Participation in Local and National Policy
Keywords for participation: Right / Space / Opportunity / Support
Social Exclusion
The repercussions of the above have impacted on the educational attainment of Roma and their access to public services, housing and health care. Unemployment among Roma is the highest of any group in the country. Roma make up 2.6% of the total population, but over 70% of this group who are of working age are without work.
The majority of the Roma population is young and shares all the problems of the wider Roma population, but they also face other difficulties associated with their age. At the same time, young Roma lack appropriate representation to enable them to address these challenges at relevant levels, with the relevant institutions.
Roma youth are often not recognised as a specific target group and therefore the impact in terms of policy making is relatively negligible and restricted to local levels.
RROMA – the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
The RROMA Initiative in Youth Policy
Local Policy Development
So far RROMA has signed 12 memorandums for co-operation, establishing RYAPs in 12 municipalities. RROMA is also promoting Roma youth participation in the National Youth Council (NYC) through the establishment of a Roma Youth Council (RYC). The aim of this initiative is to facilitate Roma participation in youth-policy making at a national level. It is hoped that this will aid in the mainstreaming of Roma youth issues nationally, and promote access for Roma youth to existing youth programmes.
National Youth Council
RROMA is working on the development of Roma youth participation with the National Youth Council. This is a voluntary initiative involving a number of Roma organisations. The organisations involved want to establish a Roma Youth Council. The establishment of a Roma Youth Council and its participation in the National Youth Council are part of a strategy to create a structure of participation in mainstream youth-policy making. At the same time it is seen as an opportunity to strengthen partnerships and networking between Roma youth organisations, groups working with young Roma and youth branches of Roma political parties.
The above initiative represents a first in the European context; it provides a representative platform for Roma Youth organisations, and other groups working on Roma youth issues, to work in partnership to improve the situation of Roma youth at the national level. The intention is to mainstream Roma youth issues in youth policies. The National Youth Council is planning to address the lack of adequate youth policies addressing Roma youth concerns, including unemployment, school segregation and the need to support intercultural dialogue between young people.
Participation in Action
The initiative promotes active citizenship and enables the Roma young people to gain participation competences. These include the ability to identify issues in local contexts, the development of planning skills, enhanced capacities in communication skills, the development of competence in advocacy, and the ability to monitor and evaluate the implementation of local policies.
Achieving the inclusion of Roma youth issues in local policy agendas is already a big step towards participation for the general population of Roma young people. The fact that it is achieved by the young people themselves in co-operation with local authorities is a huge step in participation for Roma young people. The mainstreaming of Roma youth issues into youth policies represents an important move for young Roma. This is also progressive in terms of gaining social recognition for the young people involved.
12 Municipalities
Work continues in 12 municipalities; in each they are establishing local youth action groups composed of young Roma and representatives from the local authorities. Representatives from the local authorities are responsible for improving the co-operation and communication with the young Roma and for providing insights into what the municipality can support.
The local youth action groups are identifying Roma youth issues and concerns at the local level. Their role is to promote inclusivity, avoid segregation of Roma young people, and demonstrate that young Roma experience difficulties because of social discrimination and prejudice. The groups will address the challenges young people face and work with the young Roma to develop views on and responses to these issues. This will act to promote Roma young people as leaders and agents of change.
There are challenges in terms of maintaining the motivation of all partners involved and ensuring that equal contributions to the process are forthcoming. This is made more complex because the priorities and resources of each local youth action group are unique. The initiative has been, and will continue to be, a challenge.
Local youth participation, in the development and establishment of Roma Youth Action Plans at the local level, helps to ensure the participation of Roma young people at the national level.
Outcomes
- The government will initiate public debate about the position and rights of Roma youth, while adopting legislation to recognise youth work
- The National Agency for Youth and Sport will develop a National Youth Strategy with a Roma youth dimension.