Between 20^th and 21^st of May 2014, ROMED2 was officially launched in Kiev (Ukraine), with the presence of representatives from various ministries, local and regional administrations, Roma NGOs, Roma mediators, and the facilitators of the Community Action Groups from the five selected municipalities/regions that joined the programme: Odessa, Uzhgorod, Kirovograd, Kiev, and Pereyalslav-Khmlenytskyi.

The European Commission conference will focus on the role of social policy innovation and social investment in implementing structural reforms at country level.

National governments in Europe can greatly enhance the implementation of their National Roma Integration Strategies and social inclusion more broadly. One proven way of doing this is by providing assistance to local authorities and organizations to access and implement projects financed by European Structural and Investment Funds.

The highlights of these three-day meeting will concern recent developments at international level, Roma women, including early marriages, Roma youth, Roma children and education , and migration, among others.

Joint meetings between Community Action Groups and Local Authorities representatives took place in Byala Slatina and Shumen, to discuss problems Roma communities are locally faced with. 

The latest report of the European Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Region on the implementation of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies were published on the 2nd of April 2014. Click on the icon to read the entire document, or visit one of the country pages for country-specific information

On 4th of April, the European Commission organised the 3rd Roma Summit in Brussels – the first high profile meeting since the creation of the EU framework for national Roma integration strategies in 2011.

The National Pedagogical Documentation Center (CNDP) of the French National Educational system just published its magazine “Diversité”, a first 2014 issue that deals with mediation in various contexts and its importance in the application of social policies.

After a successful first training cycle in 2012-2013, a new group of Roma, Gypsies and Travellers will start the ROMED Training of Mediators in Manchester from 26 to 29 March. Around 25 trainee mediators from all over the United Kingdom will participate, together with representatives from employers, local and national authorities and NGOs. Organised once again in cooperation with our dedicated UK training team, as well as the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers (ACERT), ROMED National Focal Point for the United Kingdom, a number of trained mediators from the first cycle will return to share their experiences and demonstrate how they have put into practice their acquired knowledge one year on from completion of their training.

Report from Zemfira Kondur – National Focal Point for ROMED in Ukraine.

Following the invitation of the Odessa Regional Administration on the 14 and 16 March 2014, the ROMED training for Roma mediators and social workers took place in Odessa, Ukraine.

23 Roma mediators and social workers from Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporozhie, Transcarpathia , Kiev and Odessa participated in the three-days training. The main aim of the training was to improve the skills of mediators in the social sphere, and for

social specialists to improve their skills in their work with Roma families through mediation.