Slovak Republic
In the Slovak Republic, 6 municipalities participated in the ROMACT Programme since 2013: Chminianske Jakubovany, Cicava, Jarovnice, Kosice, Michalovce and Ziar Nad Hronom.
In May 2016, ROMACT cycle was successfully closed in all municipalities and interrupted in Kosice and Cicava. The process continued by including 7 new municipalities: Hostice, Kolackov, Lomnicka, Radnovce, Stropkov, Vbrnica and Zbudske Dlhe.
Due to difficulties in the implementation of ROMACT in Zbudske Dlhe, the process was stopped after 6 months.
Roma communities in Slovak Republic
The population of Roma origin living in Slovak Republic is estimated at 500 000 (Council of Europe, 2015) and represents 10% of the population of the country.
FRA report on the situation of Roma in 11 EU Member States indicates that 80% of surveyed Roma households in Slovakia experience "severe material deprivation". The report also states that Roma are faced with discrimination against Roma in numerous areas, including: the provision of government services, political participation, loan practices, and access to employment, education, health and housing. Most of these issues were prominent in the municipalities in which ROMACT Programme was implemented.
ROMACT implementation
After the signature of the letters of agreement for the implementation of ROMACT was signed and despite difficulties in Kosice and Michalovce, Community Action Groups (CAG) were created in 11 municipalities of the programme. The local authorities took upon themselves to appoint a ROMACT coordinator in 9 municipalities.
CAG meetings took place in all municipalities to assess needs related mainly to education, employment and housing.
Community priorities were drafted in all municipalities and shared with the local authorities. Joint Action Plans were approved by mayors and City Councils in Chminianske Jakubovany, Jarovnice, Michalovce, Ziar Nad Hronom and later in Hostice, Kolackov, Lomnicka, Radnovce, Stropkov and Vbrnica.
Based on the Joint Action Plans, a wide set of measures was implemented in most municipalities addressing different issues: infrastructure (installation of benches in the community neighbourhood in Stropkov, road reconstruction in Vbrnica, reconstruction of Community Centre in Lomnicka, etc); education (appointment of Roma teacher assistants in Cicava, Jarovnice, Kolackov, Hostice, Radnovce, construction of a modular school in Radnovce); housing (land legalisation in Jarovnice, building of new social flats in Kosice, etc); access to services (appointment of social field workers in Hostice, Kolackov, Lomnicka, Radnovce, Stropkov and Vbrnica).
The Slovak ROMACT Team also supported and coached municipalities willing to access EU funds to improve Roma communities’ situation in close cooperation with the latest. Besides trainings on EU project planning and management, trainings on social entrepreneurship were also provided to relevant stakeholders.
ROMACT experts also provided support for specific project proposals submitted to the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma issues for EU funding.
In 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma issues to support the Programme implementation in ROMACT municipalities.
ROMACT process was officially closed in the Slovak Republic and further implementation was handed over to the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for Roma issues.
Find out more about ROMACT achievements in the Slovak Republic.