Roma inclusion can be improved through cooperation

BELGRADE - The cooperation of local self-government authorities and civil society organisations in implementing the policies of Roma inclusion is already producing results but there is still room to improve this cooperation, said the participants of a conference on the topic on Wednesday.

The conference on the role and significance of cooperation between civil society organisations and local self-governments in implementing policies intended for Roma men and women is part of the EUR 4.8 million European Roma Inclusion project, funded by the European Union and carried out by the OSCE Mission and its partners in Serbia.

Addressing the participants of the conference, Suzana Paunovic, head of the Serbian government Office for Human and Minority Rights, said that the goal of the project is to improve the cooperation between the civil society and local self-governments and transfer those experiences to other local self-governments.

"Through this project, we have helped to get 509 Roma children enrolled in pre-school institutions, and 621 requests have been filed for entry into registers of births, with 193 requests resolved so far," Paunovic said.

As many as 245 public and private entities in 20 pilot municipalities have shown interest in employing Roma people, she said.

Paunovic particularly noted that the project will contribute to solving the issue of providing housing to a large Roma population.

Yolanda San Jose from the EU Delegation to Serbia said that the Delegation is working actively on improving and promoting the civil society in Serbia and that it wants the cooperation between the civil society and the state to be strengthened.

We are trying to solve the problems of housing and...