Past events – Page 6 – ERGO Network

Save the Date for ERGO’s Annual Members Meeting 2021

When: 6-9 December 2021

Where: Zoom Platform

Please save the date for ERGO’s Annual Members Meeting.

We will be looking back and ahead of us, building on the milestones we reached with our work until 2021, analysing where our expertise lies and how it can be generated for a greater impact.

What is it that ERGO Network wants to be engaged in during the next years? What is the follow up of our strategy building, how we ensure that the European policy making is translated on the national level? To answer all these questions we rely on the input from our members.

In this Annual Members Meeting will work under motto Think European, Promote Nationally, Act locally – to make the change!

Introducing the Decade Against Antigypsyism

The meeting will provide the first step to foresee the implementation of our new strategic pillars, while building a solid ground for our 4 years Framework partnership program with DG Justice and going beyond it.

Times of the meeting

Our Annual Members Meeting 2021 will be held online at the following times (all Brussels time):

Monday 6 December 2021

13:00-17:00 – Updates, sharing and learning

Tuesday 7 December 2021

10:00 – 11:30 – Working groups

13:30 – 16:00 – Building membership capacity and exchange

Wednesday 8 December 2021

09:30-13:30 – Vision for ERGO

Thursday 9 December 2021

10:00-12:00 – Round table on fundraising

The agenda will be shared in the coming weeks.

ERGO Network Annual Policy Conference

ERGO Network Annual Policy Conference:

Implementing the EU Roma Strategic Framework.

Roma access to adequate minimum income

23 November, 10h – 13h, Online

Join us for our Annual Policy Conference 2021!

The Covid-19 public health crisis has worsened the situation for many Roma, Sinti and Travellers in Europe, in terms of poverty, exclusion, dire living conditions, and widespread antigypsyism.

Access to adequate minimum income and social protection is the cornerstone of the European Social Model, and it needs to be guaranteed also for Europe’s Roma. In a cash-based economy, providing people with sufficient financial resources is a necessary pre-requisite for fighting poverty and social exclusion, as well as for enabling individuals to reach their full potential and to access rights and opportunities on the labour market and in society. During the recovery from the devastating economic crisis due to the pandemic, this is today more important than ever.

The first part of the event will serve to launch ERGO Network’s research report on “Roma access to minimum income”, based on five national case studies carried out in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. The main findings and recommendations aim to kickstart a debate with policy makers on how to improve the adequacy and take-up on minimum income and social protection by Roma in Europe, including in the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, and the foreseen Council Recommendation on Minimum Income (2022).

Furthermore, after advocating effectively for the adoption of a strong EU Roma Strategic Framework on Equality, Inclusion, and Participation, it is essential to now continue to monitor its implementation and the adoption of corresponding national frameworks in EU Member States and Western Balkan countries. Unfortunately, the targets set out in the framework are often too low or non-ambitious, and while participation is made more visible than in the previous period, there are very few commitments made in this area, and the implementation of the EU framework remains entirely up to national governments.

The second part of the event will take stock of the first six months of the, as well as of the Roma involvement with the preparation of the corresponding National Roma Frameworks. In the absence of a binding character of the EU Framework, the event will try to assess how serious is the commitment of governments to tackle antigypsyism, improve living conditions, and ensure meaningful participation of Roma.

The conference will bring together ERGO Network members from the grassroots level, EU policymakers from across the institutional spectrum, as well as other relevant EU and national stakeholders.

Find the final agenda here.
Register here by 20 November.

We’re looking forward to counting you among the participants, so that together we can build positive, sustainable, evidence-based policy solutions that work!

#ERGOConference2021

This conference is kindly supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation EaSI (2014-2020) and by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Save the Date: Funding of bottom-up approaches

SAVE THE DATE: Funding of bottom-up approaches: Ways forward to support Roma inclusion

9 December 2021, 10-12 am

Please save the date for another insightful online conference organized by ERGO Network, discussing the importance of better funding for bottom-up approaches to Roma inclusion. The event is part of the project “New solutions to old problems – exchange of new type of approaches to Roma integration”, funded by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

In the past 20 years, Roma communities across Europe have seen very few improvements to their living situation, even t hough many public and private, international and national funding programmes were aimed at Roma inclusion and empowerment. One of the reasons for the lack of success of such funding programmes is the application of a top-down approach that does not consider the realities and voices of Roma at the grassroots level and comes with a heavy administrative burden.

All evaluations of the last EU Framework for National Roma Integration acknowledged that Roma communities need to be involved in project design, implementation and evaluation in order to bring about change. This now needs to be translated into better funding programmes and regulations of public and private donors, including using more national resources for smaller projects, a prioritization of bottom-up approaches and more support for Community-led local development (CLLD).

With this event, we aim to raise donors’ awareness of the importance to give more support to bottom-up approaches in order to finally improve the living situation of Roma communities on local level.

Objectives

The event will serve to launch ERGO Network’s new Analysis of funding for bottom-up approaches to Roma inclusion, shedding light on the importance of bottom-up approaches and analysing funding targeted at Roma inclusion. The main findings and recommendations aim to kick-start a debate with policy makers, donors and civil society on how to design more effective funding programmes that can lead to a real change for local Roma communities.

Participants

The conference will bring together EU policymakers from across the institutional spectrum, donors, ERGO members and civil society from the grassroots level as well as other relevant EU and national stakeholders.

More information about the agenda and registration will follow soon. For questions, please contact ERGO Network Policy Officer Carmen Tanasie (c.tanasie@ergonetwork.org).

14th European Platform for Roma Inclusion

14th European Platform for Roma Inclusion

The European Platform for Roma Inclusion 2021 was held online on 21-22 September by the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. The meeting aimed to reaffirm the commitment to Roma equality, inclusion and participation of European institutions and Member States and focus on key thematic areas identified in close consultation with civil society organisation, such as Mainstreaming and Targeted Policies to Address Antigypsyism in National Roma Strategic Frameworks and Tackling unequal access to education to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Roma communities.

The event was honoured with high level participation on the part of the European Commission, including through a video message – partly in Romanes – by President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Parliament and EU Member States. Roma and pro-Roma civil society were given center stage in the thematic workshops and had an equal floor during the political panels alongside political leaders.

The thematic workshop ‘Assessing the National Roma Strategic Frameworks: Mainstreaming and Targeted Policies to Address Antigypsyism” discussed how measures on health, education, housing, and employment, access to justice, child protection and environment are addressed from the perspective of combating antigypsyism and what specific actions are being developed at the national and local level for addressing antigypsyism. Finally, the panel also addressed how structural funds in Member States and enlargement countries can better contribute to Roma equality, inclusion, and participation.

The thematic workshop “Mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Roma communities: tackling unequal access to education and spatial segregation” discussed how access to quality and inclusive education of Roma students, specifically from marginalised localities, can be improved in the persisting pandemic and how to ensure that implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans reaches marginalised Roma communities.

Gabriela Hrabanova, ERGO Network Director, delivered important key messages to the attendees. She strongly expressed the need for national governments to demonstrate that the fight against antigyspsyism in their countries does not remain a “buzz” word. She asked Member States to start making amends with their historic past by investing in real recounts about the Roma Holocaust, slavery, forced sterilization and many other dehumanising events in Europe’s history. Member States have a responsibility to help us reconcile as nations, learn about who Roma really are, provide the tools for our children to love each other and live together in a sense of unity, not division.

She highlighted that “we first need to reconcile parts of us that hurt most and that manifest still today in very aggressive and punitive ways, such as police violence or forced sterilisation, if we want to change the general negative perception and knowledge about Roma among European citizens”. She called on Member States to ensure that national strategic frameworks meet the expectations of combating segregation in education and housing, increased police violence against Roma, addressing hate speech and hate crime against Roma and to make sure that EU funds for social cohesion and recovery and resilience together with direct grants by the EU and national funding are used to address the major challenges identified in national Roma strategies. In the end of her speech, the ERGO Director called for a “Decade of fighting antigypsyism”.

The report with the final conclusions of the meeting will be published by the European Commission on their event website here

SAVE THE DATE FOR ERGO NETWORK’s ANNUAL POLICY CONFERENCE

SAVE THE DATE FOR ERGO NETWORK’s ANNUAL POLICY CONFERENCE

Implementing the EU Roma Strategic Framework

Roma access to adequate minimum income and social protection

23 November 2021, 10:00 – 13:00 (Online)

Please save the date for ERGO Network’s Annual Policy Conference, this year focusing on access to adequate minimum income, as well as taking stock of the first six months of the new EU Roma Strategic Framework.

The Covid-19 public health crisis has worsened the situation for many Roma, Sinti and Travellers, mainly due to devastating living conditions, exclusion, and widespread antigypsyism.

Access to adequate minimum income and social protection is the cornerstone of the European Social Model and needs to be guaranteed also for Romani people. In a cash-based economy, providing people with sufficient financial resources is a necessary pre-requisite for fighting poverty and social exclusion, as well as for enabling individuals to reach their full potential and to access rights and opportunities on the labour market and in society. During the recovery from the devastating economic crisis due to the pandemic, this is today more important than ever.

Furthermore, after advocating effectively for the adoption of a strong EU Roma Strategic Framework up to 2030, it is essential to now continue to monitor its implementation and the adoption of corresponding national frameworks in EU Member States and Western Balkan countries. Unfortunately, the targets set out in the Framework are often too low or non-ambitious and, while participation is made more visible than in the previous period, there are very few commitments made in this area, and the implementation of the EU Framework remains entirely up to national governments.

Objectives

The first part of the event will serve to launch ERGO Network’s research report on “Roma access to minimum income and social protection”, based on five national case studies carried out in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. The main findings and recommendations aim to kick-start a debate with policy makers on how to improve the adequacy and take-up on minimum income and social protection by Roma in Europe, including in the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, and the foreseen Council Recommendation on Minimum Income (2022).

The second part of the event will take stock of the first six months of the EU Roma Strategic Framework on Equality, Inclusion, and Participation, as well as of the Roma involvement with the preparation of the corresponding national frameworks. In the absence of a binding character of the EU framework, the event will assess how serious is the commitment of EU Member States to tackle antigypsyism, improve living conditions, and ensure meaningful participation of Roma.

Participants

The conference will bring together ERGO Network members from the grassroots level, EU policy-makers from across the institutional spectrum, as well as other relevant EU and national stakeholders.

The agenda and registration link will be shared in the coming weeks.