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”.

The DVD contains the following videos:

- A (project) life in pictures. This video shows some impressions and moments of the project +Respect. It is a short story of the project, in pictures.
- Roma people living in Europe and in the World. This is the first promotional video realized in the framework of the project and was used in several occasions, for example it was displayed in the travelling stand on its tour and shown in some of the project conferences.
- Roma people in the history of painting: a journey across cultures and style. This video is the second promotional video of the project and displays a series of art masterpieces (paintings) that portrait Roma people and the Roma life.
- The Roma community of Japigia (Bari, Puglia). The shootings of this video were made by Regione Puglia. The video collects interviews to Roma people in the camp of Japigia and investigates the relation between this community and the local authorities, the perception of the exposure to discrimination and the potentialities for inclusion and participation of the youngest generation.
- Roma people in Italy: Rights and legal framework. The video explores the legal framework and the main difficulties and challenges faced by Roma people in Italy, through an in-depth interview to the social workers of the cultural mediation centre for Roma people “Miki” located in Rome. The video is realized by Cittalia and coordinated by Enrico Serpieri.
- Social and cultural mediation in Belgium. ENTP activities and street interviews: points of view or raw prejudices? This video, prepared by ENTP with the collaboration of Romani Yag and the Service des Gens du Voyage et Roma du CRI Foyer, addresses the issues of discrimination and participation of Roma people through the experience of a couple of Roma people, Gabriel Mihai and Mihaela Covaci, who live in Brussels where they work as cultural mediators. On one side, their experience represents a good practice, a positive model of engagement. On another side, their words are useful to debunk some of the most common stereotypes coming out from a few short street interviews displayed in the video. First, ENTP decided to give publicity to a good practice on the Belgian territory. ENTP contracted then Ms. Ljuba Radman, event organizer, activist and director of the Romani Yag NGO, to prepare a script for the shooting. Mr. Cédric Van Lang, photographer and moviemaker (who previously realized a documentary on Roma people in Albania) was then contracted for the shooting session. On the 24th of March 2011 the team made the work as follows: Shooting on the premises of the “Roma en Woonwagenbewoners – Integratiecentrum Foyer” (Centre for Roma integration), with interviews of the centre’s staff Mr. Koen Geurts, Ms. Mihaela Mihai and Mr. Gabriel Mihai; Shooting at the ENTP offices where ENTP was presented by Mr. Edoardo Guglielmentti and Romani Yag by Ms. Ljuba Radman; Shooting in the centre of Brussels to collect people reaction on the topic of Roma. The images (filmed on HD and saved on an external hard disc) were then brought to Rome. The dialogues were then transcribed in French and English and sent to the Cittalia staff in charge of the final editing.
- Schooling and education of Roma people in Romania. The experience of FDP. This video displays the situation of some Roma people in some villages and camps in Romania and addresses in particular the issue of the education of young Roma people. Education is the highest form of participation to civil and democratic life of the Union, as it is only through appropriate models of education that society can foster principles such as the equal access to work opportunities and real participation. The images (filmed on HD and saved on an external hard disc) were given to Cittalia for the final editing.
 
The videos included in the DVD can be downloaded here:

A (project) life in pictures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZkUmSfTRQA

Roma people living in Europe and in the World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYKf0RwGBw8

Roma people in the history of painting: a journey across cultures and style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqzry1sXzvQ

The Roma community of Japigia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJtOwcPdegs

Roma people in Italy: Rights and legal framework
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_3qVw1aBjc

Social and cultural mediation in Belgium. ENTP activities and street interviews: points of view or raw prejudices?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0i5wNBYgHU

Schooling and education of Roma people in Romania. The experience of FDP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Le9oIi2H9Q

To receive the DVD, please write to guazzo@cittalia.it

The report, which includes a foreword by Aidan White, former General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, is divided in two parts: “Roma anti-Discrimination and Media” and “Knowledge brings respect”. In the first part, the European anti-discrimination legal and policy frameworks are presented in relation, in particular, to the role of the media and ethical responsibility. The second part addresses the need of overcoming the anti-Roma prejudices through the presentation of data, good practices and specific recommendations / guidelines.      

In particular, the author made some “focus” on specific experiences found at European level relating to the enhancement of a positive role of the media as “ethical” players (“Charter of Rome”, “UNAR”, “In Other Words”, “NewsRom”, “Practical Guide for Journalists” made by Fundacion Secretariado Gitano, “Media4Diversity”, “Let your voice be heard”, “Nestlings”, the experience of Menter Cambridge).    

The majority of the examples provided were collected during the +Respect seminars for media held in Brussels, Bari and Rome, thanks to the valuable contribution of the external stakeholders invited to the meetings and conferences.

As far as the recommendations are concerned, the +Respect Knowledge-based guidelines for Media professionals presents a set of ten basic, simple, yet fundamental, rules for media professionals to be used when reporting on Roma communities:
- Abide by codes of conduct and international standards: maintain professionalism
- Avoid generalization, simplification: stories are personal, not ethnic related
- Ban stereotypes and prejudices: they are not evidence-based
- Abstain from sensationalism: choose right words and images, be objective
- Report and condemn discriminatory articles: enhance credibility of media
- Inform about positive stories: do not squeeze Roma images only on exclusion and illegality
- Make media monitoring a long-term regular process: a constant training exercise
- Consider the consequences of inaccurate information: it fosters discrimination
- Let the voice of Roma be heard: involve Roma as sources, write their stories with them
- Build stronger ties with Roma communities and civil society: participation is a crucial factor

Download the full document here:

Combating anti-Roma stereotypes and prejudices through media: Knowledge-based Guidelines for Media Professionals

The project team at the seminar was formed by Angela Sima (Project Manager) and Felix-Emanuel Costache (Project Expert). The speakers invited at the seminar were three significant figures for the media-social activism and journalism in Romania, with relevant expertise in defending Roma rights. Mircea Toma is the Director of Media Monitoring Agency and one of the most aclamate journalists and social activists in Romania. He is the author of more than 4000 press articles and several manuals and reports about media practices. Iulian Stoian is an appreciated Roma policies expert, former Executive Director of the Roma Civil Alliance in Romania and grant proposals evaluator for WIG International. Nicu Dumitru is a young Roma human rights defender. He started to work for Roma people in 2004 and he is now Public Relations Specialist for the project Romano Butiq, at Key Consulting Management and Coordination.

Speakers objectives were:
• to help participants in distinguishing stereotypes, prejudices, xenophobia, discrimination, racism ;
• to present media role in the Roma rights defending and discrimination growth processes ;
• to present the Roma people image in the media ;
• to present best practices in defending Roma rights ;
• to present the European Roma policies and the Roma on the European political agenda;
• to stimulate debates about Roma people, among the participants;

35 attendees participated in the dissemination seminar, coming from Roma or mainstream civil society, public institutions, Roma communities and independent consultancy fields. In order to assure a better acces to the event, FDP published a participation call on the main communication channels for the professionals working with Roma people: specialized e-groups, facebook events, NGO online newspapers.

- Mircea Toma, had an explanatory presentation about the forms of human rights prejudices, manifestations and phenomena. Mircea continued with presenting relevant parts of the 2009 Ethnobarometer, case studies of Roma discrimination in the press and the role of media communication in the development of collective prejudicial phenomena.
- Nicu Dumitru presented some best practices in defending Roma rights and several human rights awareness campaigns. After playing 2 social ads, Nicu challenged the participants to debate about the role of collective communication in the Roma community and about the Roma leaders communication needs.
- Iulian Stoian described the most recent European political efforts for Roma and the strategic role Roma are playing for the European labor market. After that, Iulian conducted a debate about the gaps of the current European policies, and helped the participants to understand the European policies’ construction process.

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 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