Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Full name: Aceder Pelo Emprego de la Populaçao Cigana

Funded by: FSE: POISE_3.08 Inserção socioprofissional da comunidade cigana

Objectives: To offer advice and assistance to EAPN Portugal in the implementation of its employment program for Roma people ACEDER.

Context:

Fundación Secretariado Gitano collaborates with the Project Aceder Pelo Emprego de la Populaçao Cigana, promoted by EAPN Portugal and funded by the European Social Fund (FSE: POISE_3.08 Inserção socioprofissional da comunidade cigana). This initiative has been implemented throughout the country between September 2019 and June 2020, being its aim to promote the development of individualised pathways of socio-professional insertion through the transmission of basic skills (social, personal, relational and professional) and the definition of life projects.

The Aceder project has been developed in 9 municipalities: Porto, Barcelos, Braga, Fundão, Guarda, Viseu, Beja, Mourão y Elvas.

In September 2019, technical staff from employment and international departments from Fundación Secretariado Gitano, trained, in Porto, the three Portuguese teams that implemented this project. Through these sessions the experience and the Spanish Acceder approach were shared, dealing the key methodological topics that have guided the action of this employment programme: the individualised employment pathways, the collaboration with companies, the empowerment of the participants autonomy, the focus on the skills, etc. during these training days, we also discussed how the Acceder model, which has proven to be successful and efficient in Spain, could be adapted successfully to Portugal.

A few months later, on January 2020, Fundación Secretariado Gitano participated in 3 awareness-raising conferences with representatives of Portuguese companies of the municipalities where the project was being developed. Staff from the Acceder in Vigo and Badajoz participated in this activity as well as representatives of allied companies in these cities, with the intention of sharing the collaboration experience, key to the success of the Acceder.

On 24 November 2020, we participated in the closing conference of the project “Roma Communities and labour market, intervention challenges and strategies”, contributing with our knowledge on inclusion of the Roma people in the salaried labour market, based in 20 years of experience of the Acceder programme in Spain.