On the 12 and 13 March 2014, ROMED2 was officially launched in Lisbon, Portugal in the presence of municipality representatives, mediators and facilitators of Community Action Groups from 8 municipalities: Beja, Figueria do Foz, Coimbra, Seixal, Elvas, Moura, Abrantes and Barcelos, several of which have already expressed and signed their commitment to the programme. The Launch event was followed by a first national workshop where the same actors gathered to discuss the future implementation of ROMED2 in the eight municipalities.

On the 14th of March 2014, ROMED2 was officially launched in Lisbon, Portugal in the presence of municipality representatives, mediators and facilitators of Community Action Groups from 8 municipalities: Beja, Figueria do Foz, Coimbra, Seixal, Elvas, Moura, Abrantes and Barcelos, several of which have already expressed and signed their commitment to the programme. The Launch event was followed by a first national workshop where the same actors gathered to discuss the future implementation of ROMED2 in the eight municipalities.

During the past weeks and months, new developments have taken place in Hungary within the ROMED2 process for Democratic Governance and Roma Community participation through mediation

Article by Orhan Tahir – National Project Officer for ROMED2 and ROMACT in Bulgaria.

Българска статия

A follow up event to the Helsinki 4th International Romani Women’s Conference took place in Strasbourg on the 17^th February 2014 gathering 15 Roma women, experts in the Romani Women Issues from Romania, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Republic of Moldova and “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. It intended to take stock of the results of the Finnish Conference and build on the conclusions and recommendations made by the Romani Women present during the Conference.

Article by Liliya Makaveeva and Orhan Tahir – National Project Officers for ROMED2 and ROMACT in Bulgaria.

On 14 January, St Vasili Day in Bulgaria and the mark of the beginning of the Romani New Year, the ROMED Community Action Group of the municipality of Byala Slatina, in cooperation with the Mayor of Byala Slatina, organised the festivities for the event, where around 120 people participated from other localities. The event was possible also thanks to contributions of the municipality, local businessmen and above all thanks to the commitment and efforts of Roma themselves.

On 18 January 2014, the ROMACT and the ROMED 2 Programmes was  officially launched in Italy, during a conference to be held in Milan. 

The ROMED Programme was awarded the prize for the European Initiative of the Year during the 7^th edition of the Roma Excellency Gala in Bucharest, which took place on 18 December - Minority Rights Day around the world. The event was organised by the Romanian Government, the Agency for Roma, and the “Pro Europa” Roma Party.

It was Mr Teodorovici, Minister for European Funds in the Romanian Government, who handed the award to Ms Aurora Ailincai, Coordinator of the ROMED and ROMACT Joint Programmes of the Council of Europe and European Commission.

On 4^th December 2013, ROMED2 was officially launched in Belgium during an event attended by representatives of the various administrative levels in Belgium, Roma representatives and mediators and several regional offices of the PPS Social Integration, Anti-Poverty Policy, Social Economy and Federal Urban Policy Department of the Federal Government. The Programme will involve Roma communities in the framework of the PPS SI, in adaptation to the Belgian context of democratic governance.

The event was marked by strong testimonies from mediators present, trained during the first phase of the Programme, as well as by the exchanges on Roma community organizing with Ms Liliya Makaveeva, member of the National Support Team of ROMED2 and ROMACT programmes in Bulgaria.

The ROMED2 Training of Trainers session started yesterday in Bucharest, with many exciting items on the agenda and plenty of goodwill from all the people involved.