Currently, funds for the integration of Roma are allocated according to the size of the municipality, not aligned to the number of Roma who live there. This may be changing, if the current discussions come to an agreement.
A few new articles about the 200 mio Euroos that Slovakia di spend in 2024 on Roma integration …
Not all positive.
The Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma Communities (ÚSVRK) has contracted approximately 480 projects worth almost 200 million euros over the past year, within which it provided over 95 million euros for the support of Roma and the development of infrastructure. This was stated by the Plenipotentiary of the Government for Roma Communities Alexander Daško at a press conference in Šumiac, Horehronie, on Thursday as part of the annual activity report of the office.
Frankly, the results are not yet visible…
Thanks to European funding, the Ministry of Culture will be able to continue implementing the project “Latvian Roma Platform VIII”. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the report on the project’s progress and the allocation of the necessary funds the day before, the ministry reported in a press release.
The funds are to be spent between May 1, 2025 and April 30, 2027. The funds were allocated from the pan-European program “Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values” following a competition for projects designed to promote equality, inclusiveness and participation of the Roma minority in society. The total funding for the project is 221,657 euros, of which 199,491 euros (90%) are funds provided by the European Commission.
The final conference of the international ACE project, led by the Roma Association of Slovenia took place in Murska Sobota. The project, done in cooperation with partners from Italy and Spain, lasted two years and had a clear goal: to empower young and older Roma and political stakeholders for better cooperation and inclusion. According to the project team, the project has positioned Slovenia as an example of good practice, as it is the only one of the participating countries with an adopted law on Roma and a national program for Roma. “Slovenia is a bright spot of the project, because with legislation and experience we can contribute a lot to other countries,” emphasized Škerlak.
Well, judging by the Slovene press, this seems highly doubtful…
Latest developments on the strategy for integration of the council of Europe. Let’s hope this time, we will see progress.
The Council of Europe is implementing the Joint Programme Roma Integration III in partnership with the European Union to strengthen the capacities of governments in the Western Balkans and Türkiye to address the challenges faced by Roma communities. This initiative includes the development and implementation of public policies in various sectors, such as housing, employment, education, and the fight against anti-Gypsyism.
A controversy started in Reggio Emilia where the Municipality has budgeted for the next three years a figure of one million euros dedicated to the school integration of Roma, Sinti and Caminanti students.
Opposition (mostly the Lega) are criticising this subsidy saying that other students should also benefit and decrying the “waste of money”.
The non-legislative document Action Plans for the Strategy for Equality, Inclusion and Participation of Roma by 2030 for the years 2025-2027 was submitted to the interdepartmental commentary procedure. The strategy highlights a set of starting points and goals that aim to stop the segregation of Roma communities, a significant positive turn in the social inclusion of Roma, non-discrimination, changing attitudes and improving coexistence.
But it also pushes for de-facto segregated schools by promoting teaching in Romanes.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timcho Mutsunski participated and addressed the government donor conference “Roma and their friends”, dedicated to projects aimed at improving the integration of Roma into society, with a focus on housing, culture and education.
The Minister highlighted the importance of the National Strategy for Roma Inclusion 2022-2030, which addresses key areas such as education, employment, housing, social and health care. He stressed that the government will continue its efforts to achieve social cohesion and equal development and will firmly keep the promise that “no one will be left behind”, in line with the UN 2030 Agenda.
Often called an “Ambitious fool,” Ivan Mak came up with the idea that he would employ Roma, the disabled, the long-term unemployed, single mothers, people without education and difficult to place on the labour market. For 10 years, Ivan has been giving work in the laundry and ironing shop in Horehroní, regardless of the colour of the skin or the disability of the people. It is said that people used to look at him like a UFO.
The Centre for Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Tolerance “Amalipe” organizes the fourth National Roma Women’s Meeting “Girls with dreams – let’s be more than three!”, which was held on November 14-15, 2024 in Dryanovo.
The meeting was attended by women and girls from all over the country who are actively working to change the situation of Romnja. These are mostly female students, educational mediators, active girls and Romnja working to improve living and learning conditions in the Roma community.
Alex Galamb has been nominated for the I Came Volunteer Award, established with the support of the Center for Family-Friendly Hungary.
The young baker was asked how he was spending the day before the holidays and what activities he planned to implement within the framework of his foundation.
Alex told that in the coming weeks he would accompany his students on a professional visit to Slovakia as part of the Erasmus programme, but when he was at home, he usually baked with the children from Sütni jó alapítvány on Sundays, and they also organised trips. They went out for hamburgers, to the cinema, and since Alex has twenty-five young bakers, they baked delicacies in the foundation bakery in three groups.
350 Roma children will be able to attend kindergarten free of charge in Centar and Gazi Baba in the periphery of Skopje. This is part of a project for the inclusion of Roma children in municipal institutions.
Knowing how many Roma there are around Skopje, this is a drop of water on a hot stone. Almost an alibi exercise. And the user of “Roma Nationality” is very much reminiscent of the old socialist notion.
They are North Macedonians …
Ivan Mako is 48 years old and comes from Banská Bystrica. He studied Roma culture at the University of Konstantin Filozof in Nitra. He is married, has two sons and both are studying at universities. He works as a manager in a multifunctional community centre in Valaska near Brezno and manages the successful social enterprise Wasco, a cooperative in the same village. The company is a transfer station for standard employment and currently employs more than 50 hard-to-employ people. In ten years, around 450 people passed through it.
Well Done.
From November 1 to 3, the 24th BaruvaS meeting took place in Prague. It focused on connecting young Roma with literature and art. The participants took a thematic walk around Žižkov with journalist and writer Patrik Banga, experienced his author’s reading, and the climax of the program was a visit to the performance of Romeo and Juliet at the ABC Theatre in Prague.
Again an article about the funds allocated to municipalities with a Roma population in Slovenia. The current way these subsidies are calculated favours large municipalities, regardless of the number of Roma who live there. Now the government plans to change that. And several mayors are not for it.
In any case, Roma complain that the funds are not spend on purpose, and the mayors say that the funds are not sufficient to move the needle …
In Slovenia, there are twenty-five municipalities with a registered Roma population, among them eleven in Dolenjsko, Posavje, Bela Krajina and the Kočevsko-Ribinška area. From 2021, based on Article 20a of the Municipal Financing Act (ZFO-1), they are entitled to additional state funds (3.5 percent of eligible spending), the main criterion being the number of all residents of the municipality. This means that the bigger the municipality, the more money it gets, regardless of the number of Roma. This is not fair for smaller municipalities with a large number of Roma.
Roma complain that the funds are not spend on purpose…
93 Roma pupils and students will receive scholarships of 1,200 lei. The scholarships will be provided monthly by the Ministry of Education and Research. According to the authorities, the goal of the initiative is to reduce educational disparities and encourage young Roma to achieve academic success.
93 is not many compared to the Roma population of the country.
The Slovenian government has allocated funds to municipalities where Roma live in Slovenia as part of the National Program of Actions for Roma for the period 2021-2030. In the municipality of Krško, they allocated 80’000 euros of their 700’000 allocation to raise awareness among the residents of the Roma settlement of Kerinov Grm. Apparently, the money went straight to a long-time builder for the municipality and a Roma councillor. This is not quite the purpose of these grants …
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