EU funds – Page 4 – ERGO Network

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

Meeting with EC desk officers on CLLD

ERGO NETWORK DELEGATION OF NATIONAL MEMBERS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF LOCAL ACTION GROUPS MEET EUROPEAN COMMISSION DESK OFFICERS TO DISCUSS CLLD

On 10 and 11 October, ERGO Network facilitated a meeting between its national members and representatives of Local Action Groups from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania, and the Desk Officers responsible for these countries from the European Commission Directorates- General for Regional and Urban Policy (REGIO), for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) and for Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), to discuss the current state of implementation of Community-Led Local Development (CLLD).

ERGO Network has been working on CLLD approaches for the past seven years and considers it an essential tool for ensuring bottom-up approaches and interventions are rooted in real needs on the ground, with the full involvement of Roma communities. CLLD processes offer a great potential to engage Roma people more actively in shaping the future of their local areas, through the possibility to join local partnerships that design and implement an integrated local development strategy.

However, research conducted by ERGO Network in 2019 shows that further steps are needed to ensure the smooth implementation of CLLD initiatives, in what concerns both Roma engagement with its delivery structures, as well as prioritising Roma inclusion as a specific objection of the funded projects. Some of the key issues needing improvement, as identified by the report, are insufficient knowledge at the local level and in Roma communities about CLLD, low rate of participation of Roma communities and their NGOs in CLLD processes, and complex bureaucracy, burdensome administrative demands, and lengthy deadlines.

During the meetings with European Commission representatives on 10 and 11 October, the ERGO Network delegation presented the findings of the research report, while participants from the national level further complemented the synthesis conclusions with a wealth of detail regarding the situation in their specific countries. Additionally, the exchanges with desk officers focussed on the best way to tackle these shortcomings, specifically around three key topics:

How can we ensure an increased financial allocation for CLLD per country?
How to open the possibility for CLLD to use the multi-fund approach?
How to introduce a specific Roma indicator for CLLD projects?

The common discussion was followed by bilateral exchanges between the national representatives and their desk officer counterparts. All participants deemed the meeting very timely and useful in the context of upcoming negotiations with Member States on the Multiannual Financial Framework. European Commission officials thanked the ERGO Network for its involvement and hard work, which was considered extremely helpful also in preparing the Commission’s next meeting with National Governments, scheduled for November-December.

To know more about Community-Led Local Development (CLLD), please click here.
To consult an overview of ERGO Network’s activities on CLLD, please click here.
To access ERGO Network’s 2019 Synthesis Report on CLLD (see above), please click here.
For more information about ERGO Network’s current work on CLLD, please contact Director Gabriela Hrabaňová.

Roma participation in Community-Led Local Development

Roma participation in Community-Led Local Development

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. The European Commission expects CLLD to facilitate implementing integrated approaches among the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Funds) to achieve the 11 thematic objectives set out in the Common Provision Regulation (CPR) at local level. It aims 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. The Commission encourages the use of CLLD to allow local communities to take ownership of the targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy.

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 report here.

Towards a more holistic approach to Roma inclusion

Towards a more holistic approach to Roma inclusion in the EU: stronger policy mainstreaming and focus

The long term perspective of the Roma inclusion process implies that, at this stage, expecting major socioeconomic impact of the Roma integration process is premature. Although the necessary policies, tools and structures linked with the inclusion of Roma were put in place in the Member States, the actual implementation is still at an initial phase without mainstreaming them in the EU general policy initiatives.

Existing assessments of implementation of the social inclusion policies and programmes at EU and national level revealed that the policies and programs did not reach marginalised groups, and did not manage to improve the situation of Roma. This is why ERGO Network, with contributions from its allies, published a policy paper that provides specific recommendations on possible ways of mainstreaming Roma inclusion in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework and post 2020 EU Roma Framework, key recommendations for the mainstream policies, and finally, not only initiatives/actions that should be taken by the European Commission, but also those that should be taken by Member States.