ROMA IN AN EXPANDING EUROPE: CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE
Budapest, 30 June - 1 July 2003
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Further details on the panel sessions
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The World Bank and the Open Society Institute are organizing a conference supporting Roma integration and addressing Roma poverty in Central and Eastern Europe. The conference will take place in Budapest on June 30-July 1, 2003 and will be hosted by the Government of Hungary. Prime Ministers from a number of Central and Eastern European countries are invited and other participants will include NGOs (both Roma and non-Roma), civic groups and international organizations. The event is designed to raise public awareness about the unique economic development challenges facing Roma in the region and to identify policies and programs that can effectively address poverty and discrimination.
A central part of the conference will be contributions by Roma organizations. The event will discuss what kinds of policy innovations are needed to address Roma issues, as well as how to incorporate lessons from existing projects into future policies. There will be panel discussions on key themes, such as education, the role of NGOs and local governments, employment and health care. There will also be an Civil Society Marketplace running parallel to the event which will provide NGOs, donors and others involved in Roma projects and initiatives an opportunity to present their activities and network with others in the field.
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Objectives
More specifically, the objectives of the conference are:
Raising awareness of policies to address poverty and other human development outcomes;
Garnering long-term commitment by governments and international organizations to improve Roma education and employment opportunities as well as living conditions, pre and post EU accession;
Discussing strategies that national governments, Roma organizations, NGOs and others can take to reduce poverty and improve welfare outcomes, including education, labor market status, housing and health;
Exchanging experience of projects and programs targeted at Roma over the past decade, as well as lessons learned by new institutions charged with addressing Roma and ethnicity issues.
Involving Roma leaders in the economic development process. Providing networking opportunities for Roma leaders and space for them to interact with policy makers.
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The conference will aim to formulate actionable policy recommendations. The panel sessions will generate concrete policy recommendations, which will be presented by rapporteurs at the final plenary session on the second day. These recommendations will be communicated to the government representatives at the conference and disseminated widely afterwards by organizers and conference participants. Representatives of governments and international organizations attending the conference will prepare written statements, indicating their plans for future policies and initiatives in Roma issues. These will be the basis for their presentations at the conference and will be disseminated following the event.
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The event will focus on seven participating countries from the region which have large Roma populations: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia. Other countries from the region addressing Roma issues will be invited as observer countries, including: Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Roma NGO representatives from Kosovo will also be invited to attend.
The audience will be national policy makers from the region – both those directly involved in Roma issues (e.g. heads of Roma offices), as well as government officials involved in sectoral policies which affect Roma at the technical level (e.g. from Ministries of Education, Health, Social Affairs). The discussion will also be targeted at key stakeholders involved in Roma issues at the local level, including local government officials, NGO officials (Roma and non-Roma), and Roma community leaders. Finally, donors and international organizations will be involved.
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The conference will take place
over a two day period commencing on the morning of June 30 with a formal opening
session and words of welcome from the co-sponsors and the Government of Hungary.
The conference will then focus on technical issues through plenary discussions
and panel sessions. The afternoon of the second day will center around
presentations by Roma youth leaders and the Prime Ministers of participating
countries and will close with remarks by President Wolfensohn of the World Bank
and Mr. Soros, Chairman of the Open Society Institute. Finally, the
conference will end with a reception. An official dinner will take place
on the first night featuring a dinner speaker and a cultural program.
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A Women’s Forum highlighting issues specific to Roma women and underlining the importance of these issues in the overall discussion will take place on 29 June. Furthermore, it will recognize the vital role women play within Roma society and in representing their communities. The forum discussions will feed into the conference content.
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Two
plenary sessions are foreseen at the conference.
The first on the morning of June 30 will give an overview of the issues
under discussion and introduce participants to the panel themes.
Speakers in this plenary will be experienced individuals such as Magyar
Balint, the Hungarian Minister of Education, who can share their experiences and
reflections with the audience. During
the second plenary on 1 July rapporteurs will summarize the conclusions of the
panel sessions.
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Panel
sessions will focus on the discussion of technical policy issues.
Discussion in smaller, focused groups will use participants experience
and expertise to its full potential and allow for a meaningful debate.
Each group will present clear conclusions and proposals on the specific
sub-theme. These conclusions
and proposals should aim to facilitate long-term-commitment by governments and
international organizations for follow-up action, promote strategies that
national governments, Roma organizations, NGOs and others can implement to
reduce poverty and improve welfare outcomes, and ensure and exchange of lessons
of experience from projects and programs aimed at Roma.
Four panels will run concurrently and each will comprise of a series of short presentations, followed by discussion. Six cross-cutting themes relevant to all panels have been identified: Addressing Roma poverty, Moving from projects to policy, Integrating Roma issues into systemic policy reforms, Learning from experience elsewhere and Bringing in the European Dimension. Chairpersons will be responsible for guiding the discussions and rapporteurs will record the main points raised and report back on the plenary session.
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The afternoon session on July 1
will be devoted to presentations from different actors looking at the conference
issues from their perspective. Roma youth leaders will share their vision
for the future of Roma in an expanding Europe. Next, Prime Ministers will
give their views and policy strategies. Finally, Messrs. Wolfensohn and
Soros will address the conference in a moderated discussion with Laura Silber, a
journalist with in-depth knowledge of the region.
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A Civil Society Marketplace will
run throughout the conference, allowing for an exchange of experience on
projects and programs as well as a chance for NGOs and donors to showcase
their initiatives. Marketplace exhibitors can use a variety of media
to show their examples of good practice such as video, Internet and
documentation. The Marketplace will be situated in the heart of the
conference venue to ensure maximum interaction between policymakers and NGOs and
to optimize attendance.
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Arrival of Participants, Check-in / Registration
9:00-17:30 Roma Women’s Forum
8.30-9.30 Late Registration
9.00-10.00 OFFICIAL CONFERENCE OPENING
Welcome
Addresses
10.00-10.15 Coffee Break
10.15-11.45 PLENARY SESSION I: Overview of Issues - Introduction to
Panel Themes
11.45-12.15 Remarks by the International Community
12.15-13.30 Lunch: Opening of the Marketplace
13.30-15.30 PANEL SESSIONS
15:30-16:00
Coffee Break
16:00-18:00
PANEL SESSIONS
19.00 Official Dinner including Messrs. Wolfensohn and Soros
8.30-10.30 PANEL SESSIONS
11:00
Arrival of Prime Ministers
11:30-13:00
Private Lunch Meeting
10:30-12:00
PLENARY SESSION II: Report by Rapporteurs on Panel
Sessions
12:00-13:30
Lunch and transfer to Parliament
The Afternoon Session will be held in the Parliament Building
13:30-15:30
Roma Youth Leaders share their Vision for the Future
15:30-17:00 Head of Country Delegations Report to the Conference
(Prime Ministers);
Commenced by Hungary
17:00-17:45
Coffee Break / Press Conference
17:45-18:45 VIP’s Address the Conference: James Wolfensohn and
George Soros
19:00-22:00 Closing Reception at the National Theater
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Further
details on the panel sessions
The panel sessions will touch upon a number of cross-cutting themes which are intrinsic to any debate on Roma issues:
Addressing
Roma poverty: Roma are a key
poverty risk group in the region, and policies need to focus on policy
interventions which can address this, in areas such as education, health
care and social protection.
Moving from projects to policy. The past twelve years have witnessed a wide range of project activity providing an opportunity for experimentation and innovation. The next step is to draw upon the lessons of this experience and to scale up into policy.
Integrating Roma issues into systemic policy reforms: In order to address Roma poverty and development over the longer term, countries need to consider the systemic policy issues which underpin the situation of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. For example, getting Roma out of special schools and institutions for the mentally and physically disabled, ensuring that health insurance covers all groups, and improving employment opportunities.
Learning from experience elsewhere: While Roma issues are unique, many of the issues which emerge can be compared to the situation of minorities and excluded groups in other regions. Lessons from these other regions – including the situation of Roma in other parts of the world, the US experience on race (positive and negative), and that of indigenous peoples in other regions can provide useful inputs into the policy discussion on Roma.
Bringing in the European Dimension: Roma are the largest minority in Europe, as such the issue is relevant for both Eastern and Western European countries. There is valuable project and policy experience across the continent and the accession process makes it increasingly relevant to discuss Roma in a broader European context.
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1. Who are Roma? Roma and Statistics: Balancing Privacy Concerns and Policy Evaluation
Privacy legislation often prohibits collection of data by ethnicity. While privacy is a critical concern, it prohibits data collection for policy analysis, which would ultimately help to tailor projects to the needs of ethnic groups. Roma are particularly affected by this lack of data, because of low self-reporting on censuses and household surveys. This session will discuss alternate approaches to gathering data on ethnicity drawing from the experience of other countries. Why are data collected? How are they used? And How can they to inform policy development?
2. Integration in Education: Moving from Projects to Policy
Integration, or desegregation, of schools has become a key concern for Roma, as well as educators and policy makers in the region. Integration includes a number of objectives, including redefining the role of dual education, reducing the number of Roma children in segregated schools and decreasing the number of schools and classrooms with high shares of Roma students. There have been a number of innovative projects which attempt to address these issues and to make education more inclusive. This session will discuss the lessons from some of these initiatives and discuss strategies for “scaling up” from projects into policy.
3. Reaching and empowering Roma through community development programs
Community driven projects have potential benefits for Roma on a number of fronts: they involve the community in the design and implementation of initiatives which affect them rendering them more suitable and effective than “top-down” projects; they can break the cycle of dependency on cash benefits and strengthen the capacity of communities by actively engaging the community and the multidimensionality of Roma poverty requires that interventions be multisectoral (e.g. employment projects containing a training element). This session will review some of the experience.
4. Breaking the Dependency Cycle: Active labor market and social assistance measures
Many Roma communities have become dependent upon social benefits such as social assistance, unemployment benefits and child allowances. This is due to the high unemployment and poverty prevalent in Roma communities, but is compounded in many cases by weak incentives built into the transfer programs. This session will discuss how cash benefits can be designed such that they meet their objectives of creating a safety net for the poor, but also provide work incentives and opportunities for individuals who are able to work. It will discuss alternatives to cash benefits, including active labor market mechanisms, and draw from the experience of other countries.
5. Beyond Strategizing: Policy coordination and Implementation at the National Level
Over the past decade, each of the CEE countries has established contact points within the government on Roma issues. Many of these offices have formulated and begun to implement complex strategies to address Roma issues. This session will review their experience and formulate lessons for the future. It will also discuss the role of Roma offices more broadly, and their role in coordinating and mainstreaming policy related to Roma within the government.
6. Results on the Ground: Working with local governments
Local governments have a central role in addressing Roma issues at the local level, especially as many of the countries in the region are decentralizing. In addition to service provision, they are often responsible for contracting and working with NGOs and other community based organizations, as well as managing and addressing ethnic tensions between local groups. This session will discuss issues related to local government involvement in Roma issues, drawing from the experience of local government leaders in the region and outside.
7. Removing Barriers: Improving Health
Barriers to health care are multifaceted and include financial, physical, geographic and social obstacles. This session will examine the range of multi-sectoral policies needed to reduce the inequities which make Roma less healthy than their non-Roma neighbors and the experience of other countries in addressing health disparities for vulnerable groups.
8. Making Services Work for Roma: Promoting Inclusion
Roma are clients of social services, including health, education social welfare and local public services. However, in many cases Roma face barriers to accessing these services, due to constraints on both the supply and demand side. Service providers may not be prepared or informed about how to reach Roma communities, and Roma may not be informed about service availability, or face barriers due to discrimination, or other forms of exclusion. This session will explore ways in which services can be designed to more effectively reach Roma communities, including promoting community involvement in service delivery, training service providers, bringing Roma into the public administration and other outreach strategies.
9. Improving Education Quality and Relevance
In many cases education received by Roma children is of poor quality, which in turn affects access. These issues are related to overall education reforms underway in the region and efforts to improve the quality of teaching and curriculum to meet the needs of a market economy. There have been numerous initiatives to improve the quality of education for Roma students, including curriculum development in multicultural education, teacher training, as well as alternate school arrangements for Roma – particularly at the secondary level (e.g. the Gandhi school in Hungary). This session will draw from this experience to formulate lessons for ongoing education reform.
10. Expanding Employment Opportunities
High unemployment is one of the most pressing issues facing many Roma communities. This session will examine opportunities for expanding labor market access through policies and programs which influence both the demand and supply of labor. It will look at issues including access to credit, overcoming discrimination, as well as labor migration.
11. Addressing and Overcoming Discrimination
Direct and indirect racial discrimination continues to be the main barrier to full participation in society for all Roma. Such discrimination is a contributing factor to the poor living conditions that many Roma throughout Central and Eastern Europe endure—the slum-like housing, chronic unemployment, poor health, lack of access to public services, segregated schools. Asserting the rights of Roma to equal protection under the law and empowering them to become active members of their communities and the larger society is a key to long-term change. This session will look at options for overcoming discrimination in public services.
12. Highlights from the Women’s Forum
Roma women’s agendas have been forged over the last five years in Central and Eastern Europe by a growing number of Roma women leaders. Strengthening these networks and rendering women’s issues more visible will optimize the inclusion of Roma women’s issues into policy and the empowerment of Roma communities. This session will feature highlights from the Women’s Forum held on June 29 and will include topics such as Roma women’s health and sexuality, economic empowerment and coping strategies, the participation of Roma women in politics and challenges for Roma women as grassroots leaders.
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