The Decade of Roma Inclusion started in 2005. On June 11 this year, the first report on the results achieved by the nine participating countries was released. The Sofia Echo’s YANA MOYSEEVA outlines the main conclusions.
Nine Central and South East European countries have made progress in advancing Roma inclusion since the launch of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in 2005, according to the DecadeWatch monitoring report prepared by teams of Roma civil society leaders.
Nonetheless, the main conclusion was that the countries participating in the Decade must move from sporadic measures based on pilot projects to integrated polices and programs.
The Decade of Roma Inclusion is a pan-European initiative to foster the integration of the Roma in nine countries, and the primary vehicle for a European solution to the challenge of Roma exclusion.
DecadeWatch is an initiative by a group of Roma activists and researchers formed to assess progress under the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, which was launched in February 2005. The monitoring group is supported by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank. This support included training and mentoring the research teams, as well as developing the methodology, providing editorial support and printing this series of reports.
DecadeWatch assesses governments’ actions on introducing measures on the four Decade priority areas of education, employment, health, and housing, as well as institutional arrangements and anti-discrimination legislation.
Country reports were prepared by Roma civil society alliances, and then countries were ranked on indicators on a scale from 0 to 4, with 0 capturing no action and 4 best practice (see table). The report looks at government inputs, not outcomes, as the Decade was only launched in 2005. It assesses government action, not how the situation has changed for the Roma on the ground.
The information in this first report is based on research done between autumn 2006 and early 2007. The research involved the review of documents - policies, legislation, and independent reports and surveys - as well as interviews with officials and civil society. While the focus is on developments in 2005 and 2006, the analysis also often comprises measures and policies that had been introduced before the launch of the Decade and remain in place. The members of the DecadeWatch team also reflected their own experience, often spanning many years, in reviewing policies for Roma in their countries.
The country rankings not only track progress but also identify areas where countries can benefit from one another’s experience. Hungary is the most advanced country in terms of institutional arrangements and policies, but each country excels in a particular area, for instance Romania with its health mediators program and Macedonia’s employment data collection.
DecadeWatch has summarised its main conclusions from the result of the Decade so far. The assessment found significant progress across all countries, though more in some than in others, and, within countries, more in some areas of action that in others:
• Overall, Decade Action Plans and relevant institutions are in place and activities have been initiated, to various degrees, in all countries. In particular, there are Decade co-ordination offices in all countries; these offices have built up important experience over the past two years.
• The Decade has become the framework for discussing Roma inclusion both for the governments and for Roma civil society in all participating countries, although Decade Action Plans have largely not been understood by governments as policy implementation tools.
• Since the launch of the Decade in February 2005, Romania and then Bulgaria have taken over the Decade Presidency from Hungary. Most countries have been consistently represented at the Decade’s International Steering Committee meetings. With the exception of Montenegro and Serbia, all countries have contributed to the Decade Trust Fund, which finances joint technical assistance and capacity building in support of Decade implementation.
• The Decade process aims at giving Roma a voice in the countries’ efforts at promoting inclusion, and Roma report that they are being heard more than before the launch of the Decade.
However, despite some progress, the Decade has not reached the critical point that would guarantee success. Most governments think about Roma inclusion in terms of projects and sporadic measures but not programs or integrated policies. While Decade Action Plans have been adopted in most countries, they do not appear to inform government decision-making and policy planning as much as they could.
The institutional home of Decade co-ordination in many countries is often insufficiently integrated with policy directorates in line ministries and lacks real agenda setting and implementation power and capacity. Lastly, governments increasingly mention the Decade in the context of their action on Roma inclusion, but could do more to use the Decade and the action plans as a vehicle to systematically report on progress.
So far, the perhaps biggest gap in Decade implementation has been the lack of data on Roma, covering education, employment, health and housing. Data collection is sparse, irregular and not nationally representative. Many countries collect data on the ethnicity of individuals enrolled in programs or recipients of services, e.g., employment services. That allows tracking absolute numbers of individuals covered, but does not allow relating it to the entire population. It is, therefore, only of limited use. Nationally representative surveys should deliver such information. As a result of past survey work supported by international partners such as the World Bank, the Open Society Institute, UNDP and UNICEF, much more is known now about the exclusion of Roma across countries than a few years ago. However, what is lacking two years into the Decade is systematic and regular data collection to allow tracking of progress on Roma inclusion over time. Only the systematic and regular collection of disaggregated and nationally representative data will allow governments to report on the outcomes of their efforts under the Decade in 2015. The Czech government stands out among its peers for admitting current limitations and for committing to developing a monitoring and reporting framework by the end of 2007.
