List of articles for the ‘PARTICIPATION’ Category

All the WP3 activities (WP3.1, WP3.2, WP3.3) implemented in the framework of +Respect were collected in a report that contains also the lessons learnt and some recommendations aimed in particular at local authorities. The report is entitled “Roma peoples participation in civil democracy processes: +Respect Participatory Working Groups, Training and Information Sessions, Thematic Seminars”.

The WP3 report was finalized by Cittalia at the end of June 2011 and was included in the project CD-Rom entitled “Main project outcomes, Lessons learnt, Guidelines, Reports” together with other relevant project outcomes (WP2 Report and Guidelines for Journalists), produced by ERIO. 

Download the report here:

WP3 Report “Roma peoples participation in civil democracy processes: +Respect Participatory Working Groups, Training and Information Sessions, Thematic Seminars”.

Sucar Drom has organized different series of working groups / information sessions in three different cities in Northern Italy. As regards the methodology, Sucar Drom used the developed WP3.2 methodologies and a simplified version for the interactive WP3.3 sections. Specifically, Sucar Drom organized five WP3.2 workshops in Mantua, five WP3.2 workshops in Vicenza and three WP3.2 workshops in Reggio Emilia. In addition, Sucar Drom organized in both Mantua and Vicenza a four-hours WP3.3 information session for Roma people based on the methodology developed by FDP, allowing the meeting to be sufficiently informal in order to foster the participation of Roma and Sinti people of the local communities.
Sucar Drom developed specific presentations for the different sessions/modules of the WP3.2 workshops.
 
As regards the city selection, the main problem was to find municipalities willing to promote the courses (WP3.2) on the one side, and Sinti communities willing to host Sucar Drom association on the other (WP3.3).  The choice, in the end, fell on three cities, using three criteria: the presence of Roma and Sinti associations, the political relevance of the topic, the political willingness to tackle the issue. The three cities are Mantua, Vicenza and Reggio Emilia.

Mantua
In the framework of the “+Respect” project’s Work Packages 3.2 and 3.3 (Participatory working groups/workshops and information sessions for Roma people), Sucar Drom organized two different courses (one for each target group / for each methodology) on the topic “Social inclusion, promotion of civic rights for minorities: The case of Roma people” in partnership with the Mantua Province and the ICS (Institute of Sinti Culture).
The training for the practitioners (3.2), entitled “Pringiarasmi” (know each other), had a length of 15 hours distributed on five days (3 hours per day). The workshops were held on 4 April, 11 April, 18 April, 2 May and 9 May 2011. 24 participants were enrolled upon registration: teachers, social workers, youth workers, lawyers, cultural mediators. The starting situation was not easy: during the last three years a slowdown of actions in the fields of school was suffered, as well as a lack of new housing and more in general new social policies. The turnover and the precariousness also in the public institutions is one of the most important cause for this situation.
The objectives of the course was:
1. to improve the civil servants and local practitioners approach towards Roma and Sinti people
2. to promote good practices
3. to improve civil servants capacity of  understanding Roma and Sinti reactions
4. to increase the civil servants empathy with Roma and Sinti

The course was based on the WP3.2 methodology and it was consistent with the 5 modules. In the first training session “A history written by others” the arrival of Roma and Sinti peoples in Europe was explained in order to give a general information on the “ethnic” origin of this population. Indeed most of the attendees were shocked to discover that Sinti were not “foreigners” but fully Italians. Moreover, since Italy is a “recent” nation with “recent” stereotypes, it was a shock to discover that “tomato pasta” was “less” Italian than the Italian Sinti. Once started with the historical background Sucar Drom kept providing a general overview of the main themes: the formation of the capitalistic society and the modern state; a glance over the discriminatory policies suffered since the thirteen century; the open wound of Porrajmos and the more recent (post-war period) anti-discrimination policies.
  
In the first session Sucar Drom also introduced the “workshop” methodology. Since the most striking difference between Roma and non-Roma is on orality (thus, the perception of history) Sucar Drom wanted  to make this specificity quite clear stressing similarities and differences between Roma/Sinti and non-Roma people. The organizers divided participants in six groups (of five member each). This was a functional division, each group became a “family” and Carlo Berini (the trainer of this session) gave them a Sinti last name. These families were operational tools and also deliberative arenas.
Thanks to the creation of these “families”, participants could play a different role “identifying” themselves with a Sinti person, while focusing on a specific concept. The 20 participant were quite puzzled at the beginning but by the end of the workshop they were fully aware of what to expect by the following 5 training sessions. The other four sessions went quite smooth as well.

As regards the course content, in the second training session Sucar Drom introduced the difficult concept of culture (following C. Geertz) using the “Sinti families” already created. Therefore participants were asked to produce an identifying symbols understanding the difficult process of identification as well as the strong reductionism involved in such a process. Sucar Drom then moved to the concept of identity building “How do I define myself as civil servant in relation with someone else?” while stressing the strength of some values in the Sinti culture: language, respect  and family.
- The family is considered as the pivotal element of Roma and Sinti communities. The marriage marks the passage to the adulthood, but only with the birth of the first child the household enters in the life of the community.
- The language is the most important element for the identity of Roma and Sinti. The spoken language identifies the person as member of the Roma and Sinti community. The language is also the means through which the members of the communities hand down their culture. The language is in addition a dividing line between the Roma and Sinti community and the “other” communities.
- With “respect” we intend the dignity toward each person member of the community and toward the dead. Dead people do not lose their importance in spite of their absence; their memory is an important landmark.
This was definitively the most challenging training session because of the topics discussed. However participants, although tired, followed the training till the end of the session.
As regards the third training session, Sucar Drom introduced the relatively contiguous concept of cultural mediation. To do so, a third “role-playing” activity was proposed. Participants worked in groups/families with two different materials:
- a list of events of the XX century;
- a sheet of paper depicting a time-line (x-axis) and the relative importance (y-axis)
Each group/family chose eight different events in the list, to give them a value (different importance) and wrote it on the graph, thereafter a line passing through all the point had to be drawn.
The objective of the workshop was to understand that the evolution is not always slow and constant, “better” oriented, but always in transformation, always changing. This fully introduced the relationship between cultures via the concept of instability and communication. An example of communication was presented using the music of Django Reinhardt. Thanks to the project it was possible to burn copies of the CD “Bibiena Concert” by Django’s Clan and to provide a copy to each participant so to give a concrete example of the importance of the Sinti legacy to the western culture. This was quite appreciated by participants along with the other material provided during the course.
The fourth and fifth training session were focused on social services, housing and schooling policies to and for the Sinti communities. Among the six possible topics, participants of the course selected these instead of focusing only on two with some “case studies”. Indeed most of the participants were either social workers or employees of local administrations in this field. The two sections focused on the analysis of the failure of social inclusion and integration policies, as applied so far. Indeed, the course was aimed at the development of new approaches able to tackle the issues, therefore the “Sinti failies” were asked to start with the analysis of existing tools in the Mantua territory and understand their limits while suggesting possible improvements. These sessions, happening after the long Easter break, were very animated although the overall participation fell to eleven participants each. Participants, all quite involved in the field, were very conscious of the actual limits and very happy to discuss their points of view with colleagues and also “experts”.
The course was co-promoted by the Province of Mantua, one of the historical partners of Sucar Drom. Although the Province has shown already its attitude towards the Sinti issue, it was important for them to open the course to the civil servants of small municipalities (unable to create their own training sections). The course was well publicized via mailing list but also by local media. Moreover it was very welcomed by the young professionals with a recent degree.

Sucar Drom organized in Mantua also the information session for Roma people “Know your law and your rights” (WP3.3). The info session was addressed to the Roma and Sinti people living in the city of Mantua and was held in the Roma and Sinti “camp” of Mantua. The info session had the length of 4 hours in a single day and was organized as an interactive session, on the basis of the methodology provided for the WP3.3 by FDP, revised because of the limited length of the meeting. The meeting was attended by 20 local Sinti persons.
The objectives of the info session were:
1. to inform Roma and Sinti people about the legislative bills about Roma and Sinti people
2. to inform about recent changes in the normative setting
3. to inform about the existing housing rights.

As far as the contents are concerned, relevant information was provided to the participants in the fields selected, with a good level of satisfaction.

Vicenza
The training for the practitioners (3.2), entitled “Pringiarasmi” (know each other), had a length of 15 hours distributed on five days (3 hours per day). The workshops were held on 4 May, 11 May, 18 May, 25 May and 8 June 2011. 20 participants were enrolled: teachers, social workers, cultural mediators. The background situation showed that during the last three years there was a slowdown of actions in the fields of school, housing and more in general social policies. The turnover among civil servants is one of the most important causes for this situation, as well as the cuts in the city budget for social activities.
The objectives of the working groups were:
1. to inform new generations of public and private employees and teachers, but also private social workers about the reality of Roma and Sinti people
2. to improve civil servants capacity of  understanding Sinti reactions
3. to increase the civil servants empathy with the Sinti community.

In Vicenza, Sucar Drom proposed the standard “Pringiarasmi” course developed for the +Respect project. Indeed the local (municipal) administration was pretty enthusiastic by the idea and the possibility to work with the Sinti community. As a matter of fact, Davide Casadio, one of the Sucar Drom staff, moved to Montecchio Maggiore (quite close to Vicenza) when he got married. While living in another town, his role as Church Pastor made him a prominent figure among the Sinti Veneti (Sinti speaking a specific variety of the Sinti language influenced by the venetian dialect) and above all among the people living in the Vicenza area. For this reason and for internal reason the Municipality was very friendly, although quite slow as regards the actual implementation because of some problem created by the Council minority of Lega Nord (a xenophobic and populist party). The course however was implemented in May (and June) and about twenty people participated in the course.
The course was introduced by the city minister for Social Services (Assessore). This political endorsement was of very importance not only for the course itself, but also for the future of the relationship between the Sinti community and the local administration.

The second important result of the Vicenza course was the strong participation of teachers. They were puzzled by the behavior of Sinti kids. Therefore they were hypothesizing different explanations for their behavior (scarce school attendance, unable to concentrate, linguistic difficulties, etc.) and they were looking for definitive answers. Indeed Sucar Drom could not give them a final say about their specific problems, but provided a general overview of the Sinti culture able to give them the instruments to analyse specific cases. They were very happy about the fourth section focused on schooling policy and tactics to improve attendance. The course was really appreciated, above all because civil servants understood both the social and political relevance of the issue addressed. Indeed the presence of the Alderman along with his full participation to the first training session made the whole course very attractive. Moreover participants where very active and the presence of Mr. Casadio throughout the course helped them understanding the specific point of view of the local inhabitants that he knows very well.
Sucar Drom organized in Vicenza also the information session for Roma people “Know your law and your rights” (WP3.3). Held on a single day (length: 4 hours) in the Roma and Sinti “camp” of Vicenza, the interactive session was attended by 10 Sinti people living in the city of Vicenza. Also in this case, like in Mantua,  the crucial topic was the housing policy and related rights. At the end of the process, the participants were very satisfied because they found someone able to explain (in a simple language) what are the real possibilities and which solution they may discuss with the local administration, to solve the housing problem as well as the schooling duties.

Reggio Emilia
In Reggio Emilia Sucar Drom proposed a shortened version of the training for the practitioners (3.2) “Pringiarasmi” course developed for the +Respect project. Instead of the usual five sessions organized by Sucar Drom, three sessions of 3 hours each were planned and organized in Reggio Emilia on 5 April, 19 April, 3 May. This decision was made by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, which welcomed enthusiastically the +Respect initiative but highlighted the necessity to reduce the number of the meetings because five meetings would have represented an excessive burden for the administration. Thus, Sucar Drom condensed the modules in three sessions, trying to respect as much as possible the original layout and contents of the presentation. The audience included 28 participants (teachers, social workers, youth workers, lawyers, cultural mediators). The local administration of Reggio Emilia – whose involvement was fostered by Cittalia – decided to be a full partner of the course discussing also specific organizational issues with Sucar Drom. The reason for such a strong proactive stance has to be traced in the long tradition developed by the Municipal Sinti Office (still called “nomadic office”). Reggio Emilia represents one of the most advanced cities as regards Sinti policies, but they were very happy to join the +Respect project. In addition, Cittalia/ANCI established a direct contact with the Municipality of Reggio Emilia in order to foster this collaboration. Indeed the situation in Reggio Emilia was pretty complex. The course was agreed to be quite focused on the cultural dimension. Thanks to the training sessions, +Respect was able to provide a positive support for the administration and its policies. Moreover, since Sucar Drom had already a discontinuous relationship with the city of Reggio Emilia, it has been also an important experience of close cooperation and an occasion to strengthen the collaboration.
As regards the course outcomes for participants, it has been a very good experience. Usually during the course there is a decrease in the participation, on the contrary in Reggio Emilia, in the last session the people attending were more than the one enrolled. This was a clear success testified also by Mrs. Alfa Strozzi (the person in charge of the Sinti Office in the Municipality of Reggio Emilia) who was very satisfied on the course outcome. As in Vicenza, the class environment was very friendly and participated. Overall the participants were more heterogeneous with respect to other cities: there were a lot of people from the local Caritas, quite a few civil servants and social workers.

The results of the thematic seminars were brought to the attention of the 100 and more participants of the final +Respect conference ”Strategies, Policies, Initiatives to Combat Discrimination and Foster the Inclusion of Roma People”, held in Rome the 13th of May 2011 in the Room Di Liegro at Palazzo Valentini (House of the Province of Rome). The conference had a focus on the local strategies aimed at fostering inclusion and participation of Roma people and favored a broad debate on the main issues of the project by presenting different good practices implemented in Europe and encouraging debate and confrontation around the topic of the improvement of the situation of the Roma in the EU.

The conference had a special significance as it took place a few weeks after the presentation of the Communication of the European Commission “An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020″. The conference moved from the recent adoption of this strategic document, by which the Commission had recently called on the EU member states to develop national strategies for the integration of Roma people, with the aim of creating a framework for national policies and fostering the use of funds available at community level to support inclusive processes. The conference provided an opportunity to assess the local, national and European policies aimed at fostering the access of the Romany population to housing, education, health services and employment.

It was divided in four parts: welcome greetings, +Respect project dissemination of results (results of the project and achievements of the thematic seminars), presentation of the direct experience of the two Roma and Sinti associations partners of +Respect (RomSinti@Politica and Sucar Drom), a high level round table on the inclusive policies for Roma people (opportunities and perspective for Italy and other EU countries).   

Welcome
The Secretary General of Cittalia, Pierciro Galeone, introduced the topics of the conference  highlighting that the project +Respect aimed at echoing and supporting the position of the European Commission on the topic of the participation and non discrimination of Roma people through integrated local actions implemented at European level with the aim of combating discrimination, debunking stereotypes and fostering mutual understanding and a higher level of participation of the Roma communities to the democratic life of the Union. Pierciro Galeone also affirmed that the National Association of Municipalities (ANCI) is contributing at national level in Italy to the development of a national plan for the non discrimination of the Roma and improvement of their economic and social situation through the creation of an “ad hoc” working group. Mr. Galeone underlined the importance of fostering a bottom-up approach, encouraging good practices at local level and allowing these experiences – a real resource in terms of ideas and experience – to feed into the national and European policy frameworks. 

Claudio Cecchini, Province Minister responsible for social policies, said that in order to improve the situation of the Roma it is sometimes necessary to adopt short-term initiatives but it is more important to develop long-term strategies aimed at fostering the clearing of the bad practice of the nomadic camps that in different EU countries, and especially in Italy, represents an obstacle for a genuine improvement of their social and economic life. It is also necessary to implement more effective non exclusive work, health, housing and schooling policies, not only for Roma but for all.   

The project +Respect and conclusions of the thematic seminars
In this panel, the project coordinator outlined project objectives, activities and results, giving appropriate visibility to the EU funding programme. The coordinators of the thematic seminars held on the previous day presented the outputs of the workshops.

In particular, Salvatore Petronella (Cittalia, Regione Puglia) reported on the Thematic Seminar I (media), underlining how media, too often, put a negative accent on Roma and focus on “fake” problems. The real problem “is not the Roma, but the poor life conditions that characterize many people”. Too often, the point of view of Roma people – who should be the main sources of information on Roma-related matters – is ignored as Roma people simply represent, in most cases, the object of a bad communication done by someone else. Anticipating the conclusions of the four seminars for media organized in the framework of the project reported in the Guidelines for Media, Salvatore Petronella confirmed the importance of a transversal and non–exclusive approach (mainstreaming) on the Roma, a more frequent accent on good practices that exist, and a “de-ethnicisation” of the communication process.

Stefania Bragato (Coses) and Maria del Mar Gonzalez (Municipality of Puerto Lumbreras) reported on Thematic Seminar II (good local practices). The seminar has showed that a good number of good practices in the field of inclusion of Roma people has been achieved in different EU countries (such as Belgium, Spain, Romania, England) on different themes: housing, employment, schooling, helath, communication. Concerning housing, which is a fundamental prerequisite for decent life conditions and further participation and inclusion in civil processes of the Roma communities, it has emerged that building social houses costs less than running and managing the so-called nomadic camps. The co-planning of housing interventions (deciding together with Roma representatives) has proven to be a very important element of success in housing projects, as demonstrated by the experience told by Soros Foundation Romania. On the contrary, the lack of participation of Roma people, who are beneficiaries of some of these housing projects, is the cause of their failure. Maria del Mar Gonzalez highlighted the importance of the involvement of Roma people since their childhood: participation and acceptance should be prepared working in the schools with the aim of creating the conditions for a positive social and cultural development of all human beings, Roma and not-Roma. Education and training are of fundamental importance, however the experience of Puerto Lumbreras proves that a real improvement in the situation of Roma, and debunking of stereotypes, are possible only through a strong collaboration between the school system and the local authorities. If citizens are informed and directly involved in participatory actions, it is possible to avoid ostracism and racism.

Sandra Rainero (Cittalia, Coordinator of ENSA network), moderator of Thematic Seminar III (rights and policies), said, about the theme “relations with the policy makers and between the policies with the aim of fostering participation”, that the workshop was the result of the attempt to achieve a common position between different approaches. The conclusion was that…different policies are possible, depending on local contexts. The most important thing is to avoid emergency measures and focus on long-term social inclusion strategies, with the help of the media and of a new, more balanced, communication language.

Participation and fight against discrimination: a Roma perspective
A specific sub-panel hosted the interventions of two Roma associations, partners of +Respect, that deal in their everyday life with the challenges of participation and fight against discrimination of Roma people: RomSinti@Politica and Sucar Drom.
Nazzareno Guarnieri (President of RomSinti@Politica) denounced the “disaster, which is now evident”, caused by many policies and initiatives adopted in the past for the Roma. The most evident disaster is the bad practice of the camps, which is so evident in Italy (with some exceptions, for example in regione Abruzzo – for social, historical and political reasons – there is no nomadic camps). Politics, civil society and media share a great responsibility in this sense. The real problem, said Nazzareno Guarnieri, is that the majority of the initiatives “aimed at the Roma” did not foresee the direct involvement of Roma communities, who are too often considered only as “external” beneficiaries of projects and decisions made by someone else. The key for the success of all inclusive projects is to foster the direct participation of Roma people and share all the decisions of the projects with them during all the operational steps. On a policy level, said Mr. Guarnieri, the effort should be that of improving and increasing the capacity of participation of Roma people in all kinds of Roma-related projects, and not only. A mainstreaming approach is needed, even if sometimes specific actions are required.
Davide Casadio (Mediator of the Sinti Association Sucar Drom), highlighted the importance of debunking stereotypes starting from the political levels. It is of fundamental importance to develop appropriate policies aimed at increasing the participation of people of Romany origin, bearing in mind that only through collaboration between policy levels it is possible to change the current situation, which is very difficult in Italy and in many other EU countries.

Round table on inclusive policies for Roma people
The organization of a high level round table had the purpose of create a direct involvement of policy makers at European and national levels and experts with the view of contributing to foster a structural dialogue on the theme of non-discrimination and participation of Roma people, and raise awareness on this topic. The round table was kindly moderated by Roberto Chinzari, Journalist of Rai 2 (Italian national television) and Secretary of the Journalists’ Association of the School of Perugia, for which he had previously co-organized the initiative “NewsRom” aimed at improving the communication and the action of Media in relation to the Roma, debunking stereotypes and prejudices.  
 
The speakers of the round table were:
- Pietro Vulpiani, Expert of the National Office for the Promotion of Equal Treatment and the Removal of Discrimination Based on Race or Ethnic Origin (UNAR), Italian Government
- Elena Montani – Policy Officer, European Commission – Representation in Italy
- Peter Csonka – Justice and Home Affairs Coordinator, Hungarian Presidency of the EU
- Roberto Di Giovan Paolo, Senator, Member of the Commission for the Safeguard and Promotion of Human Rights of the Senate of the Italian Republic
- Flavia Perina, Member of the Italian Parliament, Member of the Commission for Social Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies
- Martin Demirovski – Policy Officer, Open Society Institute Brussels (Soros Foundation Europe)
- Daniela De Robert – Vice Secretary USIGRAI (Unione Sindacale Giornalisti RAI)

Pietro Vulpiani informed that UNAR will coordinate in the next months in Italy the high level working group that will design the national strategy, in accordance with the guidelines of the Communication of the European Commission “An EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020”.  Vulpiani recalled the EU policies and guidelines on the theme of non discrimination and confirmed that Roma people are the ethnic group which is more exposed to episodes of discrimination, quoting data collected by UNAR. Vulpiani highlighted the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach and the need for a more incisive coordination role of the national institutions, in order to systemize, classify and exploit the results achieved in different local contexts through the implementation of good practices (such as those highlighted during the project “+Respect”).
Elena Montani expressed the position of the European Commission, highlighting that the new Communication of the Commission gives the Member States a specific responsibility in adopting national strategies that should be able, from a mainstreaming point of view, to improve the situation of Roma people in Europe.
Peter Csonka spoke in representation of the Hungarian Presidency of the EU, confirming the commitment of the Hungarian Presidency to continue on the path traced by the “trio”. Mr. Csonka said that the improvement of the Roma condition is one of the first point of the programme of the Presidency and that there is need for a stronger coordination, at intergovernmental level, on this ground as the problems and challenges faced by Roma people in the EU are more and more evident.
Sen. Roberto Di Giovan Paolo talked about the legal framework and future political perspectives in Italy in relation to the so called “emergency nomads (emergenza nomadi)”, starting from his experience of legislator (he is the author of the only national law proposal dealing with the problems linked to the current situation of the Roma people). Mr. Di Giovan Paolo, member of the opposition in Italy, stressed the importance of fostering inter-institutional collaboration, and said that the current governmental approach, exclusively adopted in a security/policy perspective, is inefficient and useless since it is not accompanied by a more holistic social strategy aimed at encouraging cohesion, social connectivity and respect, non discrimination and participation. It is necessary to bridge the gap between Italy and Europe in the policies for housing, employment, school inclusion of the Roma people through a new approach and a new culture of civic participation. 
MP Flavia Perina said that politics must improve and consider more carefully the problems of integration, whose solutions cannot be left only to the associations that deal with these problems at local level. An organic coordination is needed, starting from the national levels.
Martin Demirovski gave a very in-depth contribution, talking about the EU policies and welcoming the Communication of the Commission but, at the same time, criticizing some aspects of this document and of the strategy adopted by the Commission. In particular, Demirovski highlighted the particular moment of difficulty for Roma people and the proven inefficiency of the mainstreamed policies and initiatives adopted so far. In such exceptional circumstances, said Demirovski, ad hoc initiatives tailored on the specific challenges faced by Roma people must be welcomed.
Due to the impossibility of participating for force majeure causes, Roberto Natale (President of FNSI, National Federation of the Italian Press) was substituted (upon indication of Roberto Natale) by Daniela De Robert, Vice Secretary of the trade union of the Italian journalists and expert in social field / social communication. Daniela De Robert addressed the theme of non-discrimination and inclusion from a deontological point of view, stating the importance of a new approach of the media and of the civil society as a whole towards the challenges of inclusion and interculturality. She also mentioned the importance of referring to good practices existing in this field and highlighted the success of many initiatives that were characterized by the direct involvement of Roma women, since it is proven that equal opportunity approaches have a higher degree of success especially when they are linked to ethnic-related projects.

Flavio Zanonato, Mayor of Padua and Vice President of the National Association of Italian Municipalities – ANCI (responsible for Migration and Welfare), released a declaration about the theme of the conference which was also reported in a press release of ANCI a few days before the conference: “a lot of big and medium-sized cities in Italy and Europe – Zanonato said – are encouraging the clearing/overtaking of the camps through the support to initiatives of self-building / social-building or promoting the adoption of more stable housing solutions for Roma populations. There is a need – he continued – to adopt a national strategy that is able to enhance these experiences and establish efficient collaboration between public and private organizations with the purpose of improving local reception and inclusion, facing these challenges not only in the perspective of an increased security, but also – if not mainly – in the framework of a real social and economic inclusion”.

Conclusions
The many national and local policies aimed at combating discrimination and at promoting the inclusion of the Romany population in local communities and their active participation in the decision-making process, have shown little effect in Italy and in other EU countries. Notwithstanding some progress, the general impression of the experts and policy makers who participated in the conference was that a bigger effort is needed if we want to activate real inclusive policies and combat discrimination effectively. 
Another conclusion, on which everybody agreed, is that the fight against discrimination of the Roma, as well as their participation in the democratic life of the Union, should start from the local level but these local policies need to be coordinated at national and European levels. Today, unfortunately, Italy and other EU countries experience a lack of coordination policies, or weak coordination. In this context, and even in a moment when resources for social actions are scarce, the capacity of local systems to obtain more data, raise awareness, provide services and implement measures to address poverty and foster inclusion, is crucial in order to fight against racism and strengthen the economic and social cohesion of the territories, as well as to enhance the rights and culture of Roma people as a resource for society. However, in a moment when resources are insufficient, local authorities cannot be left alone.

Another problem experienced especially in Italy is a methodological problem: the misunderstanding at the base of the public policies that have led to the camp system, that is considering Roma people “nomadic” while, today, only 3-4% of the Roma population in Italy has a nomadic way of life.  
Another major issue concerns the role of the media, too often responsible for a stereotyped information. A better information, together with a direct involvement and participation of Roma people, is necessary in order to improve the situation of the Roma in the EU.  
The conference was attended by more than 100 participants and interpretation was provided in three languages. Some certificates of attendance were issued at the end of the conference upon request of the participants. Unanimously the conference was considered a success in terms of participation and interest generated by the debate. The travelling stand was present at the conference, welcoming the participants and speakers outside the conference room.

The event received media coverage in Italy. An article on the conference and on the themes of the conference was published on a national Italian newspaper (“Terra”) on the day of the conference. During the conference, 100 free copies of the newspaper were distributed to the participants. Several Italian social magazines, such as “Il Redattore Sociale” (whose director was present at the thematic seminars in Rome), covered the conference with articles. Some radio networks (Radio Manà Manà, Radio Popolare Roma) were also present during the final conference and made specific services on the contents and results of the conference and of +Respect. In particular, Radio Popolare Roma, a quite popular radio of Rome, dedicated an important part of its programme (“Interferenze Rom”), on that day, to the +Respect final conference ”Strategies, Policies, Initiatives to Combat Discrimination and Foster the Inclusion of Roma People”, with interviews and in-depth analysis.

Download here the programme of the final +Respect conference in Rome

In the framework of the final +Respect conference, three international thematic seminars took place on 12 May 2011 at the Scuola del Sociale (“Social School”) of the Province of Rome, in Rome, Italy. The workshops addressed the issues of housing, inclusion, fundamental rights and participation as well as strategies for a less “stereotyped” information on the Roma life and culture, by comparing the experiences and projects at local level in Italy and other European countries. The seminars were aimed at representatives from local, regional and national authorities, NGOs and international networks, thematic associations, universities and research centers, practitioners and workers of the third sector, Roma associations/Roma representatives and they were the occasion to spread the lessons learnt and exchange experiences collected during the project. In this framework and in a wider acceptance, the seminars can be considered as part of the WP3.1, WP3.2 and WP3.3 activities of the +Respect project as they addressed all the different target groups of the training activities – local administrators, practitioners and Roma people – although the scope of the international thematic seminars was broader.

Three seminars were organized, on the following themes:
1. Anti-tsiganism and prejudices: combating stereotypes through media
2. Roma people, housing and social inclusion. Walking the path out of the camps: good local practices
3. Roma people’s inclusion and antidiscrimination policies: society, rights and public policies
The seminars were addressed to different audiences: the first seminar (seminar for media) was aimed to journalists, but also to some practitioners, and represented the last of the four meetings with focus on the fight against prejudices and stereotypes against Roma. The second seminar was participated by social workers, experts and practitioners dealing with the Roma issue in different EU countries and in particular dealing with participatory good practices and inclusive experiences concerning housing, schooling and participatory integration processes in general. The third seminar had primarily a focus on participatory rights and development of public policies able to enhance the respect of Roma rights. On the occasion of the seminars, a typical Romanì lunch was offered to the participants. The ethnic lunch was particularly appreciated by the attendees who had a chance to taste a hint of the Romanì food tradition.  

Thematic Seminar II “Roma people, Housing and Social Inclusion. Walking the Path out of the Camps: Good Local Practices”
The workshop, coordinated by +Respect Project Manager Gabriele Guazzo, Cittalia, by Stefania Bragato (Coses) and Raquel Galarza and Maria del Mar Gonzalez (Puerto Lumbreras) aimed at exchanging good practices implemented at local level in Italy and in other EU Countries with the objective of improving the social and economic conditions of Rome people and their level of participation in democratic processes. The seminar, attended by 25 experts and practitioners, represented an important occasion to share experiences and knowledge on the practical solutions adopted in some EU countries to tackle the problems of the Roma community in the field of housing and, more generally, inclusion and participation in the urban environment / city community life.  

COSES presented its study related to initiatives adopted in some EU countries to fight discrimination and promote inclusion: the +Respect Report “Combating Anti-Roma Discrimination: Knowledge and Policies” provides the information on the research implemented. The idea was to review and discuss the good practices in the field, the conclusion was that – in order to be effective – local policies must be based on an integrated and holistic approach, that is – for instance – they don’t have to focus merely on a unique objective/task (i.e. the inclusion at school for youngsters) but they have also to consider inclusive process with an impact on the social background (i.e. families and social groups). The support to inclusion in the job market, cultural dialogue, as well as removal of the causes of poverty: these are the elements that provide a base to foster real integration. Local policies should not only target the Roma but the whole social context, and possibly address all the population at risk of social exclusion and not only the Roma (mainstreaming). The “mainstreaming” approach, although sometimes criticized, is also promoted by the European Union in its policies. Another important topic addressed was the dissemination of the Roma culture: spreading knowledge usually helps to remove the fear of people different from us. It is also important to work through the arts: for example, the theatre helps to recreate situations that reproduce the “living conditions” of the others and people can question themselves about exclusion and feel like the others in a role play framework. Finally, when we work with Roma, it is important to work with interdisciplinary teams as this is coherent with holistic projects but also in line with an integrative approach, as they reflect the complexity of the topic.

Nicola Solimano from Fondazione Michelucci (Italy) presented its projects in Tuscany for self-construction / self-building made in collaboration with the Province of Pisa and other local authorities. The Michelucci foundation was established by an architect who has tried to deal with things that are not usual architectural topics. The foundation works on the “quality of life” of the Sinti and Roma people. The settlement of Roma and Sinti is something that in Italy was decided in the last 20 years, when they were progressively excluded from civil and democratic life, also from a “spatial” point of view (as witnessed by the isolation of their settlements within the urban areas), and these practices of “isolation” have been extended so far. The territories have re-organized their relations but appropriate social policies were not taken into consideration, so now very often the participation of Roma people in urban context is scarce and problematic. The current “social” model imposed to Roma people living in Tuscany was provided in the regional laws establishing nomadic camps, described by Michelucci Foundation as insufficient and instable settlements. These settlements were set up with resources of low quality. In the recent years 2009 and 2010, the camps are composed mainly of Roma from Romania and the level of criticism by the local inhabitants have also increased in the last years in Tuscany. In order to prevent the camps from being exclusion sites, the local authorities contributed to the drafting and introduced some new initiatives and a model of social housing recognizing the difficult situation of Roma. Another instrument was the possibility for Municipalities to regularize the situation of many groups: many of them left the camps and were given some opportunities. The other solution was to create small villages, which meant improving the quality of life without changing the structure of the Roma families living there. The first intervention of this kind was made in 1994-95: on that occasion, the local neighborhood established near the Roma newly created village reacted very badly. One of the main interventions made by Michelicci Foundation got inspiration from a trip to Kosovo of some architects, who visited the place to see the inhabitation customs. The interventions/buildings made by Michelucci Foundation were very successful as they were perceived as something different from the camps, a new organizational housing and participatory model, and they were located close to “normal” houses of the residents, thus fostering relation possibilities, integration, participation. The project was expanded due to the growth of the families and was successful, in other cases the municipalities denied the permissions. Michelucci has recently implemented housing projects in Pisa (providing houses that do not belong to a specific person and can gather 250 people with some services). Another example is the project implemented in Coltano, with 17 houses built with the support of the municipality composed as a “lego”, with a very low cost for self-construction: from an economic point of view, this solution proved to be very cost-effective as the construction of one of these units actually corresponds to the cost of maintaining two camps. Some city Councils have collaborated and developed these interventions. One of the lessons learnt in this field is that local authorities should take in consideration all kinds of possible solutions: villages, self-construction, public housing, micro-areas etc. However, it is necessary to have innovation in the policies and a strong political commitment by local authorities.

Lorin Niculae, Housing for Roma and Urban Development Programs Manager, Soros Foundation Romania, Project manager for self-construction projects with the Roma in Romania, presented the interesting housing project in Baltesti (Prahova County, Romania) already highlighted in Venice in March. Soros Foundation had conducted a wide analysis of the Roma community in Romania in 2007 and in 2009 started to build houses thanks to a Programme of Community Development. The project “One House One Future” was aimed at communities facing extreme poverty: the families addressed could not maintain a “normal” house. They changed to this life due to the Romanian revolution and little by little the Roma communities left the cities and faced exclusion and started living in extreme poverty: this is the worst kind of poverty that means one dollar per day per member of family. Soros Foundation Romania cooperates with the municipalities and other associations at local level to support the integration of interventions with 400 and 250 families living in the two areas of intervention. The idea is to replicate these initiatives at national level in the future. Soros Foundation Romania has improved the living conditions of the Roma people in those areas, but the methodology of intervention has not being established yet: there is no universal cultural and architectural model that can be applied in all situations. The architectural model must be adapted to their culture but this has to be made case by case and consider the individual differences, individual needs and individual life paths. The main challenge of the programme was to create hope for the future and its core concepts are: to fight ghettos respecting cultural identity; provide a collaborative methodology; link Roma communities with the cities; foster capital building (raise of money and self construction, new constructions and refurbishments); develop a plan of Community action. Soros Foundation Romania has created a group of architects that works to create designs and propose to the local communities ways to face the needs of the Roma population in such a way that they cooperate in the design of their own houses and also of other services (social centres, educational centres, etc). This is also interesting as the students of architecture can open to social issues and understand that their work can have a real impact in their communities. The experience of Soros Foundation Romani was already presented in Romania and +Respect partners decided to further promote it in Rome given the relevance of the housing issue in Italy. 

Cleo Albanese, Association “Terra del Fuoco”, presented an experience of self-construction and co-abitation in Torino: an innovative house sharing experience called “Il Dado” (the “Dice”, due to the shape of the building) in Settimo Torinese, close to Torino. The Project was aimed at Roma people living in camps where there was a fire. After many difficulties, Terra del Fuoco decided to focus on the integration in the long term and seek for the support of the municipalities in order to foster real integration. The Municipality of Settimo Torinese provided the spaces and an entire building which was therefore restructured by Terra del Fuoco in collaboration with Foundation Compagnia di San Paolo and together with Roma workers. A lot of Roma families then decided to leave the camps and enter the social structure “Il Dado”, which is conceived as a temporary housing solution where Roma families willing to change their lives and exit from the camps, share their living spaces (Roma families live there with other families and with other migrants, also refugees from Africa and other third party Countries). The building is located in the city of Settimo Torinese. At first, there was a negative reaction of the citizens but then the citizenship, helped by the Municipality, understood the importance of this initiative and started to appreciate it and consider these Roma families as fellow co-citizens.  

Daniele Bergamini, Association “La Piccola Carovana” – Bologna, presented inclusive actions for Roma and Sinti people in Bologna. The association has done a voluntary work between 2004-2005 with contacts with Roma community and the only solution from the local community was to send the Roma families away from the river area. Finally the association made a survey to find a solution, an individualized approach was conducted looking for flats in the local market, and municipality paid 50% of the rent during 4 years to find solutions. Some Roma people requested to come home to Romania because of difficulties in finding a job, other families that wanted to stay were helped to have a house they could be able to afford. The municipality supported the Roma in sharing houses, that was from the economic point of view the only possible solution. There is now a cooperation project entitled “the invisible city” that uses volunteering to support Roma people who don’t have possibilities to integrate themselves as they are coming through emigration. From an economic point of view, it is much more efficient to help the Roma to integrate in the social fabric than simply having them in the camps.

Calin Pop, FDP Director, presented the inclusive projects for Roma people in Romania implemented by FDP: interventions with kindergarten, in secondary schools and also supporting into University, in the integration into the labor market, monitoring of the process of integration of Roma people coming back to Romania from Italy (Milan). The project of accompaniment consists of the refurbishment of houses with the funding of Milan municipality. FDP helped the Roma families with the legal documents, translations etc. After the construction of the houses, they supported the labor inclusion, working with the employment offices and helping with the implementation of CVs, for 2-3 months different Roma people were trained in local companies. There was school readjustments and also language problems and they had to adapt to new contexts. The work of FDP is crucial as they address one of the largest Roma community, the one living in Romania, that often experiences hard living conditions and isolations. The methodology is clear: an holistic and integrated approach is needed when we are confronted with the themes of inclusion and participation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Koen De Mesmaeker, City of Gent (Kompas Inburgering Gent), presented the Civic integration processes for Roma people in Gent. Since 2007 Gent had the first wave of Roma people and currently there is a rise of Roma presence (more than 4,000 Roma persons) in Gent mostly from Romania. In Belgium there are no campsites and the local governments support housing solutions even if usually Roma people live in poor or low income areas. Integration is in the capacity of the Flanders Region and municipalities and immigration is responsibility of the national government. Main problems among the Roma community are unemployment, exploitation at the labour market, low income, bad living conditions, subject to exploitation at the housing market or living in squatted houses, health problems, problems with access to children education. In Gent, all migrants can benefit from the civic Integration programme, language courses, health provisions, education for children and there are special measures for some migrant groups (among them, the Roma) who can benefit from social welfare allowance and support to enter the labor market. Gent has developed a model based on three steps/levels: answering basic needs, integration “light” and integration. Many people arrive in Ghent with no financial means to survive: no housing, no food, no adequate clothing. Charitable organizations try to meet these basic needs by providing night asylum, food distribution and distribution of clothes and blankets. These organizations often act as a first point of contact and redirect  those clients towards the regular welfare services and organizations. Once the basic needs are being met and Roma have been registered, Inburgering Gent adopts an integration “light” procedure to make sure that they receive sufficient means to live and survive in Gent. This include financial support, language tuition and social orientation. Gent provides money to immigrants, in this case Roma people from Romania, but they have to follow the language courses and send children to school in order to receive an allowance of around 1000 € per family and 750 € per single person. The city of Gent also provides the participants of the integration courses with counseling: education, school transport, health, and 120 hours of basic Flemish course. Every Wednesday there is a counselor providing assistance in finding a job. Gent is a generous city by offering Roma (and other EU-citizens) financial support, but this generous attitude is attracting more and more Roma and recently the city has started to reconsider this policy as it threatens the support of the local population. Linking this financial support to the obligation to follow the civic integration programme and to send the children to school is a strong incentive for the Roma to follow these courses. Roma themselves are in the beginning very opposed to follow these courses, and many stop the course, but most of them start again the courses later because their financial support has been cut. Roma that follow the course till the end are very positive about having followed the course and since the financial allowance has been linked to school attendance by the children it has been noticed that regular attendance has increased, notwithstanding some collateral problems such as some reluctance among some school to inscribe Roma children at school. Roma are also entitled to health provisions once they accept this “social itinerary”. However, main problems persist in particular in relation to housing and finding jobs.
Maria del Mar González, Municipality of Puerto Lumbreras, Region of Murcia (Spain), presented the intercultural works and school curricula implemented in Puerto Lumbreras in the framework of the project +Respect. Curricula with focus on intercultural dialogue and knowledge were developed in 4 different schools in Puerto Lumbreras. The development of the school curricula was accompanied by an intense activity of communication of the Municipality with the schools (teachers) and with the families of the children.

Alfa Strozzi, City of Reggio Emilia, presented the experience of Reggio Emilia. The city has an important sinti community and recently it has received a lot of Roma and Sinti people from Romania. They were provided inclusion courses, being EU citizens – the development of camps in the 80s are seen today as system of segregation. In 1985 there were the first educational interventions. In the 90s a group in the municipality to work with the Sinthi community within social services department was established, the integration policies were applied and the city worked in this way in contact with other agents and trained operators and focused on problems that arose. The city supported the Sinti accompanying them in social initiatives, providing communications and contacts with other services, support to families and education facilities, as well as supporting the families. The municipality has also supported a series of interventions to provide some Sinti families with a more appropriate house. Citizens were often against these initiatives and it was not easy to foster acceptability of these provisions. Now the municipality does not intervene more in the field of housing. Reggio Emilia highlighted the necessity to access national funds from the government in order to activate projects for the inclusion of the Sinti community.

Adelina Chalmers, Equalities Development UK & International Affairs – MENTER – Cambridge, UK, presented a project made in collaboration with ARDC (Asociaţia pentru Relaţii şi Dezvoltare Comunitară) and implemented in Craiova, Romania. Original project aim was to attempt to solve identified issues within a community by piloting a new type of approach to community development. This was about involving children and young people in the process of identifying the issue and presenting this back to the community through art. This was tested out in 3 counties within Oltenia – SW Romania. Marza was the only community where the majority of the population was Roma 80% and to which the final outcome with such a big success that led to building a church in the village. A young people’s camp was organised, attended by 12 children and young people aged between 9 -14. The children were selected by the Roma community leader and the facilitator. The camp was also attended by the Roma leader. The community leader’s participation was key as the young people were better able to relate to him and they knew him and respected his authority. Through this camp the community leader himself learnt about community development and the process that was due to follow and he was involved throughout the project. The children who were selected were going to school and had excellent dancing, music and poetry skills. In the camp the young people worked with a group of young actors to help them improve their acting skills. After returning from the camp, the young people went through a process of identifying and prioritising community issues. The biggest priority was identified and focus groups were organised in order to create a theme for a role-play. The summary of the role-play theme and issues was sent to the actors which from this created a role-play of about 25 min. 3 days in a row they worked with the kids to teach them their lines. The only organisations involved were: project managers – ARDC, Church Association of Olteniei si Salcuta Parish Council. Cultural Department Dolj said they had no funding and were unable to help build a place of worship. The impact of the children’s role play was massive – not only on their parents and the local adult population, but also on the children themselves who are now adults and remember the camp, the actors, the role play and the fact that their wish came true – building the church. The church was built by them and local Roma people are very proud of it, take good care of it as they worked hard to have it built. The key to success was the local Roma community leader, brave but warm; the mayor which also wanted to change the community and the mentality of the people living there and of course ARDC’s support, which only intervened as and when necessary, however gave the tools to the local Roma community to carry out the project for themselves.

The workshop was the occasion to highlight many good practices and experiences, but also the difficulties that still affect the impact of these initiatives, measures and projects at local level. The main problems remain the access to the labor market and the achievement of decent housing conditions. When these elements cannot be achieved, no integration nor participation is possible. Another aspect that was underlined was that there is a lack of coordination of the policies for the Roma population and the interventions are independent and not harmonized. The good practices are often specifically “local” so it is difficult to transfer them to other areas. The solutions are complex, there are as many solutions as different situations. The main problem, especially in Italy, is that there are many good practices in the fields of housing and inclusion but they are not coordinated due to the lack of a national framework of action shared with the local authorities. Gabriele Guazzo had anticipated the reason why the good practices should be “handled with care”, as replicability is not ensured in all cases and there is no necessarily a continuity even between projects that can seem similar at a first glance. 

Download here the programme of the thematic seminar on good practices

Thematic Seminar III “Roma peoples’ inclusion and antidiscrimination policies: society, rights and public policies”.
Notwithstanding the existence of tools and legal provisions for the protection of Roma rights, there is still a widespread lack of inclusive policies in many EU countries. In the framework of an enlarged Europe, national and local policies are still not able to ensure the Romany population the access to the right to decent housing, education, health and employment. In particular, the policies aimed at the education of children and job placement for adults are still inadequate, although a significant number of good practices is blooming in the EU. A major effort is needed at all governance levels, requiring also a “multi-stakeholder” approach, in order to improve the levels of inclusion and participation of Roma people in their countries of residence.
The workshop “Roma Peoples’ Inclusion and Antidiscrimination Policies: Society, Rights and Public Policies”, attended by more than 20 participants, represented an opportunity of interaction and discussion for institutions, practitioners, social workers and Roma representatives in order to analyze and assess the legal and social aspects related to Roma rights and contribute to develop ideas, proposals, strategies and policies aimed at fostering the inclusion of Roma peoples and at tackling discrimination.  Widespread discrimination and dearth of systematic inclusion policies for the Roma are still the norm, in spite of the progress and the general legal provisions and tools put in place at EU and member state level. The thematic workshop has been an attempt to create a policy debate giving voice to a multi-stakeholder panel, which reflected and shared both positive policy options and persisting obstacles and limited approaches to rights, inclusion and participation of different Roma groups.
The thematic workshop included discussants representing the main players of Italian and European local policy formulation and implementation: scholars and practitioners, local authority representatives, Romani associations. The discussion has revolved around the linkages between politics, policy, political and civil participation, and practice, touching upon the many interrelated factors, and facts, that hinder – but not overlooking at those that can facilitate – access to rights, the debunking of stereotypes, the interactions and coexistence of diverse components of today’s society.

Carlo Stasolla (Associazione 21 luglio), Valerio Tursi (President of ARCI Rome) and Ulderico Daniele (University Roma Tre – Tor Vergata) have analyzed the case of the Roma settlements in Rome from different perspectives, highlighting respectively the historical context of the Roma settlements, the communication and interaction with Roma leadership, and the political communication of local politicians with regard to Roma especially during elections times. In the discussion of the “Piano Nomadi” of Rome as a plan to contrast a situation of “emergency”, with a high financial envelope (34M €) that has not translated into an effective and efficient solution for the housing and living conditions of the Roma groups involved, because of lack of decent alternative solutions (the new settlements are closed and surveilled by armed guards) and other housing solutions have still to be found, with the result of an increase of “illegal” settlements. Internal struggles among Roma groups leaders on the issue of representativeness in the dialogue with the authorities also seem to make it harder to find a shared solution. The need for a neutral body /agency (independent from government) and with expertise to deal with the Roma situation that can incorporate the different perspectives and needs has been proposed at national level.

Housing policy has also been the topic of the presentations of two new cities’ representatives, Sénart in France and Niewiegen in Holland. The specific conditions of these municipalities (towns created after WWII) and the relative new arrival of Roma groups has made it possible to plan holistic policies shared among the different departments of the local authorities, with a “do ut des” approach, that is, linking rights and duties and assisting individual families on housing, social and educational issues. The openness of new towns to newcomers has resulted that there are no settlements in camps, but Roma are housed in regular social or private housing. The experiences show, however, that it is impossible to deal with generic policies on “Roma” and successful experiences are those carried out with individual or family-level approaches, resulting also in a greater financial effort in the side of local authorities and the public budget. 
Comparing these two very different situations the first conclusion of the workshop, which has also been highlighted by the presentation of prof. Antonio Tosi (University Politecnico di Milano) in the analysis of housing policies, is that policy making must be approached according to the specific situation, and that, in order to be effective, policies require a long-term approach, not limited to emergency situations, but also embedded in mainstream policy. That is to say that, even though tailored measures on housing for Roma populations may be and indeed are necessary, they must be consistent with sound housing policies (for example social housing policy, dealing with all groups at risk of poverty) at a higher level.  
The concept of exclusive and inclusive policies, that is, policies aimed exclusively at specific target of population, has also been discussed and the dangers that “Roma –only” policy may lead to further exclusion, or reinforcement of the “exceptionalism” and stereotyping of  the Roma  (they are different) has been highlighted. The need to acquire more and better knowledge (for example data on the actual numbers of Roma populations) is also an issue related to  the capacity of decision- and policy-makers to formulate effective policies.

In addition to policy coherence (between Roma and non-Roma, social, economic inclusion, housing, education policies etc), the discussants have also pinpointed two other important factors that influence not only policy-making, but the role of the public authorities in setting the foundation for equal opportunities and inclusion: 1. clear and unbiased public (institutional) communication both at internal level (to ensure policy coherence) and towards citizens and interest groups (to ensure access to public services, and to promote participation).
The second aspect relates to the policy makers on the one side, and to the Roma representations on the other, namely it is the capacity (in terms of institutions or organizations) and skills (in terms of individuals working in institutions/organizations) to communicate, negotiate, develop, implement and monitor policy and actions. This capacity building is necessary to promote more participation and negotiation power for the Roma representations and, eventually better policy. Discussants have repeatedly raised the issue of the use of the “Roma issue” as an easy culprit for political agendas, furthermore the instrumental use of such an issue has made Roma peoples as an object rather than a subject of (other) economic interests and players. 
A critical analysis on the public perception and on the identity of the Roma has also been shared by Roma Associations representatives Graziano Halilovic and Dijana Pavlovic, who have highlighted, on the one side, the stereotypical approaches of the collective imaginary on Roma, and, on the other side, the social and psychological consequences that such labeling or attitude has on the Roma groups and individuals, and their rights.       

The issue of identity (and identities within the general term Roma – which includes many different cultures Sinti, Travelers and others), linked to the general Roma culture as “opposed” to the so-called mainstream culture has been approached as another limiting factor for participation, enhancing discrimination. To maintain a positive link with the traditional culture and mores, there is a need to come to terms with the fact that culture and identity are processes that vary over time and that the “diversity” of Roma today is not only referred to an equally general mainstream society, but also to an increasing variety of minorities, ethnic groups and lifestyles which generate even more difficulties in dealing with increasingly diverse “gage”.  As part of maintaining a strong identity and cultural pride in this context, and not in contrast with this objective, the  Roma groups need to invest in their young generations, by encouraging them to get into education/ training, as well as to enter the general labour market, not limiting the employment/income opportunities in traditional jobs, but innovating and diversifying their skills. 

In conclusion, also in light of the development of the National strategy to comply with the EC communication, in different EU countries – and particularly in Italy – there is need to exit the emergency approach and to start to “normalize” the policy approach to Roma. A holistic and contextual approach, which must take into considerations facts, accurate knowledge and shared objectives, is required to increase Roma participation, their access to rights of citizenship and overall social cohesion.

Download here the programme of the thematic seminar on rights and policies

In Craiova, Foundation for People Development (FDP) organized two workshops in April 2011: the WP3.1 workshop for local authorities and politicians, and the WP3.2 training session for practitioners and civil servants.
The objectives of the WP3.1 workshop aimed at the municipality and other local administrators were: to provide local authorities and politicians with specific information about Roma communities; to improve local authorities’ approach when working or making local partnerships with Roma; to express local political will for helping Roma communities; to realize information exchange between local authorities and Roma leaders; to build local coalition for Roma communities. The participants were 12 local representatives, authorities and politicians, aged between 25 and 65 years. 
The methodology used for the workshop has mixed the +Respect Scientific Board’s recommendations (ERIO guidelines and WP3.1 methodology) and some training techniques adapted to the local context, classrooms, profile and needs of the participants, as they resulted from the Opportunity Analysis made before the meeting. In particular, WP3.1 methodology was focused on simulations of participatory processes, workshops and a round table, in order to facilitate the acceptance of responsibilities on the Roma issues, by the local authorities.

The WP3.2 training for practitioners and civil servants organized in Craiova was attended by 27 participants aged between 20 and 65.  Training objectives in Craiova (WP3.2) were:
- to improve the civil servants and local practitioners’ approach when working with Roma;
- to promote good practices of working with Roma;
- to improve civil servants capacity of understanding Roma reactions in different contexts;
- to facilitate information exchange about obstacles and solutions when working with Roma community;
- to increase the civil servants empathy with Roma

WP3.2 methodology included role playing games, flawed communication and professional ethics exercises, a debate and 4 talking challenges, in order to help civil servants to understand and accept the ethnic cultural particularities of the Roma, when working with them.
For the WP3.1 and WP3.2, trainees were given evaluation forms, in order to express their satisfaction about the elements of the workshop and training. The level of satisfaction was very high.

Bals
FDP successfully organized a WP3.3 information session “Know your law and your rights” in Bals on 3 May 2011, with representatives of the local Roma community. The meeting was attended by 23 participants: Roma community members and local leaders aged between 25 and 60 years.
The specific training sessions objectives were:
- to aware Roma people about their rights and duties;
- to provide Roma with relevant examples on how human rights relate to daily activity;
- to increase Roma will of participating in the local community life;
- to aware Roma people about the public opportunities available for them;
- to identify individual responsibilities for increasing the public participation and for assuring human rights in the Roma community
WP3.3 methodology consisted mainly in an informatory session, a round table, an open talking session and an awareness session, in order to respond closely to the learning needs of the Roma.
Unlike the WP3.1 and WP3.2 meetins organized in Craiova for civil servants and local authorities, in the case of WP3.3 organized for Roma in Bals, the evaluation of the training session was not made through evaluation forms, but primarily through observation of the participants group feed-back. The participants did received evaluation forms, but they refused to complete them, because of their past negative experiences with people asking them to complete forms. The observation of Felix Costache, FDP trainer, are below:
- the trainees were very reserved in participating and sharing personal experience at the beginning of the training sessions;
- the trainees really attended the sessions only after they found that the trainer, Felix Coustache, is a Roma as well;
- most of the trainees had basic awareness and information about their rights and about the opportunities available for them;
- most of the trainees interest was made of good job opportunities, adapted to their level of qualification;
- the trainees did not have the capacity of properly evaluate a training session, but they felt satisfied ;
- most of the trainees did not possess a professional qualification;
- the trainees preferred to express themselves in Romany language.

In conclusion, FDP training sessions were very positive experiences and the learning objectives of WP3.1, WP3.2 and WP3.2 have been fulfilled. One of the lessons learnt is that a WP3.3 session always needs a previous contact with the trainees and the presence of a Roma trainer, in order to foster acceptability of the training initiative and fulfill most of the objectives foreseen.

The overall feed-back of the participants was very positive in all cases, though it was clear how difficult it would have been to organize a WP3.3 course without the presence of a Roma trainer/informer.

After the first workshop held in Greece, a second training session was organized by ENTP on the 25^th of March 2011, with the collaboration of ERIO. The event took place at the ENTP offices in Brussels and was attended by several elected representatives and officers of ENTP member towns (Basildon, Harlow, Sénart, Vantaa, Marne-la-Vallée, Zoetermeer).

Unlike the previous session, that rigorously followed the methodology designed by ERIO, the 2011 workshop addressed the thematic in a more informal and interactive way. Mr. Ivan Ivanov, ERIO director, highlighted different aspects of Roma people integration, including public representation, discrimination at education and professional level, Roma visibility and participation to social dialogue.

Mr. Ivanov also mentioned some options / approaches of Roma participation at local level according to the political and social contest (especially taking in consideration the difference between Western and Eastern European local authorities’ political traditions).

The association RomSinti@Politica has organized four series of WP3.1, WP3.2, WP3.3 workshops in four different Italian cities: Pescara, Giulanova, Isernia and Torino. On the basis of the needs of the local contexts, for operational reasons and in order to encourage the exchange of views and ideas, all the workshops organized by RomSinti@Politica have been addressed simultaneously to different audiences (local administrators, practitioners/social workers and Roma/Sinti communities), using in a syncretic way the relevant methodologies developed in the framework of the project.
The workshops consisted of different modules on:
- knowledge of Romani people, with a presentation of their origins, languages, living conditions
- categorization, stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination relating to Roma people and ways to overcome them: negotiation, mediation, conflict resolution
- methodologies and guidelines for cultural mediation and active participation of Roma people
- legal framework in Italy and Europe: anti-discriminatory directives and legislation

RomSinti@Politica involved qualified professors and experts who spoke in the training sessions/workshops, using presentations that were adapted to the specific contexts.

Pescara
Pescara (117,000 inhabitants) is home to over 2000 Roma people. The specificity of Pescara is that all Roma families, both the Italian and immigrant ones, live in “normal” houses (they have never known the disaster of the camps), rented or owned. Notwithstanding the good housing conditions of Roma people in Pescara, the level of discrimination towards the Roma community is very high and this circumstance has led some Roma people with a good educational background to forward the request (so far, without success) to change their names in order to prevent racial discrimination. The level of confrontation and sometimes conflict with the Roma community in Pescara has been very high for a long time and public administrators do not trigger the right policies for the social and cultural cohesion, so it was decided to promote the +Respect workshops, trainings and info sessions in order to raise awareness in this area amongst operators and experts, public administrators and policy makers, members of the Roma community.
In Pescara, three workshops have been activated:
1) 9 December 2010 (4 hours) – Topic: “Cultural Romany identity: History, Politics and Culture”. Speakers: Dimitris Argiropoulos and Nazzareno Guarnieri;
2) 17 January 2011 (4 hours) – Topic: “Conflict resolution, stereotyping and prejudice: the role of cognitive schemas and processes of categorization”. Speaker: Giulia Prestia; 
3) 4 February, 2011 (3 hours) – Topics: “Cultural mediation and active participation: methodologies and design” – “Local, regional, national and European Legislation on discrimination and racism”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and Marco Brazzoduro.

Around 40 people were enrolled in the courses and an average of 25 people have attended each meeting. The training seminars were organized taking into account the views and methodology shared with +RESPECT project partners, giving room, after the report on the theme of the seminars, to local associations and to a wide debate with participants. Based on previous experiences, the debate was considered by the organizers as a necessary and integral part of the meetings.

Prof. Dimitris Argiropoulos presented the history and culture of the Roma, made an excursus of the policies implemented at local, national and European level for this minority and highlighted some positive projects and experiences of participation and social inclusion.
Prof. Marco Brazzoduro has presented the local difficulties and opportunities for Roma people in the perspective of the national and European legislation on discrimination and racism.  
Giulia Prestia, President of the association Pralipè and coordinator of several social mediation projects, highlighted the importance of debunking stereotypes and avoiding categorization in everyday lives in order to provide more chances for conflict resolution.
Nazzareno Guarnieri, representative of the Roma community of Abruzzo region, president of the Federazione Romanì and of the association RomSinti@Politica, has collaborated with all other speakers in each session and has made a lecture on cultural mediation and active participation.              

The strengths of the training seminars can be attributed to the presence of Roma leaders and speakers with a specific expertise on the topics addressed. On the other side, the weakness of the training seminars can be found in a limited presence of public decision makers, who did not prove to be particularly sensitive to the themes addressed and not keen to operating a dialogue and confrontation. In the end, therefore, the workshops registered mainly a presence of practitioners and workers in social fields dealing with integration/inclusion activities. Positively significant, however, was the presence of municipal and provincial politicians, including a city councilor of the city of Pescara.
Some representatives from Caritas diocesana of Pescara participated in all the meetings held in Pescara and as a consequence of this participation Caritas diocesana of Pescara has activated the local project “Laboratorio Interetnico” in collaboration with RomSinti@Politica, aimed at fostering employment opportunities for young Roma people. 
At the end of the workshops, the participants received a certificate of attendance and copies of all the reports and lectures presented.

Giulianova (Teramo)
RomSinti@Politica has chosen Giulianova (Teramo) because of the difficult background of the city. In July 2009 in the town of Martinsicuro (15 km away from Giulianova) and in November 2009 in the town of Alba Adriatica (8 km away from Giulianova) there were two tragic events – caused by young Roma people – in which two persons have died. These circumstances have unleashed a sort of “hunting of the gypsy”, with episodes of violence and aggressions even to the houses and families of Roma people resident on the territory of Giulianova. The level of the conflict was very high in all the area located between Giulianova and Martinsicuro but local administrators had not been able to activate appropriate policies for social and cultural cohesion.
For these reasons, RomSinti@Politica has chosen to organize the workshops in Giulianova, in order to sensitize practitioners, experts, local administrators and public authorities, as well as members of the Roma community. The workshops were organized with the free patronage of the Municipality of Giulianova. 35 persons have been enrolled and, on average, each workshop was attended by 25 people.

Three workshops were organized:
1) 18 January 2011 (4 hours) – Topics: “Cultural Romany identity: History, Politics and Culture” and “Local, regional, national and European Legislation on discrimination and racism”. Speakers: Prof. Marco Brazzoduro; 
2) 21 January 2011 (4 hours) – Topic: “Conflict resolution, stereotyping and prejudice: the role of cognitive schemas and processes of categorization”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and Franco Guarnieri;
3) 1 February 2011 (4 hours) – Topics: “Cultural mediation and active participation: methodologies and design”. Speakers: Prof. Dimitris Argiropoulos and Franco Guarnieri.

Prof. Argiropoulos and Franco Guarnieri presented some tools and experiences for an effective cultural mediation and presented some examples of active participation of Roma people to the democratic life of local communities, however highlighting the difficulties and obstacles to real participation of Roma people created by the current state of the art in Italy (camps).   
Prof. Brazzoduro presented the local difficulties and opportunities for Roma people in the perspective of the national and European legislation on discrimination and racism.
Nazzareno Guarnieri collaborated with all other speakers in each session and made lectures on cultural mediation, active participation and conflict resolution. 

Also in this case, the seminars were organized in such a way to spread the guidelines elaborated in the framework of the +Respect project. Appropriate time was left to the representatives of the associations, practitioners, local administrators and Roma people in order to open a debate on the diverse topics touched. One of the most positive aspects of the sessions organized in Giulianova is that two city ministers (Assessori) and some city councilors have attended the workshops, witnessing the presence and awareness of the Municipality towards the problems discussed. The presentations were made by eminent experts and professors. Several persons working for local NGOs and associations have attended the meeting, in particular some representatives from Caritas diocesana of Teramo who activated a follow-up collaboration with RomSinti@Politica by planning together the project “Nessuno libera nessuno” aimed at benefiting the Roma community of the province of Teramo, which will start in September 2011. Moreover, the Municipality of Giulianova also decided to be partner of the mentioned Caritas project “Nessuno libera nessuno”, after the participation of the two city ministers in the +Respect workshops.  

Turin
On the 28th of January 2011, on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, RomSinti@Politica launched the first +RESPECT workshop in Turin. The workshop was the first of the set of four workshops (WP3.1-3.2-3.3) in Turin. Two of the four workshops were held in the historical city hall “Sala delle Colonne” at Palazzo Civico, the main building of the Municipality of Turin; other two workshops were held at Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, who kindly provided the room for the meeting. The meetings were organized by the RomSinti@Politica association in collaboration with the association ROMA IDEA ONLUS and Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, under the patronage of the Municipality of Turin, Province of Turin and Piedmont Region and in collaboration with Cittalia.
The initiative fully got in the +Respect’s WP3.1, WP3.2 and WP3.3 activities although a mix of the +Respect methodologies was used since the workshops were addressed simultaneously to different audiences: public officials, local civil servants, managers, journalists, NGOs working with Roma, Roma people and associations, students, educators and media professionals, and open to all citizens.
More than 100 person were registered at the workshops and an average of 60 people attended each meeting. Four workshops were organized:
1) 28 January 2011 (3 hours) – Topic: “Conflict resolution, stereotyping and prejudice: the role of cognitive schemes and processes of categorization”. Speakers: Gabriele Guazzo, Dimitris Argiropoulos, Nazzareno Guarnieri. The workshop was introduced and moderated by Prof. Nanni Salio, President of the Study Center “Domenico Sereno Regis” of Turin;
2) 11 February 2011 (3 hours) – Topic: “Local, regional, national and European Legislation on discrimination and racism”. The workshop was introduced by Lorenzo Trucco, President of ASGI – Association of Juridical Studies on Migration) and the lecture was made by Prof. Marco Brazzoduro. 
3) 25 February 2011 (3 hours) – Topics: “Cultural Romany identity: History, Politics and Culture”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and don Fredo Olivero (Responsible for the migrant service of Caritas Diocesana of Turin).
4) 11 March 2011 (3 hours) – Topic: “Cultural mediation and active participation: methodologies and design”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and Dimitris Argiropoulos.  The workshop was presented and coordinated by Filippo Furioso, Headmaster of the School “Leonardo da Vinci” of Turin.

Those who were foreseen to be restricted workshops, due to the wideness of the audiences achieved thanks to the high participation encouraged through the local networks and in particular through ROMA IDEA ONLUS, resulted in having the characteristics of real seminars. In addition to the topics addressed in the workshops of Pescara and Giulianova, the first of the four workshops held in Turin focused also on the analysis of the policies and urban strategies aimed at implementing a better integration in the respect for different cultures and traditions and different good practices of involvement and participation of Roma people were presented by the speakers and by the participants, including, for instance, the self-building experience of “Il dado” in Settimo Torinese. The first workshop, therefore, addressed also the urban governance issue related to the Roma population, in consideration of the importance of this subject for the local administrators and for Cittalia who was also present in the meeting. 

The strengths of the training seminars can be attributed to the wide network of stakeholders involved (Municipality of Torino, Province of Torino, Piedmont Region, Cittalia ANCI Research Foundation, Roma Idea Onlus, Museo diffuso della Resistenza, Study Centre “Domenico Sereno Regis” of Turin, ASGI Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione, Caritas Diocesana Turin, School “Leonardo da Vinci” of Turin) and to the direct involvement of the Municipality that has proved to be very active and committed to find solutions to the challenges relating to the Roma relations with the Municipality and the citizens. The role of the Roma women association Roma Idea Onlus, in particular, was very important because the operators from this association who participated in all the meetings, introduced in the debates of the workshops a gender perspective and thus the specific point of view of Roma women involved in social projects and activities.    
The presence of Roma leaders and speakers with a specific expertise on the topics addressed was also another strength of the workshops.
Cittalia co-organized the first Turin workshop, fostering the collaboration of the City of Turin by sending an invitation and request to use the hall of the municipality for the purposes of the meetings. The proposal was welcomed by the Municipality which offered the prestigious hall (“Sala delle Colonne”) for free to the project. Cittalia also participated actively in the meeting, presenting the +Respect project and achievements reached so far. In particular, Gabriele Guazzo participated as a speaker, underlining the objectives of +Respect and providing an assessment of the issues at stake on the base of the findings of the first phase of the project.

Positively significant was the presence of municipal and provincial politicians, including that of Mr. Giuseppe Castronovo, President of the City Council, and two city ministers (Assessori). At the end of the workshops, the participants received a certificate of attendance and copies of all the reports and lectures presented.

Isernia
The workshops organized by RomSinti@Politica in Isernia, for organizational reasons have been addressed simultaneously to different audiences (local administrators, practitioners/social workers and Roma/Sinti communities), using in a syncretic way the relevant methodologies developed in the framework of the project.
Three workshops were organized in this city:
1) 18 February 2011 (4 hours) – Topics: “Cultural Romany identity: History, Politics and Culture” and “Local, regional, national and European Legislation on discrimination and racism”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and Franco Guarnieri; 
2) 4 March 2011 (4 hours) – Topic: “Conflict resolution, stereotyping and prejudice: the role of cognitive schemas and processes of categorization”. Speaker: Nazzareno Guarnieri;
3) 4 March 2011 (4 hours) – Topics: “Cultural mediation and active participation: methodologies and design”. Speakers: Nazzareno Guarnieri and Franco Guarnieri.

More than 50 people registered to participate in the workshops and an average of 30 people have attended each meeting. The training seminars were organized taking into account the views and methodology shared with +RESPECT project partners, giving room, after the report on the theme of the seminars, to local associations and allowing for a debate with participants, which was considered by the organizers as a necessary and integral part of the meetings.
The strengths of the training seminars can be referred to the active collaboration with the local Roma association “Tikanè Assiem” that has promoted the events and has spread communication on the territory of Molise region, moreover the presence of Roma leaders and speakers with a specific expertise on the topics addressed has given an added value to the workshops. The workshops were attended by public decision makers and in particular some city councilors and city ministers (Assessori). Also in Isernia, the participants received a certificate of attendance and copies of all the reports and lectures presented.

On 11 March  the International conference entlited “Local Authorities and the Inclusion of Roma People: Exchange of Good Practices”, took place in Venice (Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti). Organised by the Veneto Region Brussels office in collaboration with Cittalia, the event highlighted the current situation of Roma people and the demand of social inclusion policies. The local authorities play a strategic role in order to foster the Roma participation to the decision making process.

In addition to the third and social sector representatives, many practitioners and local authorities rapresentatives participated in the conference, like Remo Sernagiotto (regional minister responsible for social policies of the Veneto Region and President of ELISAN network), Claudio Tessari (councillor to education of the Veneto Province) and Sandro Simionato (deputy mayor of the City of Venice). Indeed Salvatore Petronella, European Commission rappresentative, offered an overview on the European policies for Roma inclusion. Gabriele Guazzo, +Respect project manager, presented the activities promoted and realized within the project while Stefania Bragato (Director of Research, COSES), presented the report “Combating Anti-Roma Discrimination: Knowledge and Policies containing recommendations addressed to the local authoritie”s.  The report offered the occasion for debating over the existence of good practices (in order to integration and social inclusion) at European level with the participation of many practitioners coming from Romania, Sweden and Spain.

At the final session of the conference, Ana Gimenez Adelantado, anthropologist, presented some significant experience (OPRE ROMA and The education of gypsy childhood in Europe project) in the educational field in a view of empowerment of the Roma people. Lorin Niculae, Soros Foundation Romania project manager, described the Housing program for Roma entlited “One house, one future”. During the conference Andreea Tita, Doly County Council (Romania), presented a National Strategy for Improving the Situation of the Roma Population in Doly council. Finally, Leena Eklund PhD, Senior Lecturer, Project Leader University West (Trollhättan, Sweden) presented a project focused on the Roma participation in social and working life through empowerment and work-integrated learning.

Andreea Tita, Officer for the International Affairs of the Dolj County Council (Romania), presented a EU funded project implemented in the county aimed at improving the situation of Roma people living in the communities identified as those with fewer opportunities (Municipality of Craiova, districts Hanul Rosu – Fata Luncii -  Catargiu, Facai -Romanesti, Brestei – Cernele – Băileşti – Calafat,- Filiaşi – Segarcea  – Amărăştii de Jos). The specific objectives of the project were a significant reduction of the number of Roma people in Dolj County without identification and civil status documents, the facilitation of the access to the public services and labor market for Roma persons in Dolj County which are excluded from these services, the improvement of the access of the Roma people in Dolj County to social, medical and educational services and the creation of partnerships and team work between the public sector and the NGO sector. The results of the project were important: 3800 questionnaires filled in with the data concerning the civil status and identity documents; completed and updated data base regarding the situation of the Roma people without civil status and identity documents; 9 working groups (with 2 facilitators each) prepared for developing counseling and assistance for the Roma communities; 935 birth certificates issued; 390 duplicate marriage certificates issued and 1.270 identity documents issued. Recognition of legal status is, in fact, the first condition for true participation of Roma people and, still, many Roma lack identity documents, which cuts them completely out from the civil and democratic life of the Union.

Leena Eklund, PhD, Senior Lecturer and Project Leader of University West of Sweden, presented a Swedish project aimed at Increasing Roma participation in social and working life through empowerment and work-integrated learning. In Sweden, too, Roma people live under worse conditions than the average citizens and are are denied full access to the social and economic rights. They do not have full access to their political and civil rights (voting, dialogue with government through Roma organizations) and are poor in both social and economic welfare, powerless and lack influence in the society. According to the Official Reports of the Swedish Government, “Sweden has an unresolved under development problem caused by racist structures that affect the entire national Roma minority.” In order to improve the situation of Roma, University West implemented the research project “Empowerment and participation in health among Roma in West-Sweden”, aimed at increasing the knowledge about Roma culture, reduce prejudices, increase Roma influence and control over lifestyle-related and social determinants of health and increase Roma self-confidence and sense of belonging to the majority society. The activities implemented included “train the trainers” workshops aimed at training civil servants of Public Sector and mobilize their local community for social action, support and work integrated learning for Roma communities and concrete initiatives (theatre laboratories, participative forum, dances, music).

Lorin Niculae, Programme Manager of the Soros Foundation Romania, presented the project “One house, one future”, a participative housing project implemented in Baltesti and Vanatori, in Romania, where hundreds of Roma people lived in segregation and without decent housing and health conditions. The project succeeded in building several houses for Roma through a participative approach (participative design) and respecting Roma life and traditions, also qualifying Roma people in jobs related to building and offering job opportunities and a hope for the future. 

Ana Gimenez Adelantado, Anthropologist and Professor at University Jaume I of Castellon de la Plana, of Roma origin, highlighted the risks of a growing racism in Europe, both differentialist and assimilation racism, and presented from her unique point of view (that of expert and that of Roma person) two projects implemented by University Jaume I: the EU project Opre Roma, with a focus on education of gipsy children and aimed at fighting against school abandoning through analyses, studies, mediation with Roma families and activation of dialogue between schools and institutions and Roma families. The second project presented as a good practice is the transnational project “The education of Gipsy childhood in Europe”, made by University Jaume I in collaboration with the University of Florence and University Paris V  René Descartes. It is a comparative study on schooling of Roma children in Europe which gave interesting results such as the knowledge that Roma school absenteeism is not a regular trend in EU countries (it can vary from country to country) but in general it concerns around 50% of Roma school population. The project has showed that some actions implemented with good intentions, such as the activation of information sessions to improve the knowledge of Roma culture, did not have good results and did not succeed in fostering the inclusion and in particular the school integration of Roma children, because the knowledge surplus (more information) on the Roma culture led to a manipulation of these information that in the end has fostered prejudices and reiteration of stereotypes by other students and teachers.   

The conference was attended by some 45 participants coming from several NGOs and universities (coming from different Italian regions) and the local institutions and was very useful to activate contacts with experts and associations dealing with the issue of Roma inclusion and participation in Italy and in the rest of Europe, with a view to foster the networking effect of the +Respect project and stimulate interest and participation around the themes of participation and non-discrimination of Roma people in the EU.

The travelling stand was displayed during the +Respect international conference in Venice. The participants had the opportunity to watch the travelling stand and get the WP2 Report from the papers’ tray.

In the recent years, inclusion and integration of Roma and other minorities in the local policies, both at national and European level, were the subject of many debates and actions. Despite some improvements, much remains to be done to achieve full integration of minority rights in local decision making processes.
In this context, the capacity of local systems to obtain more data, raise awareness, provide services (such as access to housing, education, health services, employment) and to implement measures to address poverty, is fundamental to fight against racism and for strengthening the economic and social cohesion as well as to enhance the rights and culture of Roma as a resource for society.
The conference, organized by the Veneto Region Brussels Office, is planned in the framework of the activities within the project +RESPECT: Increasing Roma People’s Participation and Citizenship Rights: Campaigns and Tools, funded by the Specific Programme “Fundamental Rights and Citizenship” 2007-2013 . The event aims to raise awareness of local authorities on policies for social inclusion of Roma people. During the event the report “Combating Anti-Roma Discrimination: Knowledge and Policies” implemented by COSES containing recommendations for local authorities on policies for inclusion of the Roma population, will be the basis for a discussion on existing good practices at European level of “liberation of the camps” through social and spatial inclusion local initiatives. The ENSA (European Network for Social Authorities) and ELISAN (European Local Inclusion and Social Action Network) networks, associated partners of the project, will participate in the debate, promoting the exchange of good practices at local and European level and suggesting new scenarios for inclusion and participation of Roma and other groups who are at risk of social exclusion. Third sector organizations operating in the integration and raise awareness of Roma, local authorities (municipalities, provinces), cultural mediators and social workers are invited to participate.

Please confirm your presence via mail to alessandra.garda@regione.veneto.it or guazzo@cittalia.it. For any further information please contact Alessandra Garda at these numbers: +390412794823 (from Italy) and +3227437023.

Provisional programme: +RESPECT Venice international conference 11 March 2011 

Save the date

In the city of Giulianova, the +RESPECT partner RomSinti@Politica received the free patronage of the Municipality of Giulianova for the organization of the workshops addressed to local decision makers and practitioners. Three seminars were held, of three hours each, in the period between 18 January – 01 February in Piazza Belvedere. The point at issue was Roma active participation, discrimination, conflicts resolution, combating stereotypes and prejudices. Two town councillors have participated in the workshops, in order to encourage action and putting into practice the proposals made by the social parts in order to strengthen local action (more dialogue, more initiatives, more interest by the municipality). In Giulianova, like so in Pescara, at the end of the workshops the participants  proposed to create a working group in order to define together social, cultural and political initiatives to foster a stronger involvement of the Roma population in local social development strategies. The proposal had a follow-up and a meeting was planned on 10 February at the high school “Pagliaccetti”, coordinated by Antonella Collevecchio, “Pagliaccetti”’s teacher.