Description
Through the project „Network for the Social Inclusion of the Roma – Capacity Building and Advocacy”, „Împreună” Agency, Partner promoter, and its partners aim at building the capacity of 12 small and medium-sized grassroots organizations to access funds and develop advocacy campaigns for the prioritization, on the public agenda, of the problems Roma communities face. The project has 3 objectives: creating and developing a network of NGOs, especially Roma, to become real partners of dialogue of public institutions at all levels; building the capacity of the NGOs through training, internship and technical assistance in accessing funds, implementing projects and advocacy; implementing an advocacy campaign aiming at intensifying and prioritizing the access of funds for the benefit of Roma communities, facilitating the access of grassroots organizations to funds and creating partnerships between NGOs and the local public authority.
Summary of project results
Through this project, Together Agency for Community Development and its partners aimed to empower small and medium grassroots NGOs to access funds and to carry out advocacy campaigns in order to push problems of Roma communities on the public agendas in various communities throughout the country. The Network RISOROM formed in the project gathered 24 grassroots NGO members from local and national level which submitted 17 project proposals out of which 4 have already been implemented. Also the network organised 7 regional round tables which were focused on the introduction of measures regarding social inclusion of Roma people within the local development strategies and methods of using European funds for the implementation of the local strategies. These events were followed by partnership agreements concluded with 12 local authorities, having as main objective the creation and implementation of local strategies concerning Roma issues. The Local Development Strategies' measures regarding Roma community provide the following: improvement of the access to education for Roma children, reducing drop-out and increasing the transition to superior secondary education (high school); increasing the literacy among Roma youth and adults; delivering vocational training for jobs requested on the labour market in the proximity of the locality; supporting the development of small business for Roma with low level of education; providing ownership documents on the houses of Roma families or providing electricity and sewage systems in Roma communities. Some of the issues had concrete follow-up measures implemented during the project; for example, the problem of housing was addressed and property documents were obtained for 62 Roma families from Murgeni city (Vaslui County).
Summary of bilateral results