News

Ten organizations from Bulgaria will participate in civil monitoring of the implementation of the National Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for Roma Integration as part of an initiative covering all EU Member States and funded by the European Commission. These are Amalipe, "World Without Borders" - Stara Zagora, IndiRoma - Kuklen, National children network, Largo - Kuystendil, Sham - Montana,  "Iskra" Roma Foundation - Shumen, "Znanie" - Lovech, the Roma Academy for Culture and Education - Sliven and Gender Alternatives, Plovdiv.

That became clear at an opening meeting organized by the Central European University as coordinator of the project "Capacity Building for Roma Civil Society and Strengthening its Participation in the Monitoring of the National Roma Integration Strategies." It was held on July 11 in Sofia where CEU experts familiarized the participants with the main objectives expected to be achieved by civil monitoring over the next two to three years. NGO-s laid the foundations of a civil coalition, divided responsibilities between the different actors and experts and elected Amalipe for coordinating the network.

The project "Building Capacity for Roma Civil Society and Strengthening its Participation in the Monitoring of National Roma Integration Strategies" is a pilot initiative managed by the European Commission, coordinated by the Central European University (CES) in partnership with the European Roma Network (ERGO), the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), the Roma Secretariat Foundation (FSG) and the Roma Education Fund (REF) .The pilot project will be implemented with the active involvement of the non-governmental bodies who will participate in the project through this open invitation.

 The main objective of the pilot project is to contribute to strengthening mechanisms to monitor the implementation of national Roma integration strategies through systematic monitoring by civil society. The pilot project aims to improve civil society monitoring in two main ways: by developing the capacity to observe different policies as well as by supporting civil society representatives to produce high-quality annual monitoring reports.

The monitoring focuses on how national Roma integration strategies are implemented in EU Member States. It covers 9 thematic areas and horizontal issues: governance, education, employment, health, housing, anti-discrimination, combatting anti-Roma attitudes in society, Roma participation and gender equality.

For more information on the project, see: https://cps.ceu.edu/roma-civil-monitor