The second phase of the ‘Romacted 2’ project “Promoting Good Governance and Roma Empowerment at Local Level” has been implemented in cooperation with the Council of Europe and the European Union, which aims to expand the inclusion of the Roma community at the local level.
The Romacted 2 project includes four main phases, such as improving municipal capacity, accountability, generality and improving services.
Whereas, there are 10 municipalities that have benefited from this project, such as Gjakova, Graqanica, Mitrovica, Fushe Kosovo, Ferizaj, Istog, Obiliq, Prizren, Kamenica and Lipjan.
The Head of the Council of Europe Office in Pristina, Frank Power, said that Romacted 2 as a project gives importance to the Roma community at the municipal level.
“The Romacted 2 project has a special focus on the municipal level. It also has policies at European and national level for Roma integration, we have also integrated policy measures and the crucial role we have had in the engagement and inclusion of Roma. Also, the local level is very important because of the implementation of laws, policies and programs that can bring positive changes for the citizens. After the declaration of 2019, there has been a success in the integration of the Roma community. Romacted is not a humanitarian project to provide direct assistance for the Roma community, but works directly with community members to look at everyone’s needs and priorities”, he said.
The Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, has mentioned the facts of discrimination against the Roma community, while adding that the government aims to stop this problem. He also spoke about a joint project with the Ministry of Education to finance scholarships for students of the Roma community.
“As ministry, we are interested in using the legal basis to provide additional funds to municipalities and citizens to benefit from these legal mechanisms so that their rights are more easily implemented and we have a more equal approach… The Law on Local Self-Government has some parts of the law that have been ambiguous or not easily implemented for various reasons. As a government, we are very interested in these groups that are easily vulnerable, in order to have greater institutional support. We have an approach that is not very implemented in ad-hoc problem solving, but we must have a long-term problem-solving line, that means its timely implementation. I want to share with you a program that is for the new generation of students and educators from the ranks of the Egyptian, Ashkali and Roma communities. We have reached an agreement with the Ministry of Education, which provides for the financing of scholarships for students, it is the first program that finances scholarships for students and communities which are focused on creating a new generation of educators from the ranks of communities”, he said.
The manager of the Romaced 2 project, Marina Vasic, said that this project started to be implemented in January 2021. She also said that the issue that has been addressed with the highest priority is the participation of Roma girls in many issues.
“Romacted 2 is a joint program and has come as a result of long cooperation with the European Union and the Council of Europe, we have had numerous programs that have been extended to many regions, but even in Europe in general, to implement and to make the Roma community part of our program. This is the program, and we are looking at how we can improve the situation of the Roma in general. We have also contributed in open partnership with the government to contribute to a better inclusion of the Roma community which is of course in line with the European Union’s human rights approach. When I talk about the girls of the Roma community, I mean all the young girls, and this was one of the issues addressed in the first phase of the project, whereas, in terms of political participation, we have had a partnership for studies on this issue and the Roma-Ashkali school for Kosovo and this will be closed in the third week of April”, she said.
Whereas, afterwards video-messages of mayors were shown talking about the importance of the project.