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DECADE
OF ROMA INCLUSION FACT SHEET
Background:
The Decade of Roma Inclusion grew out of the conference "Roma in an Expanding Europe: Challenges for the Future", hosted by the Government of Hungary in June 2003. The conference was organized by the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, and the European Commission with support from UNDP, the Council of Europe Development Bank and the Governments of Finland and Sweden. At this high level conference, Prime Ministers, or their representatives, from 8 countries-- Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovakia - made a political commitment to close the gap in welfare and living conditions between the Roma and the non-Roma and to break the cycle of poverty and exclusion.
What is the Decade?
The Decade will run from 2005 to 2015. The objective is to speed up and scale up social inclusion and the economic status of Roma by:
These activities are to be done in a transparent way and are to include the participation of Roma civil society and international organizations. The Decade is an open process and other countries, including EU member states, are welcome to join the initiative.
How is it being planned?
The year
2004 was set aside as the Decade planning year. The Government of Hungary under its Prime Minister offered to
host a secretariat to plan and coordinate activities. The Decade planning is informed by an International Steering
Committee (ISC) made up of government representatives, Roma from each country,
international donors and other international organizations.
This Steering Committee has already met twice, in December 2003 and April
2004. Additional meetings are
scheduled for June and October 2004. The
ISC plans to officially launch the Decade in early 2005.
Priority areas
At the first ISC meeting in December four priority areas of the Decade were accepted: education, employment, health and housing; three cross-cutting themes were also accepted: income poverty, discrimination, gender. Each participating country’s action plan will identify goals and targets in these four areas.
Thematic Workshops
It addition to the ISC meetings, workshops are planned in each priority area. The purpose of these workshops is to examine and discuss common issues in order to inform the design of the goals and national action plans which each country has pledged to put on the table for discussion and which will become the basis of the Decade program. The first workshop, on Roma education, was held in Budapest in February, 2004. A second on Roma employment is planned for late May. Workshops on health, and data issues will follow in late June and housing later in the year.
How is it going to be funded?
The Decade is not a new institution or bureaucracy, nor is it a new pot of money. It is the political commitment of the 8 Prime Ministers to accelerate reform and close the gap between Roma and non-Roma. It is owned by the 8 governments who have signed on to it. Funding national action plans will need to include the re-allocation of existing resources in national budgets and aligning these plans with funding instruments of multinational, international and bilateral donors.
For Additional Information Contact:
Deborah A. Harding Vice President Open Society Institute
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