Following a series of launch events in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, the ROMED2 Programme on democratic governance and community participation through mediation was launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 19th November 2013.

Via http://www.roma-alliance.org

On 5 November, the ROMACT project, as well as the new phase of ROMED2, was officially launched in Slovakia, during a conference held in the City of Kosice. On the occasion of event the Slovakian authorities also presented the three years' action plan for the implementation of the Dosta! Campaign.

ROMED2 was launched in Greece at an event that took place in Athens between the 23rd and 25th October, with the attendance of the Greek Deputy Minister of Interior, Mr Leonidas Grigorakos and of the representatives of the municipalities of Iraklion, Ilion, Ilida, Komotini, Mesologi and Thessaloniki. The meeting was chaired by Ms Louisa Kyriakaki, expert on Roma issue and member of the Ad-hoc Committee of experts on Roma issues of the Council of Europe (CAHROM – link to article on the 6th meeting).

After two previous groups of mediators trained, a 3^rd group started the ROMED Training Programme in Ukraine. From 18 to 20 October 2013 the first session of Training of Mediators and Social Workers in Ukraine took place in Kirovograd. This session, organised by  the International Charitable Organisation Roma Women Fund “Chiricli” had a very strategic approach by providing  training to both mediators and social workers, and acts as a transition from the first phase of ROMED to ROMED2, which will focus on the inclusion of Roma in democratic governance at local level. The administration of the city of Kirovograd expressed a strong political commitment to the implementation of ROMED in their community and hosted the event.

Following the launching event, which took place in Budapest on 4 October 2013, the first workshop of the ROMACT and ROMED2 programmes took place on Friday, 18 Oct 2013 in the same city.

The launch event was attended by Romanian and European officials the complete list of which can be found in the agenda of the event, and among which Mr Daniel Vasile, President of National Agency for Roma, and Mr Florin Manole, President of Local Elected Roma Association. 

The ROMACT and ROMED2 and programmes were launched on Monday, 14 october 2013 in Albena, Bulgaria in the presence of Ms Zinaida Zlatanova, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Chair of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues.

The new ROMACT and ROMED2 Programmes were launched in Hungary on Friday 4 October at a national conference attended by over 100 national and international players.

After two years of implementation in 22 countries and over 1000 mediators trained, the ROMED2 Programme is about to be launched.  A new joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Commission, ROMACT will also be launched, with the aim of building the political commitment of local authorities and their capacity of policy development.