A working meeting organized by Roma Initiatives Office with civil society partners from the region

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Monday, 10 April 2017 16:20

Representatives of the coalition "Together for the inclusion of Roma and Egyptian communities through transparent and sustainable public policy" attended the workshop which was organized by the Roma Initiatives Office in Vienna from 5th to 7th of April 2017. In addition to representatives from Montenegro, the meeting was attended by representatives of the civil sector of the country in which the aforementioned initiatives is being implemented. The reason for the meeting was to coordinate the activities of national representatives involved in the project implementation.

The objectives of the workshop were to achieve consensus on the election of representatives of the civil sector for events organized in the framework of the Roma Integration 2020, followed by discussion on the working methodology and the achievement of joint initiatives and future actions. The meeting lasted for two days.

On the first day of the meeting, participants were acquainted with the theoretical and methodological framework of work in the field of analysis of policies relating to the Roma population. At the beginning the basic theoretical directions were presented and emphasis was placed on racial theory (Critical Race Theory) and theory for policy design (Policy Design Theory). In the second part were discussed the main challenges that the process of public policy carries when it comes to the context of the European Union. It was also highlighted the importance of the role of Roma in the policy-making process, ie. their involvement in the whole process as well as strong competition from other minority communities in one state or society.

On the second day of the workshop, presentations mainly included the topic of minimum standards for consultation and validation of different approaches to research and research methodologies. The second day was also marked by the presentation of the budget and the methods of monitoring. Members of the coalition who participated at the workshop were given the guidelines how to carry out the evaluation of the budget, particularly its allocation for Roma issue and non-Roma issues. At this occasion were established the criteria for the selection of two representatives who will represent the regional coalition in the Council of Europe at the end of October this year (date to be determined later). It was agreed also that the next meeting of regional representatives be held in late June where will be discussed about the project progress.