Strengthened capacities of representatives of municipalities Berane, Bijelo Polje and Nikšić regarding Roma and Egyptian empowerment at local level

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Wednesday, 20 March 2019 10:18

In the period from 18-19th March 2019 at the Palas Hotel in Petrovac, the second training on the preparation of Local Action Plans (LAP) for the integration of Roma and Egyptians was held. The training was held this time for the municipalities of Berane, Bijelo Polje and Nikšić, within the program ROMACTED - Promotion of good governance and empowerment of the Roma community at the local level, implemented in Montenegro by the Program Office of the Council of Europe and NGO Young Roma.

The training that gathered representatives of the Roma and Egyptian (RE) communities and representatives of local institutions from these municipalities aimed at drafting a Local Action Plan, a strategic document that will serve municipalities to identify problems within the RE community as well as solutions and measures to improve the position of the Roma community.

The municipalities of Nikšić and Bijelo Polje have already adopted the LAP, while the municipality of Berane's is under construction, so the emphasis is placed on monitoring the steps in the process of making and establishing the necessary amendments.

Two experts hired by the Council of Europe presented to the audience the steps in the development of the LAP, as well as steps to monitor the implementation and budgeting of the document itself. After the training, experts will continue to provide support to municipalities to finalize LAPs. Parallel to these other experts, ROMACTED will work with municipalities to identify LAP funding opportunities, recommendations related to providing better services to Roma and Egyptians, identifying the needs of RE communities, and the need for local governments to improve their capacity for better integration.

The participants at the training had the opportunity to learn the steps in the strategic planning process, how to define the vision, the problem areas, and how to predict the budgetary funds for the implementation of the measures foreseen by the LAP.

Head of the Program Office of the Council of Europe in Montenegro, Ms. Angela Longo also addressed to the participants, saying that everyone involved in the process of fighting for human rights and improving the inclusion of Roma and Egyptian populations in Montenegro should bear in mind that they are part of a wider European family, which through the ROMACTED and similar programs of the Council of Europe brings together forces to achieve the same goals. Consequently, the efforts made in Montenegro will not go unnoticed and the accomplishments that will be achieved are also accomplishments of Europe.

Regional programmme ROMACTED is a joint programme of the European Union (DG NEAR) and the Council of Europe, which is being implemented in the Western Balkans and Turkey in more than 60 municipalities, and in Montenegro it is implemented in Berane, Bijelo Polje, Nikšić, Podgorica, Herceg Novi, Tivat , Bar and Ulcinj, and implemented by the Council of Europe Program Office in Podgorica, supported by the NGO Young Roma. The aim of the programme is to cooperate with representatives of eight municipalities and representatives of local institutions in terms of building their capacities for the development of local government documents on the one hand, while the goal is to strengthen the RE community on the other hand in terms of linking them, identifying problems and joint approach in resolving the same. The ROMACTED program was officially launched on 17 July 2018, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between representatives of the Council of Europe, representatives of eight municipalities and the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, and will last until April 2020.