Local development – ERGO Network

Our member organisation Pavee Point receives the 2020 Max van der Stoel Award

We congratulate our member Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre. The organisation has received the Max van der Stoel Award in recognition of its achievements in advocating and protecting the rights of Traveller and Roma communities in Ireland.

The 2020 Award Ceremony was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, but on 19 November 2021 Chairperson Anastasia Crickley and Co-Director Martin Collins could attend the award ceremony in the Hague.

For more information visit the OSCE HCNM website.

En undersøgelse foretaget af eksperter mandligmagt.com fra Københavns Universitetshospital har vist, at det er vigtigt at vide, hvilke lægemidler og kosttilskud en patient tager, når man ordinerer antiretroviral behandling.

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!

National Training Course on Human Rights Education

National Training Course on Human Rights Education in Spain

From 6-10 July 2020 FAGiC (the Federation of Roma Associations in Catalonia) together with Plataforma Khetané organized a National Training Course on Human Rights Education funded by the Youth Department of the Council of Europe.

The NTC “Training4Roma, Human Rights Training for Roma and non Roma youth activists” was held in the Library Font de La Mina, in the La Mina neighbourhood of Barcelona. The course targeted Roma and non Roma youth from different backgrounds who work with other young people to become multipliers of Human Rights education.

From the first moment, the environment was very good among the 13 participants willing to learn more and from each other. 4 young Roma participants were from the La Mina neighbourhood itself, stigmatized in the media as a “dangerous” place and criminalising the Roma inhabitants as potential drug traffickers.

In this way, the 4 young Roma students broke with the stereotypes not only of Roma, but also of the neighbourhood. Asked by the non-Roma participants, we organised a “guided tour” of the neighbourhood, explaining the historical construction from the exclusion perspective and how this has affected to the lives of the people living there.

The NTC was based on the COMPASS manual on Human Rights Education of the Council of Europe and also targeted Antigypsyism from the perspective of Human Rights. The training consisted of 3 parts:

Introduction to the topic of Human Rights through activities and methods from the manual and by sharing participants’ experiences. Following on, we went deeper into the topic of Antigypsyism and how to develop educational responses to it.
Providing space and time to participants to develop their facilitation skills. Participants did not only use activities from Mirrors or Compass, they also adapted them perfectly to the situation and to the goal they really wanted to achieve.
Evaluation and planning concrete follow-up activities

During the training, we received the visits from OND (Oficina per a la NO Discriminació) – Non Discrimination Office from the Council of Barcelona, from Catalan Human Rights Institute and also some local Roma initiatives fighting for Human Rights.

We thank the Municipality of Sant Adrià del Besòs, to which the neighbourhood belongs, for letting us use the whole library space in this difficult time due to Covid 19.

Activities of FAGIC

National Training – Roma Youth Voice

FAGIC has been chosen to implement on national level in Spain the activities of the European project “Roma Youth Voices” led by Phiren Amenca and TernYpe. In the framework of the project we organized a National Training course about social and political participation for Roma youngsters from all Spain in February 2020. The aim of the project is to empower young people to ensure a more effective participation of young Roma in the political life. Roma youth is the future and they need to be aware of it!

You can follow the development of the project here: https://www.facebook.com/RomaYouthVoices/

R-HOME: Focus groups

FAGIC is currently developing a project about housing called R-HOME (Roma, Housing, Opportunities, Mobility and Empowerment). The project aims to analyze the situation of housing for Roma people in 5 different countries (Italy, France, Spain, Romania and Hungary). To do so we are taking part in a transnational investigation on housing .You can find more information on the project here: https://rhome.caritasambrosiana.it/

In the framework of the research activities we have led two focus groups with experts, representatives of the local Roma community and other organizations working on housing for people in marginal situations.

Promotion of sustainable gardening and healthy food: training, booklet and e-book Butterfly Developments 2019

Promotion of sustainable gardening and healthy food: training, booklet and e-book
Butterfly Developments 2019

Pro Cseherat had a busy year 2019. It organized several community events and published two publications on sustainable eating and gardening. Pro Cseherat can proudly state that the participants in the programs have become a community.

Garden: chemical-free vegetables for home
In 2019 we continued our garden program in Nagydobos, a small town in one of the poorest areas of Hungary. With our community garden, we help the livelihood and the integration of Roma families living in extreme poverty. Those who join the Butterfly Garden program learn gardening practices throughout the agricultural year, and can take home all the vegetables they produce. Each garden can satisfy the yearly vegetable needs of several families.

Training: healthy and sustainable households
This year, gardener practices have been completed by a series of trainings promoting chemical-free gardening, recycling, healthy eating and household planning. We explained to our gardeners how chemical-free vegetable growing contributes to the sustainability of our planet. During several cozy joint picnics, they learned healthy cooking and preservation techniques. They also learned about composting, waste management and recycling. We even sew reusable shopping bags together. In September we presented our vegetable delicacies (jams, salads, spreads, cakes etc.) with success at the International Pumpkin Festival in Nagydobos. We have also published our trainings in a brochure with tips and recepies that can be used daily to support the everyday sustainable life.
http://www.bffd.hu/tedd-jobba95

E-book: Would you love to love lentils? – Everything about the fabulous pulses
Why are pulses useful for sustainability? How can we integrate them into any kind of diet? What basic nutrients do we get from them? All of this is summarized in one e-book, decorated with wonderful illustrations. The book concludes with a chapter entitled “Creative Kitchen,” which provides tips for readers to create different lentil-pea-bean wonder dishes every single day of the year. The book’s chapters were presented at tasting events throughout the year.
http://www.bffd.hu/szeretned-szeretni-a-lencset-e-konyv93