well as lived realities.

In addition, CWDC women urge UN mechanisms to adhere to key human rights standards and adopt a Declaration for the rights of CDWD, highlighting the intersecting marginalisation faced by women and ensuring it consistently reflects in national laws, policies and practices, and in the programmes and activities of the UN through thematic research, awareness-raising and capacity-building.

Welcome to our new team member

The ERGO Network secretariat is growing! We welcome a new team member: Erkida Pema joined the secretariat as an Administrative Assistant.

Within the ERGO Secretariat Erkida has the following responsibilities:

• Event management: Liaising with event participants, booking venues and flights, preparing material and documentation, taking minutes and other tasks related to event logistics;
• Contracting and finances: Supporting other team members in administrative procedures of contracting and sub-granting to our members, experts and external partners, supporting other team members in preparing invoices, dealing with reimbursements to participants, collecting financial evidence from members; working closely with the financial manager to preparing and filing financial documents.
• Office management: Liaising with the Mundo B management and team about any issues regarding our office space, ordering office materials etc.
• Other administrative tasks: Assisting the Director with other tasks.

Read more about her in her own words:

“I had the possibility to know ERGO Network, while I was doing a five-month professional training as Management Assistant by Brussels Formation. This training was beneficial to me to acquire skills in event organization, HR management, internal/external communication and project management methodology.

I appreciate the fact that ERGO gave me all the necessary time so I could finish my training and after this join, it’s team directly in February 2023, in the position of Administrative Assistant.

I would say that my career path is quite dynamic. I hold a Master’s Degree in EU Business Law from the University of Tirana, Faculty of Law, in Albania. I obtained the equivalence of my studies in Belgium from Naric Vlandeeren.

I come to ERGO with more than three years of experience as Administrative Assistant in various companies and departments managing different projects. I am passionate about European Institutions, languages and international non-profit organizations.

I love to spend my free time travelling and exploring new places all around the world with my husband and our two adorable boys.

I am always eager to learn and enjoy overcoming challenges!“

Roma equality, inclusion and participation (EQUIP) 2023: Re-granting to ERGO Network members

This year ERGO Network has the possibility to give grants to its members in 3 categories. These grants are part of ERGO Network’s financial support to third parties through its Annual Work Programme ‘Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2023 funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV) of the European Commission.

RESEARCH:

Call for applications for small-scale research projects: To support local and national Roma civil society in gathering evidence of challenges faced by Roma on a local level through research activities

4 projects with budgets up to 3,000 €

• Call for applications
• Guide for the eligible costs per unit

NATIONAL COALITIONS: 

To support local and national Roma civil society in gathering evidence of challenges faced by Roma on a local level through research activities and strengthening the networks

6 projects with budgets up to 5,000€

• Call for applications
• Budget sheet
• Guide for the eligible costs per unit

CAPACITY-BUILDING, CAMPAIGNING, ADVOCACY: 

Call for applications for capacity-building, campaigning, and advocacy projects

9 projects with budgets up to 10,000€

(4 of them with a focus on supporting Ukrainian Roma refugees)

• Call for applications
• Budget sheet
• Guide for the eligible costs per unit
• Project proposal template

Eligibility criteria: 

– Be a member (full or associate) of the ERGO Network
– Be established in a Member State of the European Union
– Be a legal entity, a non-profit organization
– Respect EU values as laid down in Art.2 of the Treaty on European Union and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
– Not be a sub-contractor of ERGO Network
– Adhere to ERGO Network’s safeguarding policy, have their own safeguarding policy or agree to start developing a safeguarding policy.

All ERGO Network full member and associate member organisations can apply to more than one of the calls.

The deadline for applications is 30th April 23:59 CET.

The selection will be done by a team of ERGO Network secretariat and board members and one external evaluator.

The implementation period is foreseen for May to November 2023.

This project is funded by the European Union.