Roma poverty and social exclusion – Page 7

A Place for All

A Place for All – ERGO Network’s employment campaign

ERGO Network is launching its new campaign ‘A Place for All’, shedding light on the important role that employers play in supporting the employment of Roma and other ethnic minorities, as well as on the benefits that an inclusive workforce.

Roma employment – it should be obvious – is important for Roma themselves, for the employers and for society as a whole.

Improving Roma access to quality employment breaks the cycle of poverty, discrimination and exclusion and gives people back their dignity.
Getting more Roma into employment helps counter widespread stereotypes based on antigypsyism.
Having more employed Roma creates positive role models for the inclusion of Roma communities.
A diverse workforce increases emotional intelligence, creativity and productivity in any workplace.
A diverse workforce builds trust with minority customers and service users.
Hiring more Roma is a smart economic choice, improving growth and combatting demographic change.

Through the Place for All campaign, ERGO Network will therefore raise employers’ awareness of the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workplace as well as of the motivation and competencies of young Roma. It will also highlight employers’ good practices in diversity and inclusion and encourage others to follow their example.

How will the campaign work?

The main focus of the campaign will be on employers who have been approved by ERGO Network members as inclusive employers and who sign the Place for All pledge, reaffirming their commitment to making their workplace a place for all. These employers will be awarded a badge and will be promoted by the ERGO Network. This will include sharing of their good practices, providing further support and generally giving them visibility. In the future, once a group of employers in several countries has been awarded the badge, ERGO Network members can furthermore organize peer learning, networking and exchanges between these employers.

To not only highlight employers, but also Roma employees who overcame the huge hurdle of antigypsyism – manifesting itself in poverty, lack of education and discrimination by employers – we will at the same time feature inspiring stories of Roma employees from different countries.

Follow the campaign on its Facebook page and ERGO Network’s social media accounts to get to know the first awarded employers and inspiring stories!

Do you know an employer who fits our profile? Contact info@ergonetwork.org or ask them to sign up for the badge directly on our website: www.ergonetwork.org/employment.

The campaign has been made possible thanks to the financial support of the European Commission’s EaSI Programme.

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.

Railway assistants in Slovakia

Railway assistants – antigypsyism in employment programme

In October 2019, Slovak Railway Company announced the implementation of a new project called ‘Train Assistant’. This project created a new position in the railway company for people from marginalized Roma communities. Together with other organizations and activists, the Roma Advocacy and Research Centre (RARC) appealed to the railway company as well as to the Implementation agency of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family to stop this project because it carries signs of antigypsism. As our attempts were not heard, we sent a letter to the European Commission’s DG Employment with a notice on this project. In February 2020, we received a response from DG Employment, which you can see below. We consider it important that DG Employment has requested an external interim impact assessment of the project (which will start in January 2020 and will continue for 24 months) within the first 6 months of its implementation. The interim external assesment shall focus in particular on the aspects which we raised in our complaint: risks of maintaining or worsening any form of discrimination, stigmatization of Roma and antigypsism, impact on employment perspective of participants including their career progression towards non-assistant type of jobs (train conductors), synergies and possible overlaps with the local civil order services and field social work.

We believe that such projects should not be presented as the only employment opportunities for marginalized groups, as their inclusive character is highly questionable.

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

Roma access to mainstream education

ERGO NETWORK ANNUAL PUBLIC EVENT: Roma Access to Mainstream Education

This past 19 November, ERGO Network organised its annual public event, dedicated this year to debating how to ensure that Roma pupils and students can access mainstream education on equal footing and how to make education systems and establishments more inclusive, by combating segregation and discrimination in education settings. The event was co-organised with the generous support and participation of Hon. Romeo Franz MEP (Greens/EFA, Germany) and Hon. Peter Pollák MEP (EPP, Slovakia), and hosted at the premises of the Representation of the State of Baden-Württemberg to the European Union.

The event was very well attended with over 80 participants, and it brought together ERGO members from the grassroots level in 14 European countries, European civil society organisations and other Brussels-level stakeholders, as well as EU policy-makers from across the institutional spectrum, including the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and the Government of Croatia, who will hold the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Education is an increasingly important topic in the European public and political discourse, as an explicit objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Pillar of Social Rights, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. The latest communication issued by the European Commission on the Evaluation of the EU Roma Integration Strategies 2019, and its previous evaluations, clearly underline the need to prioritise education and training in policy initiatives. Several countries (BG, HU, RO, SK) received a Country-Specific Recommendation in 2019 regarding improving Roma access to quality education, as well as better integrating them into mainstream education.

However, this positive rhetoric still lacks the desired implementation, and the Roma are still too often left behind when it comes to accessing educational opportunities on equal footing with majority groups, due to structural antigypsyism and its manifestations in education, such as segregation. Existing legal and policy tools, including targeted actions on Roma education, as well as infringement procedures, are not as effective as they could be in challenging ingrained patterns of Roma exclusion and discrimination. From early childhood education and care to second-chance schools and informal education and to training and upskilling for the labour market, every person deserves the right to improve their competences and pursue their personal development.

The event included thought-provoking interventions which fostered a debate aimed at identifying positive solutions and policy proposals based on best practices, in order feed into the post-2020 policy and funding European frameworks relevant for Roma inclusion.

See more:

For more information about this event, or about ERGO Network’s work on inclusive education, please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro.

This conference was kindly supported by a grant from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

ERGO Network receives financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation EaSI (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi