EEA/Norway – ERGO Network

Storytelling on project development for advocacy purposes

Storytelling on project development for advocacy purposes

“Storytelling for advocacy works because our brain is wired to remember narrations and is equipped to experience them as being told. It is the oldest and most powerful tool to affect change in society.

And personal stories detailing the challenges one faces are easier to connect with and bring out our ability to empathize with the storyteller. In this way, stories can influence people and help bring about change.

The art of storytelling for advocacy helps you bring out the importance of the issues that matter to your organization and how it relates to people.”

“The Art Of Storytelling For Advocacy Campaigns” by JASMINE SOMAIAH

In the framework of our long-running project “New Solution to Old Problems”, funded by EEA and Norway Grants, we want to use storytelling to raise awareness and bring good examples of local projects. We did this by contacting our partners in over 10 different countries in Europe and asked them:

What was your biggest achievement with the project? What was the most surprising to you in the project implementation? What was the biggest challenge and how did you solve it? How has this project affected you personally?

In other words, we have asked our partners and beneficiaries to tell us stories about the projects they have carried out. Not the reports (although this would come too), not the presentations. But to ask the beneficiaries, the members of the community from different countries to tell us a story about what they have done and could be replicated in other countries. We have collected all these stories and turned some of them into visuals to promote a bottom-up approach in funding.

The objectives of this project are:

– To raise awareness of the benefits of bottom-up approaches and community organizing to Roma inclusion through personal stories
– To gain an insight into the process of bottom-up project development through personal stories
– To highlight the successes of the project “New Solution to Old Problems”

We are now happy to share these stories with you.

This initiative 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.

North Macedonia: News from the “New solutions to old problems” project

Conference “Funding programs for Roma: community and civil expectations organizations versus donor expectations”

The conference “Funding programs for Roma: community and civil expectations organizations versus donor expectations” took place on 5 December 2022 in North Macedonia under the project “New solutions to old problems – exchange of new types of approaches in the field of Roma integration” financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

The main goal of the event is the bottom up approach, how the priorities of the community are incorporated into the state programmers and foundations/donors, as well as the exchange of information between the interested parties or stakeholders.

In the first panel, the current programs by the institutions in the direction of promotion and inclusion of the Roma in the Republic of North Macedonia were discussed and presented.

The second panel, entitled “The Way Forward” included the folllowing topics:

The alignment of priorities and funding at local and national level to overcome antigypsyism,
Roma Employment at Local Level
Inserting Roma Priorities as Municipal Priorities
Including Roma Solutions in Mainstream Plans
mapping of municipal capacities
consultative access to institutions regarding financing
coordination between donors
sharing of activities and projects between non-governmental organizations
networking and sharing resources
comprehensive project for spending funds.

The conference brought together non-governmental organizations, representatives from municipalities and mayors, members of Parliament, representatives from the government, national and international donors.

Young Roma in the 21st century, opportunities and challenges

On Saturday 10 December 2022, the international human rights day, the two final events were held within the framework of the small projects “The other schools of politics” and “Invisible power”, supported by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and the Norwegian Fund for Grants for Regional cooperation as part of the strategic partnership within the framework of “New solutions to old problems”.

These two projects were taken as good practices by the partners in Turkey and the Czech Republic. The event was held in the premises of the office of the President of the country, which is currently being used by the National Youth Council of Macedonia.

The “Other School of Politics” aims to encourage young Roma and pro-Roma interested in social issues to become active citizens in the political and social field and to increase their participation in decision-making mechanisms. Accordingly, the training program includes various political areas, namely; active citizenship, social policy, functioning of local governments, policies towards Roma and development of Roma civil society in North Macedonia and Europe.

In addition, thematic issues such as discrimination and social inclusion, gender, art and activism. The programme, which emphasizes the development of participation and leadership skills, additionally includes practical modules such as political communication, alternative models of activism and public speaking.

In a panel discussion, the young mentors who were part of the project discussed issues related to what was the biggest challenge within the project that they were working on in their municipality where they come from, what were the challenges they faced during the work and whether there were enough opportunities for young people in the country and what are their contributions as young Roma and non-Roma in the 21st century, what are they proud of.

The general goal of the “Invisible Power” project is to support and educate Roma girls and women in order to gain enough self-confidence, and to raise awareness of “Invisible Power”, to set their priorities and to fight for their position in Roma society. families and Macedonian society. The photographs that were previously taken were exhibited in the premises of the NYCM, together with their stories, qualities and values that make up their invisible strength, made in the form of brochures.

The attendees had the opportunity to hear their stories, and the event itself was very emotional for the women, who said that this was very meaningful for them, because even though they did not achieve their dream, this was an opportunity for them at least for one day, even if in a picture to feel like what they dreamed of.

The event was organized within the project “New solutions to old problems – exchange of new types of approaches in the field of Roma integration” financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

Romania: News from the “New solutions to old problems” project

Training on Local project implementation

Our partner from Romania, Nevo Parudimos Association started implementing locally the “Mutual saving cooperative” initiative – a good practice example adopted from Autonomia, Hungary. The aim of this initiative is to increase the financial education of disadvantaged communities in Resita city so that they can better manage their finances, become self-sustainable and cover their living costs.

On November 12 Nevo Parudimos organized a training under this project. Two financial experts presented to adults from disadvantaged communities in Reșița the principles on which the initiative works and the different ways to save money. The training brought together a total of 14 disadvantaged adults who will be grouped according to the community they belong to and start implementing the idea.

The objectives of the project are:

Develop the financial skills of the involved families
Consolidate the household budget of the involved families
Find solutions and tricks to lower the expenditures, increase the income
Set up community based ’bank’ – CAF method, self-financing group
Increase financial knowledge

As a first exercise to increase community spirit, the group from the disadvantaged neighborhood of Câlnic already had an initiative to cover a common need – the rehabilitation of the public fountain that serves the community with water for everyday use. In recent years the fountain has not been in optimal conditions of use, but now the beneficiaries created a fund where they contributed with money and sanitized the fountain.

“Bottom up funding for Roma – Models of intervention in the process of inclusion and empowerment of Roma” meeting in Romania

Nevo Parudimos Association, in partnership with the Sastipen Organization, organized on 24 November 2022 in Bucharest, the meeting “Bottom up funding for Roma – Models of intervention in the process of inclusion and empowerment of Roma”.

The purpose of the meeting was to increase the level of awareness of different interested factors regarding the importance of developing sustainable partnerships with Roma and pro-Roma NGOs in order to create programmatic documents and implement programs in the field of Roma inclusion based on the real needs of the local communities and on compliance with the 10 common basic principles regarding the inclusion of Roma.

Integro Position Statement

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.

To download the full statement, please follow this link.

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.

Report: Funding of bottom-up approaches

Report: Funding of bottom-up approaches: Ways forward to support Roma inclusion

We are happy to present ERGO Network’s new Analysis of funding for bottom-up approaches to Roma inclusion. This study sheds light on the importance of bottom-up approaches and assessing funding programmes targeted at Roma inclusion. The paper was prepared by Marko Pecak for the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network and has received financial support in the framework of the project “New solutions to old problems” funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

The report also analyses the major variety of donors, such as EU, national governments, international organisations, state developement agencies and private foundations. It provides the comprehensive analysis and a set of recommendations to each type of the donors, which can be used to improve their performance.

This report aims to contribute to raising awareness of institutional and private donors in the importance of bottom-up approaches to strengthen Roma inclusion and empowerment. It also reflects on the challenges and discusses improvements to existing funding programmes.

The main recommendations of the report are:

General

All strategic and planning documents on Roma inclusion need to be public
Donors need to consider weak local governance
Beyond consultations. Implement participatory research methods for needs and strategic development
Detailed approaches with implementation plans, not general guidance, and concepts
More resources, funding, and human capacity, for community-led approaches

European Union

Any ESIF funds being managed by local municipalities should use a community-led and participatory approach
Good governance support should be highly recommended with any funding managed by local municipalities
Desk Officers, Managing Authorities, and NRCPs need specific guidance on what is CLLD and how to implement them
EU needs a detailed plan that defines the concepts of participation, empowerment, and bottom-up approaches and how to ensure they will be implemented
Monitoring Committees should be more independent, transparent, have representative from Roma community

National Governments

There should be a defined Roma inclusion budget with corresponding implementation plans, indicators, and monitoring system
Go beyond Monitoring Committee requirements
Develop a strong cooperation with RCM
Mainstream project need specific Roma inclusion targets
Conduct campaigns with local governments and community members on the importance of Roma inclusion to reduce the barrier of bias and antigygpsism

State Development Agencies

Develop approaches and priorities outside of the EU agenda
Should have public and detailed documents on their approach to Roma inclusion
Mainstream social inclusion strategies need details on how they ensure the impact on Roma inclusion
Longer-term investments that use community-led and participatory approaches
Shift the priority of their investment from bilateral cooperation to more focus on setting inclusion agendas

Intergovernmental Organizations

A new long-term and collaborative initiative to be develop with a focus on community-led, participatory, antidiscrimination, and empowerment approaches
Develop agendas based on their organizational values not EU or other institutional agendas

Private Foundations

Increase transparency in their funding approaches and strategies for Roma inclusion
Implement measures with the goal to test alternative approaches that can be shared and scaled
Larger portion of funding should go to supporting community organization’s operational and human capacities. Especially, core funding.

To download the full report, please follow this link.

This report 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.

This publication has received funding from the European Union. The information contained in this publication reflects only the author’s view; and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.