Press Release: Insufficient funds for Roma projects from "Games of Chance"
- Details
- Monday, 07 December 2015 12:39
NGO Young Roma welcomes the increased number of projects approved by the Commission for allocation of revenue from games of chance for 2015, in the area of protecting the rights and improving the situation of Roma.
Young Roma also welcomes the decision of the Commission to support recently established organizations whose activities are focused on the integration of the Roma minority, with the hope that the supported organizations will engage Roma in their project teams and thus speed up their integration into mainstream society.
However, given the very difficult conditions in which the majority of the Roma population lives, as confirmed by numerous national and international strategic documents and reports, which recognize the necessity of continuous investment and efforts to improve the situation of this minority, we believe that allocated amount for Roma integration projects under this competition is insufficient to reach specified goals. Namely, out of total eligible amount of € 2,735,048.33, only € 57,927.50 was approved for projects directly related to the Roma population, which represents merely 2.12% of total assets. At the same time, most organizations whose projects are approved, has not received the required amount. Young Roma underlines that for the purposefulness of the project applications, it is necessary for the Commission to support the full amount of project budgets, or at least to ensure that these budgets are not reduced to the minimum, which is currently the case. This way of granting funds is preventing the organizations to properly implement envisaged activities.
Also, with the aim to provide the funds collected on the basis of revenue from games of chance reach the most vulnerable categories of the Montenegrin society, we suggest Commission to define specific subcategory under this competition that will be focused on the social integration of Roma and Egyptians. This would contribute to the strengthening of Romani NGOs, but also contribute to the improvement of the position of final beneficiaries.
Hereby, we would like to encourage Roma organizations with limited experience in implementing projects or which have, so far, only applied for local and national funds, to contact our organization with the aim of establishing cooperation, exchange ideas and potentially develop joint projects.
We invite all organizations whose projects have been approved this year by the Commission’s decision, which relate to improving the position of Roma, to inform the public and NGOs about the implementation of the approved projects via Google Groups Romska posla – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .