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ERGO Network’s Annual Members Meeting 2021

ERGO Network’s Annual Members Meeting 2021

Having the ongoing pandemic in mind, this year’s ERGO Network Annual Members’ Meeting took place once more online.

This year’s AMM started with the Data Collection Working Group on the 3^rd of December, led by Isabela Mihalache, Senior Policy Officer, helping the participants to understand better the role of data collection in the delivery of our advocacy work. The focus was on the monitoring and data collection under the new EU Roma Framework, the new Roma Civil Monitoring, as well as brainstorming on the needs of Roma Civil Society to engage effectively in the monitoring of national Roma strategic frameworks.

From 6-7 December 2021, ERGO Network met on Zoom with the membership to share updates, and facilitate learning and exchange.

The first day started with a welcome from Director Gabriela Hrabaňová, Board co-chair Stanislav Daniel and vice-chair Adriatik Hasantari, highlighting the energy, flexibility and collectiveness of the members once again and their motivation to work under such uncertain conditions.

During this day, the ERGO strategic pillars 2021 were presented and participants attended breakout rooms designed to provide them with updates and highlights of 2021. Each of the rooms, moderated by staff and members of ERGO Network, tackled ERGO’s core working areas, such as advocacy for strong Roma policies, Roma social inclusion and poverty policies, as well as projects such as Romani Women – Power of Change.

The second day kicked off with the Employment Working Group. Amana Ferro and Carmen Tănasie from the ERGO Network Secretariat in Brussels provided participants with updates regarding the state of play of current and upcoming employment work, covering the main EU policy frameworks and the specific actions under the Youth Guarantee and ERGO Network’s Employment Campaign. Members then exchanged about their work and priorities on Roma quality employment.

This session was followed by the Governance Working Group led by director Gabriela Hrabaňová, where updates about the new ERGO, move of the seat of the organization officially to Belgium and procedures were shared.

Towards the end of the day, the membership had the opportunity to work on a new communication strategy with ERGO’s new communication officer Ana Rozanova. This was followed by a presentation about the new initiative and campaign called “Decade against Antigypsyism” presented by Mustafa Jakupov, policy and project coordinator at ERGO. Members had the opportunities to familiarize themselves with the idea and brainstorm about the kick-off next year.

This year’s Annual Members’ Meeting concluded with wishes for the forthcoming holiday season and hopes for meeting in person. Also, the members were reminded about the next day and ERGO Network’s online roundtable “Funding of bottom-up approaches: Ways forward to support Roma inclusion”, organized in the framework of the project “New Solutions to Old Problems”.

Digital deprivation should not become a new obstacle for Roma students

The Roma are left out as digital citizens and cannot benefit from the simple values of digital citizenship based on respect, education, and protection – Mustafa Jakupov

Find out more about digital divide and how it affects the Roma children and students in this article by Mustafa Jakupov on DigiGen – Research on the Digital Generation

#digitaldivide #childrights

Bi-Annual RIISE Coordination Meeting

Bi-Annual RIISE Coordination Meeting

Several ERGO Network members and also new partners met on 22-23 November for our annual ‘Roma Included in Social Europe’ (RIISE) coordination meeting.

ERGO Network is implementing a four-year work programme funded by the EaSI Programme of the European Commission’s DG Employment in order to support the social inclusion and poverty reduction of Roma in EU member states and provide a bridge between the grassroots and the EU level concerning Roma-related policies and funding programmes.

An important part of the work programme is implemented on national level in the so-called ‘Big 5’ countries – the EU member states with the highest Roma population. With the financial support of the European Commission through the RIISE work programme, ERGO Network members coordinate national Roma civil society coalitions, support Roma activists to engage in and benefit from Community-Led Local Development (CLLD), conduct research and inform Roma activists about relevant EU developments.

During the online coordination meeting, representatives of Integro Association (Bulgaria), Nevo Parudimos (Romania), Policy Centre for Roma and Minorities (Romania), Life Together (Czech Republic), Slovo 21 (Czech Republic), Autonomia Foundation (Hungary), Socfactor (Hungary), RomanoNet (Czech Republic), Roma Advocacy and Research Centre (Slovakia) came together to discuss their work.

Among other things they shared updates on the EU Roma Framework & Anti-racism policy, the work of the civil society with the Fundamental Rights Agency, the Alliance Against Antigypsyism and the EU Roma Week.

The members were asked to join and contribute within the campaign “Decade to combat Antigypsyism” – an umbrella campaign to address and raise awareness about the phenomenon.

The meeting provided the space for the members to give updates on national coalitions and advocacy activities 2021. The afternoon was dedicated to the updates on the work in 2021 and next steps for 2022:

- European Semester and the Recovery and Resilience Facility
- European Pillar of Social Rights
- Social Economy Action Plan
- European Child Guarantee
- Youth Guarantee
- Employment Campaign

During the second day of the meeting the capacity building was discussed with the special focus on monitoring.

The next meeting will take place at the beginning of 2022, when the new application and activities under the new grant from DG Justice will be presented.

Open letter to the Members of the Future of Europe Conference

Civil society organisations are disappointed and concerned about the lack of consideration that the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe has shown in regard to the inclusion of marginalised communities.

ERGO is among a group of over 50 civil society organisations from across Europe who have prepared a letter the Executive Board of the Conference , expressing strong concerns about the lack of inclusion and other shortcomings.

The open letter can be found below:

20 October 2021

Dear members of the Conference Plenary,

On 19th June, 57 civil society organisations from across Europe sent a letter to the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe (hereafter: the Conference), expressing strong concerns about the lack of inclusion of marginalised communities in the Conference. On 16th July, the Co-Chairs sent a reply, indicating that they are not planning on taking any concrete measures in response to these concerns. With this letter, civil society organisations from across Europe, many of which have signed the first letter, issue a final appeal to the Conference Plenary.

We are disappointed and concerned about the lack of consideration that the Executive Board has so far shown in regard to the inclusion of marginalised communities. We call on EU institutions to address this oversight in order to fulfill the Conference’s intended goals of being an open, democratic, and inclusive process. In its current form, the Conference epitomizes Europe’s fundamental shortcomings rather than its solutions. The Conference Plenary meeting on 23rd October is a crucial opportunity to turn things around and to create an inclusive and meaningful participatory Conference process.

We turn towards you, the Conference Plenary and highest decision-making body of the Conference: we urge you to use your power and influence to ensure that the voices of marginalised communities are prevented from being silenced and can be included at the centre of the Conference, and in the debate and decision-making on the future of Europe more generally.

More concretely, we call on you to join us in voicing the following demands during the upcoming Plenary meeting and throughout the Conference process:

Implement a diversity assessment of the Citizens’ Panels^[1]: the selection of participants for the Citizens’ Panels has been insufficiently clear and transparent and highly problematic in its design: EU residents without EU passports have been excluded, and due to the gender binary approach, non-binary people have been mistreated, if not excluded, as well. Finally, no quota has been set to ensure adequate representation for racialised and other marginalised communities. This dynamic may reproduce the same inequalities this Conference aims to tackle. While it seems impossible to make changes to the composition of the Citizens’ Panels now, a diversity assessment would make transparent how (non-)diverse the panels are. The assessment should also address the degree of diversity of the organisers, moderators and experts that are involved in the Citizens’ Panels.
Take measures to create a safe space for all Citizens’ Panel participants^[2]: the Citizens’ Panels have started already, but we need to ensure that all the selected people are equally included and heard in the process, given the structural inequalities in society and the previously identified inconsistencies in the participant selection criteria and process. Active and inclusive measures should be taken to ensure a safe space for all panel participants, including notably those from marginalised communities, starting with the appointment of a qualified Inclusion Officer or Person of Trust who is mandated and equipped to address complaints and needs from participants in a confidential and resolute manner.
Set up a Conference Inclusiveness Council and ensure the representation of marginalised communities in the Conference Plenary: in order to ensure that the voices of marginalised communities are heard, and to compensate for the shortcomings of the Citizens’ Panels, an additional Conference body should be set up: a Conference Inclusiveness Council. This body should be composed of a wide variety of EU citizens and residents from marginalised communities with a proven track record of social and political engagement with underrepresented communities. Like the Citizens’ Panels, this body should appoint 20 members as delegates for the Conference Plenary. The Conference Plenary should commit to examining and responding in detail to the proposals put forward by the Inclusiveness Council.
Invite the Coordinator on Anti-Racism as member of the Conference Plenary: in order to ensure that anti-racism is mainstreamed in all of the work of the Conference, the EU Coordinator on Anti-Racism Michaela Moua should be invited to become a member of the Conference Plenary. This would enable a consistent policy alignment and an intersectional approach across EU policies.
Extend the timeline of the Conference: in order to ensure intentional and impactful engagement with marginalised communities around the Conference process, more time is needed to effectively build pathways for participation. Additionally, we call on the Conference organisers to create more accessible conditions for ideas to be shared and events to be organised on the Conference Digital Platform. An extended timeline and more accessible participation opportunities would enable both civil society organisations and Conference organisers to bridge gaps in communication and bring a better representation of marginalised groups into the Conference at the community level.

The above list of demands is not exhaustive, but they constitute important steps towards an inclusive Conference.

An explicit, credible and sustained effort of implementing strategically inclusive and equitable practices in the Conference process is crucial. The oppression experienced by many marginalised communities, which lies at the root of many of Europe’s pressing social and political problems, should not be exacerbated in a free and democratic exercise overseen by EU leadership. Without the voices of marginalised communities, the EU will not comprehensively address these inequities, effectively contributing to the reproduction of systems of oppression that underlie them.

We count on you to lead the way towards an inclusive Europe!

Sincerely,

List of 59 organisations co-signing the letter:

#DiasporaVote!

A Buon Diritto Onlus

AEGEE-Europe

Alliance4Europe

Allianz für WERTEorientierte Demokratie (AllWeDo)

Alpe Adria Green International Org

Asociación Musulmana por los Derechos Humanos

Avrupa Gençlik Parlamentosu Derneği (AGPD)

Balkan Civil Society Development Network (BCSDN)

BIL:Armenia

Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law

Citizens Take Over Europe

CIVICO Europa

Culture Action Europe

Danubiana Network

Democracy International

Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice

Eumans – citizens for democracy and sustainability

Eurochild

Europe for Scotland

European Alternatives

European Anti-Poverty Network

European Center for Not-for-profit Law Stichting (ECNL)

European Civic Forum

European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc)

European Democracy Lab

European Environmental Bureau

European Forum of Muslim Women

European House

European Movement Italy

European Network Against Racism (ENAR)

European Network on Religion & Belief (ENORB)

European Roma Grassroots Organisations Network

FEMYSO – Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations

Fórum dos Cidadãos

Friends of the European Republic

Gong

Greek Forum of Migrants

Green Liberty

IGLYO – International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Intersex Youth and Student Organisation

Initiative for Development and Cooperation

Music Theatre International

New Europeans

Oxfam

Regional Roma Educational Youth Association-RROMA

Schwarzkopf Stiftung

SDG Watch Europe

Social Platform

Society for Sustainable Living

SOLIDAR & SOLIDAR Foundation

Stand Up for Europe

The ECI Campaign

The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA)

The Good Lobby

Understanding Europe

Volonteurope

WeMove Europe

Women Engage for a Common Future

Women’s Coalition – Turkey (Kadın Koalisyonu)

^[1] We take note of the fact that the Executive Board already foresees to send a questionnaire to participants at both the start and at the end of the process (https://assets.futureu.europa.eu/uploads/decidim/attachment/file/28447/en.pdf, page 5). This questionnaire can be developed and integrated in (the spirit of) the diversity assessment as described above.

^[2] During the European Youth Event there was a far-right attack targeted at Muslim youth and other young people from racialised communities (see https://femyso.org/a-response-to-far-right-attacks-targeting-muslim-youth-at-the-european-parliament/

and https://www.diasporavote.eu/2021/05/19/press-release/). It is of crucial importance that we all, and the EU institutions first and foremost, speak out against this. Active measures need to be taken to ensure a safe space for everyone, especially in the framework of the Conference.

Welcome to our new team member

Welcome to our new team member

The ERGO Network secretariat is growing! From 19 October, we well welcome a new team member: Ana Rozanova will join the secretariat as Communication and Membership Officer.