21/09/2013
FSG Internacional
EURoma is a European network involving twelve EU Member States (Bulgaria, Slovakia, Spain, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania and Sweden) and with the support of the European Commission. Its main objective is to promote the use of Structural Funds (SF) to improve the efficiency of policies aimed at the Roma population. EURoma Network is led by the Spanish Government through the Managing Authority of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the FSG acts as Technical Secretariat. The Network has the support of the Social Policy, Families and Children Directorate General, from the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality.
Last 19th and 20th of September the EURoma Network gathered in the city of Sofia (Bulgaria), the participants included members of the Network: representatives of Managing Authorities of Structural Funds and the National Contact Points for the Roma Strategies of the twelve EU countries participating in the Network and other invited countries (Belgium , Croatia , Switzerland and Turkey ), as well as representatives from DG Employment of the European Commission and of the Technical Secretariat of the Network, which is run by FSG .
The agenda focused on how to build effective partnerships for the inclusion of Roma under the Structural Funds at a key moment as the European Commission is developing the European Code of Conduct for Partnerships (ECCP) for the European Structural and Investment Funds. This Code provides the framework for the participation of various stakeholders in the Agreements and in the use of Structural Funds at national, regional and local levels. At the same time, states are already working on the design of the Partnership Agreements and are deciding who participates and in which conditions in the various phases of the next Operational Programmes (2014-2020), in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation thereof.
The Code of Conduct recognizes that the principle of partnership is a key value for the management of European Funds and it identifies relevant partners - regional and local authorities, economic and social partners and a wide range of organizations representing civil society – that should be actively involved during the entire program cycle - preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
To contribute to the debate among Members of the Network, diverse stakeholders (NGOs, local authorities and other key actors) were invited to contribute with a reflection on what is their added value managing Structural Funds for Roma inclusion, what difficulties they have had in previous programming periods and which are their recommendations for the 2014-2020 programming period. Among them, The FSG was invited to deliver a presentation based on its experience as this organization has successfully managed Structural Funds since 2000 and is renowned for its good results all around Europe.
Besides the FSG the following organizations / institutions contributed to the meeting: Health and Social Development Foundation ( BG ), Centre for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance "Amalipe" (BG) , Roma Education Fund (RO) , IQ Roma Servis (CZ) , Hungarian Maltese Charity Service (HU) , Resource Centre for Roma Communities (RO), Glasgow City Council ROMANET Network , Mayors Making the Most Initiative (MERI), Bulgarian Municipalities of Kavarna and Vidin, the Fundamental Rights Agency, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Hungarian Equality Body.
The meeting was attended by a large delegation of the host government, who were in charge of presenting a detailed picture of the situation of Roma in the country and the policies and approaches that are being implemented in order to improve their living conditions of the Roma population. They also provided detailed information of the next programming period of the Structural Funds from an integral perspective.
For more information please visit: www.euromanet.eu
Photo gallery
ER-0747/2014
