Tag Archives: NGO

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Trump, USAID, and Slovenia

Published by:

Trump, USAID, and Slovenia

The near total stop in USAID grants affects quite a few NGOs in Slovenia. The article here details the ones affected in Pomurje.

Among those affected are also Roma projects, as well as areas such as strengthening democratic values, ensuring gender equality, respecting human rights, protecting the environment, eliminating the consequences of natural disasters, and providing humanitarian aid.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Road Show

Published by:

Czechia: Road Show

The Roma Road Show series of events, with which Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková is going to the regions, presents inspiring Roma projects focused on housing, community work, health, education or security. The aim is to support cooperation between Roma organizations, local governments and local leaders. The first meeting took place on March 5 in Šternberk, with further stops in Pardubice and Jihlava.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia: An Opinion

Published by:

Slovakia: An Opinion

A Rom activist, Marian Gunar from Slovakia comments on the recent survey where 33% of Slovaks openly express negative attitudes towards Roma.

Gunar says that it is not all the fault of Slovaks, but that Roma need also to show they can work. He also criticises some of the elected Roma mayors (in places where Roma have a majority) for often not knowing the laws and not knowing how to make a town work.

He also criticises Roma for not pushing parents to educate their children, and feeding on a cycle of poverty and social care. Finally, he says that Roma leaders draw funds for festivals, music, and culture, but that these events are useless in bettering the fate of Roma overall.

Harsh, but with some truth to it.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Czechia: Integration or Emancipation

Published by:

Czechia: Integration or Emancipation

An interview with František Lacko, a Roma activist from Czechia. He says that Roma do not need to integrate, but to emancipate. Integration is just parasitism of non-profit organizations. Non-profit organizations only do what they can get in grants. They are interest groups and mainly family businesses. Integration costs millions a year.

He has a point, as NGOs do have a conflict of interest: If the problems they aim to tackle are solved, so is their “raison d’être”.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

NGOs and Roma

Published by:

The Roma Council of the City of Brno (RRB) expressed serious concern over the selection of Martin Máša as the new director of the IQ Roma service organization. According to the council, a long-term problem is that Roma themselves are not included in leadership positions in organizations that focus on helping Roma.

Nothing new, unfortunately…

Latvia News Eastern Europe

Latvia and Roma Organisations

Published by:

According to the President of the Latvian Roma Federation Osvald Jezdovskis, the situation with Roma organizations in Latvia is reminiscent of the gangster times of the nineties of the last century. He called on President Edgars Rinkević and Prime Minister Evika Silina to take part in them in order to protect the Latvian Roma Federation from groups that “monopolized state funding”, which should have been used for the benefit of the Roma.

Few things to relativise: There are several well stablished Roma organisations who indeed get funding from the state. To say that they monopolize the funds in this particular case means most probably that the Latvian Roma Federation was left out … The source, in Russian, may also show some bias.

rroma.org
en_GBEN
de_DEDE fr_FRFR en_GBEN