Newsroom

EURoma Report on Roma and Structural Funds is now available in Spanish

2nd March 2011

The first EURoma Report on Roma and Structural Funds is already available in Spanish. It provides a rigorous analysis of available data on the use of Structural Funds for the improvement of the situation of Roma.

Following its publication in English in 2010, Spanish EURoma Network partners have translated the report “Roma and Structural Funds” in Spanish in order to reach a wider audience.

The EURoma Report aims to be a tool to achieve the objective of this European initiative which currently gathers 12 Member States: to promote the use of Structural Funds (SF) to enhance the effectiveness of policies targeting Roma people and to promote their social inclusion.

The Network considered that 2010, which was the mid-point of the 2007-2013 European Structural Funds (ESF) programming period and the moment when the preparations of the Regulations for the next period (2014-2020) were starting, was an appropriate moment to reflect on the achievements, shortcomings and challenges ahead for mainstreaming Roma-related issues in the implementation of programmes co-financed by Structural Funds, and for the EURoma network itself. Adding value to existing practice and offering a vision for the future is the aim of this 2010 report on EURoma’s activities.

Following an introduction of the context within which EURoma was created, tracing the economic, political and institutional transformations that conditioned its initial development, it expounds the process of constitution and activities of the Network before undertaking a critical analysis of Structural Funds as a policy and financial instrument for tackling Roma problems. It concludes by identifying the lessons learned and future challenges for the network.

Key conclusions and recommendations to Member States and European institutions

The Report concludes that significant progress has been taking place in the past decade, and within the 2007-2013 programming period as shows the considerable increase in the volume of funds invested in projects which benefit directly or indirectly the Roma or directly targeting their needs. However, there are still many challenges as well as a number of areas in which there is a need to make further efforts to continue advancing.

The Report identifies a series of challenges related with two main areas:

Lack of ethnically disaggregated data and evaluation of projects
Managing models, coordination mechanisms and implementation bottlenecks

Building upon the challenges identified, the EURoma Network puts forward five key recommendations that require particular attention for current and future initiatives co-financed by Structural Funds:

To consolidate the function of Structural Funds as political instruments as well as financial resources for Roma inclusion in order to implement actions at the local level that achieve long-term, sustainable results and that feedback in local initiatives in other Member States.
Operational Programmes must achieve «explicit but not exclusive targeting » within the broader objective of mainstreaming Roma participation in society.
Existing measures, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms must be significantly improved. In this sense, it is neccessary to work in relation to the ethnic data collection, monitoring and evaluation and Information and accountability.
To guarantee a strong partnership and better coordination between stakeholders as a prerequisite for the implementation of such policies, and would facilitate the mobilisation of all relevant agents.
To make qualitative progress in the implementation of EU-funded projects to gain efficiency and impact.

*Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden

Documents

EURoma Report: Roma and the Structural Funds

Newsroom

EURoma Report on Roma and Structural Funds is now available in Spanish

Documents

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