Regional workshop on budgeting for Roma integration policies

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Thursday, 23 March 2017 15:57

Representative of coalition "Together for the inclusion of Roma and Egyptians through a transparent and sustainable public policies" Samir Jaha participated at the Regional Workshop on budgeting for Roma integration policies which has been organized in Skopje on 20-21. March 2017. under the framework of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Roma Integration 2020 project.

The workshop’s main objective was to effectively assist the national governments to integrate measures from the existing national Roma integration strategies including sectorial policies (strategies, action plans) into the domestic budget and IPA funding planning.

The workshop explored the relationship between planning and budgeting, as well as the relevant decision making processes. In particular, the workshop focused on how to ensure that the key objectives and priorities of the National Roma Integration Strategies and related relevant strategies are budgeted and achieved. Issues such as different approaches to budgeting were considered. Participants had an opportunity to discuss how to address the financing gap in the budgets of the respective ministries, how to plan for specific measures, mainstreaming versus targeted budgeting and similar.

The workshop gathered governmental officials, line ministries in charge of the five policy priorities and budget, including the ministry of finance/heads of NIPAC offices, civil society representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo , Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. Methodology used at the meeting, included learning by doing approach through active participation and sharing of the experiences by the participants and the facilitators. The theory and practical exercises were intertwined using various methods (i.e. working in small groups) in order to ensure an effective adult learning process.