Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The Standing Conference of Town and Municipalities (SCTM) Network for Roma Issues held its fifth meeting on 23 November 2017. The SCTM Secretary General Đorđe Staničić, the Roma National Minority Council, the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit of the Government of Serbia as well as representatives of international institutions and organizations addressed the meeting attendees. The meeting was organized in the frame of the SCTM Institutional Support – Phase Two project, funded by the Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

At the meeting it was emphasized that the challenges currently faced by the Roma community today by far exceed the policy frame of the Government of Serbia, and are a matter of serious concern for European institutions as well, and it was noted that the Roma and the Roma issue are a part of the negotiations chapters on Serbia’s path to EU accession. The conclusion was that coordination and synchronized action of domestic and international institutions are crucial in solving the issues that the Roma community faces on a daily basis. The Roma inclusion process in Serbia monitored through the mechanism of the Seminar on the Social Inclusion of Roma Men and Women in Serbia, and the new cycle of commitments made in 2017 through operative conclusions, will highlight the challenges and, at the same time, the existing resources that could lead to changes in the next two-year period, through good coordination.

Roma employment was yet another topic of the lively discussion among meeting attendees, in particular employment of young highly educated Roma men and women and an informal call was made to the local governments to present local authentic solutions for this problem. Good examples of Roma employment should be presented at one of the following meetings of the SCTM Network, including an increase in the number of Roma issue coordinators.

Source: www.skgo.org