Representatives of municipalities and towns took part in a working meeting organised by the project We are Here Together – European Support for Roma Inclusion, funded by the European Union and implemented by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
The working meeting inArandjelovac,held 15-16th May, brought together over 50 representativesof pilot municipalities/towns the project has been working with. Heads of municipal/town governments, Roma coordinators and professionals in urbanism and Roma housing took part in dynamic and interactive discussionsand exchange of ideas about specific aspects of the project that assists Serbian institutions in the improvement of life of Roma people, through promoting access to basic rights, civic participation, labour market, education, health, social welfare, adequate housing, as well as through job creation.
The first day of the meeting was dedicated to Roma housing, providing an overview of the assessment of Roma settlements in 20 pilot municipalities, and with a particular emphasis on the development and identification of appropriate models for improving Roma housing.
The results of a mapping of civil society organizations in the 20 pilot municipalities, as well as a discussion on the current achievements and plans of the inter-sectoral mobile teams were presentedin the panels on the second day.
A session was also dedicated to the creation of aForum forCooperation between these 20 municipalities/towns, which will enable information and best practices-sharing among them. The name of the forum “Patrin” is a Romani word for leaf (trail) that the Roma used to place as a mark or sign for other travellers. Similarly, the pilot municipalities and towns provide directions and advice, while sharing knowledge and experiences.
Endorsing the initiative, Luca Manunta, Programme Manager of the EU Delegation to Serbia,emphasised the importance of local level cooperation to solve mutual problems more effectively. He said that the EU Delegation is looking forward to finding out more about similar community of practices, and that successful models of knowledge exchange would be supported in the future.
Emphasising the importance of cooperating to solve mutual problems more effectively, the EU Delegation endorsed the initiative and will support the Forum thoroughly.
