New strategy and priorities for Roma project generation facilities

On 02 and 03 July 2012 in Veles a regional meeting had been held for defining the strategic directions of the initiative “making the most of EU funds for Roma (MtM)”. The meeting was attended by 20 participants, representatives from the national implementation organizations from Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia, as well as representatives from relevant institutions from this four countries, Open Society Institute (OSI) and the Secretariat of the Roma Decade.

The participants discussed and defined the strategic goals, expected results, activities and indicators in four MtM components. In the first component for monitoring and advocacy, the best practices for influencing on the IPA programing for increasing the social Roma inclusion was discussed.in the frame of the second component for technical support of the Roma civic society organizations, MCIC and InSoC, as the National partners from Macedonia shared their experience with the rest of the participants from Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia. Also, methods for improving the technical support and enlarging the possible funds and sectors were identifying.

In the component for local development and EU accession the participants discussed about strengthening capacities of the municipalities populated with Roma citizens, for including (their local needs), into the IPA programming and into the national budget. In the frame of the last component for regional cooperation, the participants defined a set of activities on national and regional level, for improving the advocacy of the Roma interests in the four countries.

MtM is an initiative of the Open Society Institute, Budapest. Their national partners in Macedonia are MCIC and InSoC. MtM strives to connect the stetted goals for Roma social inclusion with the EU development resources, as well as with the national governments, with the needs of the Roma population.