Fundación Secretariado Gitano

National conference of the Calí programme, for the equality of Roma women, on dealing with cases of gender-based violence [editar]

• Social Inclusion
• National level

• The conference, opened by Carmen Martínez Perza, Government Delegate for Gender-based Violence, and Sara Giménez, FSG‘s Director General, brought together more than 40 professionals, Calí technicians from all over Spain.
• The Calí programme, for the equality of Roma women, was launched in 2016 with the aim of providing support for the social and labour inclusion of Roma women who are in a situation of high vulnerability and of accompanying women victims of gender-based violence through specialised support.

The programme has a team of 44 professionals, Calí experts, mostly Roma women with specialised training, who work in 42 locations in 15 regions throughout Spain. It will be in force until 2029 and is co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus, the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Protection and Agenda 2030 (0.7% Programmes) and the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, among others.

The conference is part of the process of methodological updating of the technical team and aims to improve the care provided by the Calí programme to Roma women who are victims of gender-based violence, in coordination with external resources.

As the government delegate Carmen Martínez acknowledged in her opening remarks: ‘Gender-based violence is not about ethnic groups. Gender-based violence affects the whole of society. But there are women who suffer it more because of added vulnerabilities: such as poverty and discrimination in the case of Roma women,’ highlighting the role that professionals such as Calí experts can play in the support processes for leaving violence behind and the value of the specific measures that have been included in the renewal of the State Pact against Gender-based Violence, measures that must be implemented at all levels of the administration.

For her part, FSG’s director general, Sara Giménez, recognised that the recent renewal of the State Pact against Gender-based Violence is a complete success, as it includes specific measures for Roma women, such as measure 145, which calls for the adaptation of action protocols and procedures when it comes to Roma women, and she valued the role played by the Calí experts: ‘FSG has always had a gender perspective and our Calí programme is the best way to practise feminism. Let's continue working in this area, which I know is tough, but one of the most rewarding.’

During the conference, there was also participation from an agent from the Family and Women's Support Unit of the Madrid National Police Headquarters and the commissioner of the Puente de Vallecas District Police Station in Madrid, who reported on their work as a police service specialising in dealing with cases of gender-based violence.

FSG's gender-based violence victim support service trains and advises all Calí experts in the care of detected cases and also the rest of the FSG's professional teams so that, if these types of situations are detected from other programmes, the best response can be given to the victim by applying the protocols designed by the programme for this purpose.

After more than two decades of supporting Roma women who are victims of gender-based violence, with a total of 647 cases dealt with from 2014 to 2024 and numerous collaborations with organisations specialising in victim support, FSG remains firmly committed to joining forces to prevent and combat this serious problem that affects Roma women just as it affects other women in our society.