CLLD – Page 2 – ERGO Network

CLLD Meeting with EC desk officers

ERGO Network members meet EC desk officers to discuss Community-Led Local Development

On 11 March 2021, the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network facilitated an online exchange meeting between its national members in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Romania, and their counterparts in the country desks of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), DG Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), and DG Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI). Other European Commission staff responsible for related affairs was also in attendance.

The main topics covered in the meeting were:

Presentation of the main findings of the ERGO Network evaluation report of the CLLD cycle 2014-2020 in the three countries.
Updates on the possibility to introduce the Roma indicators in connecting the EU Roma Strategic Framework with EU funds.
Updates on how to best feed Roma realities and proposals (particularly with a view to the pandemic and recovery) in the current MFF negotiations.
Updates on the preparation of the National Roma Strategic Frameworks and National Recovery and Resilience Plans.

ERGO Network Director Jamen Gabriela Hrabaňová recalled that the organisation had been engaging extensively with CLLD processes since 2014, given the key role these processes can play in empowering Roma communities to identify bottom-up, beneficiary-led solutions that can tackle Roma poverty and social exclusion. Ms Hrabaňová pointed to the comprehensive synthesis report ERGO Network produced this year, evaluating the CLLD cycle for its entire duration (2014-2020) from a Roma perspective in three countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Romania. She concluded by reassuring desk officers that ERGO Network national members and staff stood committed, willing, and able to provide all necessary input and feedback from their work directly at grassroots level, to make sure that the voice of the Roma was being heard.

Access here the ERGO Network publication “Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) for Roma inclusion. Evaluation Report 2014-2020”

Daniel Grebeldinger, ERGO Network CLLD expert (Nevo Parudimos, Romania) offered participants a comprehensive presentation of the main findings of the evaluation report. Roma involvement in CLLD and Local Action Group structures remained unequal, while more work needed to be done to build the capacity of all actors involved – local authorities, other LAG members, Roma NGOs, and community leaders – to engage with these processes. Cooperation with the Managing Authorities was not always smooth, and delays in launching the calls and the evaluations persisted, making planning and delivering projects a challenge. While more and more local development strategies had included Roma as priority beneficiaries, further efforts were needed to ensure that interventions genuinely reached the Roma and made a difference in their lives, with their full participation. The ERGO Network report presents concrete recommendations for the Managing Authorities, for the LAGs, and for Roma communities themselves.

The presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session with the European Commission representatives in attendance, where specific points of the report were further elaborated upon. After the opening plenary, participants split into breakout rooms according to countries, in order to be able to exchange bilaterally in more detail about specific national concerns. ERGO Network will continue to engage closely with CLLD processes on the ground, with a view to ensure that Roma rights, inclusion, and participation were prioritized in this framework. The dialogue with the European Commission will continue through follow-up exchange meetings.

Access here the report of the online exchange meeting between ERGO Network national members and the European Commission (plenary only).

Roma inclusion in the Community-Led Local Development

Roma inclusion in the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) cycle 2014-2020

Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) is an initiative for involving citizens at local level in developing responses to today’s social, environmental, and economic challenges, and a promising tool for investing in Roma inclusion. Unemployment, poverty, and social exclusion, which are key topics for Europe’s Roma, are among the challenges that the EU has identified for CLLD. Approved CLLD strategies can mean that significant EU funds are available for several years to support those activities and investments that matter the most. The European Commission equally expects CLLD to give ownership to beneficiaries, with a special focus on marginalized communities, through capacity building, empowerment, full transparency, and sharing of the decision-making power.

ERGO Network invests in and supports (pro-) Roma NGOs, community-based organisations, and Roma activists to become involved in CLLD initiatives in their countries, so that as many CLLD strategies as possible tackle Roma exclusion. During 2020, ERGO Network members conducted comprehensive research in three key countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Romania), to evaluate the functioning and implementation of the CLLD cycle 2014-2020, with a view to assessing the extent to which Roma inclusion was mainstreamed throughout the CLLD processes, in what concerns both the content of the activities, as well as stakeholder involvement. The partners carrying out this research were Integro Association (Bulgaria), Slovo 21 (Czech Republic), Nevo Parudimos (Romania).

The objectives of the evaluation were:

To provide evidence on the inclusion of Roma in all stages of the CLLD process
To assess the quality of Roma inclusion in development strategies and funded projects
To empower Local Action Groups through increased knowledge of CLLD and strengthen accountability mechanisms at local level
To empower Roma to take part in the CLLD processes
To provide recommendations on improvements in the CLLD process to foster Roma inclusion for the next programming period
To showcase good practices of CLLD projects which put the Roma at their core.

Download the full synthesis evaluation report here!

News from Slovo 21

Recent activities of ERGO member Slovo 21

Slovo 21 has been very active in the last weeks, focusing their efforts on their contributions to ERGO Network’s Annual Work Programme Roma Included in Social Europe (RIISE).

National Roma Integration Strategy:

Since May 2020 NGO Slovo 21 has been organizing meetings with the network of Roma NGOs in the Czech Republic to discuss the Strategy of Roma Integration 2021 – 2030. Roma representatives met with the coordinators of the Strategy (SRI) at the Office of the Government to express disagreement with the SRI prepared by the government. On June 19th, Roma representatives together with the relevant government resorts met with EU Commission desk officers to discuss the SRI. So far, Roma NGOs cooperate closely and prepare suggestions for new goals of the SRI in order to reach the best results and to include Roma indicators in new SRI.

Community-Led Local Development

On May 21^st Slovo 21 met with the representatives from the newly built Roma Centre in Náchod to discuss further cooperation between local authorities, Local Action Group (LAG) and the Roma community in Náchod city. We were informed about the achievements and planned activities. After the meeting with the Roma representatives, we met with the representatives of LAG Stolové Hory to discuss future cooperation with the Roma community from Náchod city, the membership of NGO Slovo 21 in LAG Stolové Hory and our contribution to CLLD.

On 29 June, we met with Roma activists to prepare our next steps. We targeted issues and discussed about a survey to find out the needs of the Roma community in Náchod city. We then met with the mayor of Náchod to discuss our cooperation and offer our activities to the city, including the organization of a festival of Roma culture in Náchod. The meeting was successful: The mayor is positive about the planned activities and is supporting the festival.

On 15 June, we also met with representatives of the LAG Opavsko to learn about opportunities, discuss issues of the Roma community and plan a meeting with the mayor of the city – Budišov and Budišovkou.

CLLD Capacity-Building

On 29/30 May, Seven Roma women – the local coordinators from five different Czech localities – participated in a two-day capacity building meeting in Prague. During the meeting participants received information about the CLLD process, small grants and future activities. An important part of the capacity building meeting was to share experiences, challenges and successes with the cooperation with local authorities and plan the next steps of their work.

From 26-28 June, more than 15 Roma women participated in the next capacity building meeting together with their local coordinators. During the meeting, the Roma women from 5 localities improved their competences to work in the CLLD process. Our goal was to inform them about the CLLD process and the activities they could organize in their localities. The meeting was organized together with the coordinator of Roma women group Manushe.

Activities of Slovo 21

Meeting with representatives from NGO Centrum Inkluze within the CLLD

On 6 March Slovo 21 organized a meeting with 3 representatives from the NGO Centrum Inkluze in Suchdol nad Odrou with the aim to share information within the Local Action Group Opavsko. The NGO Centrum Inkluze is based in Budišov nad Budišovkou, where a high number of Roma live. Slovo 21 shared information on grant opportunities such as “Small Leader” within the LAG Opavsko and on other grants focused on education, culture and environment. During the meeting we agreed on future steps to build a Community Centre in Budišov nad Budišovkou, which would be used for educational and cultural programmes not only for Roma but also for the majority. Our next steps include cooperation with Roma women from this locality led by one of the representative.

Cooperation in Náchod

Slovo 21 works closely with NGO Roma Community Centre Náchod. For many years our Roma women’s group Manushe together with representatives from the NGO Roma Community Centre implement activities within the project “Jileha”. Now we are focusing on empowering Roma girls with the aim to reduce early pregnancy and, as a consequence of this, early school dropout. We now made contact with the Local Action Group Stolové Hory, of which Nachod is a part. Through this contact we will cooperate with the Roma Community Centre in the field of education.

On 3 March we met with the Member of Parliament and mayor of Náchod city. We agreed on long term cooperation and solved issues concerning Roma pupils in elementary schools. Náchod city will also support cultural and sport activities organized by local Roma. All mentioned activities will be financed from the budget of Náchod city and from the projects of Slovo 21.

For 18 years already Slovo 21 supports activities of the local Roma Women’s group Manushe, which has a great impact on activating the local community. One of the result is the visit of Roma Community Centre by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Jana Maláčová.

COMMUNITY-LED LOCAL DEVELOPMENT (CLLD) FOR ROMA INCLUSION

COMMUNITY-LED LOCAL DEVELOPMENT (CLLD) FOR ROMA INCLUSION

ERGO members conducted research in four key countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania), aimed at assessing the extent to which Roma inclusion was mainstreamed throughout the CLLD processes, in what concerns both the content of the activities, as well as stakeholder involvement. The research was funded through the International Visegrad Fund. This research was aimed at ensuring increased awareness of the CLLD process, leading to more Roma NGOs taking part in CLLD. Another aim was that CLLD, as a good practice tool, would be continued after 2020, with 10% of EU funds being distributed according to CLLD principles.

Download the synthesis report here