The (new) ERGO Network
Strong and independent grassroots and community-based organisations are the key for Roma to become equal stakeholders in society. They contribute to the success of Roma inclusion policies by organising pressure from below and active involvement in design and implementation of programmes and projects at local, national and international level.
ERGO Network supports and promotes grassroots empowerment to overcome the discrimination, anti-Gypsyism and stigmatization that are root obstacles for their equal participation in society. Through grassroots mobilization, activism and leadership at all levels of society, ERGO Network encourages Roma to attain respect for their rights as equal citizens. To enhance its impact and operational strength, ERGO Network joined forces with Spolu International Foundation and formally merged in November 2010. ...more...
News
1st Roma Café with our special guests Adriatic Hasantari and Gerta Xega from Roma Active Albania (January 30, 2012, Brussels)
ERGO Network has a pleasure to invite you to 1st Roma Café with our special guests Adriatic Hasantari and Gerta Xega from Roma Active Albania who will be opening a topic "Views on empowerment of young Roma people". It will take place on January 30, 2012 from 19 o´clock in Mundo B Bulding, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, Brussels. Read more about the event and the concept of Roma Café.
REACT: Results, achievements and lessons learned
On 28 and 29 November, ERGO Network and its partners received activists, stakeholders and policymakers from across Europe for the closing conference of the REACT-campaign. Over 80 people gathered in Brussels for working groups and debates. The conference ended with a public on Tuesday afternoon, 29 November. Visit www.ergonetwork.org/REACT for a full overview of the rich collection of the material and testminonies from the campaign.
Bulgarian media paint biased image of Roma
7 October 2011 - Between February and August 2011 – a group of seven Bulgarian Roma students monitored ten national and local newspapers and electronic media outlets and analysed the way they write about Roma. This week and last week they presented their report and main findings at public events in Plovdiv, Blavgoevgrad and Sofia. “Roma are presented as foreigners, as people who do not belong in Bulgarian society. There is no serious social analysis and reporting regularly mocks Roma as funny characters," says project coordinator Ognyan Isaev. ... more ...
"Break the silence on violence against Roma"
28 September 2011 - Roma Youth organisations today urge the Council of Europe, European governments and EU institutions to break the silence on the acts of violence against Roma and the rise of extremism, racism and anti-Gypsyism in several European countries. To express their solidarity with Roma in Bulgaria, Hungary and Czech Republic and elsewhere, participants of the International Roma Youth Conference demonstrated in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg today and issued a joint declaration.
Mayors ally for Roma inclusion
23 September 2011 - The Council of Europe this Thursday brought mayors and representatives of local and regional authorities to Strasbourg to discuss their role in promoting Roma inclusion. ERGO Network brought Tsonko Tsonev, mayor of Kavarna in Bulgaria there, together with Zoran Aleksov from Stip, Macedonia, to present their experiences and connect to colleagues from across Europe. Tsonev and Aleksov were the winners of the Most Roma Friendly Mayor elections in their countries which was organized by ERGO Network in 2009. ... more ...
Roma Women activism key to improve health situation
19 September 2011 – With the support of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Brussels, ERGO Network brought four Women Roma activists to the 11th International Women Health Meeting in Brussels. From 13 to 17 September, ERGO Network’s Gabriela Hrabanova, Isabela Mihalache previously from ERRC, Gerta Xega from Roma Active Albania, and Natalia Bernard, social worker from Ostrava, Czech Republic joined over 200 women activists and advocates gathered from across the world. ... more ...
Track the Process: NGO involvement in Roma Strategies
3 August 2011 - After the endorsement of the EU Roma Framework by the European Council on 24 June, Member States get to work and prepare their so-called “National Roma Integration Strategies”. ERGO Network wants to track how that process is unfolding: in Bulgaria, the government established a working group with civil society representatives under its National Council for Ethnic and Integration Issues (NCEII). Integro Association’s Lili Makaveeva is present. She suggested to organize regional roundtables: not only to make a pertinent problem analysis but also to mobilize stakeholders at the regional and local level. ... more ...
ERGO Network reinforces team
25 July 2011 - In July 2011 Gabriela Hrabanova - former Head of the Roma Office in the Czech government - joined the team of ERGO Network in Brussels. As Policy Coordinator Gabriela will strengthen ERGO Network’s strategic and programme development, while her extensive experience will greatly contribute to its advocacy in Brussels. ... more ...
A step in the right direction: EU Roma Framework adopted across the Union
19 May 2011 - In a climate of growing discrimination, violence and harassment of Europe’s Roma population, the European Roma Policy Coalition (ERPC) has welcomed today’s adoption by all 27 EU countries of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. The framework, agreed under the aegis of the Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council (ESPCO), commits the 27 member states to systematically tackling the socio-economic exclusion Roma people across Europe are forced to endure... more...
Bulgarian Prosecutor to tackle early marriages
On 21 April 2011, a spokesperson of Bulgarian National Prosecutor declared on national channel BTV, that the judiciary is confronting the silent practice of routinely adjourning cases of early or forced marriages. The news was welcomed by the Roma women of the Sandanski Mother Center – established with support of Integro Association and ERGO Network. In November 2009 they initiated a petition against the neglect of judicial authorities regarding early marriages in Roma communities. ... more ...
ERPC: EU Roma Framework Weak on Discrimination against Roma
5 April 2011 - The European Roma Policy Coalition (ERPC) acknowledges the European Commission’s political commitment to Roma inclusion expressed today by the adoption of its EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. However, the Framework falls far short of fully tackling the challenges of Roma exclusion, which are intimately linked to widespread hostility and discrimination against the Roma people. ... more ...
"You can't fix the Roma"
23 March 2011 - Policymakers must start changing their perspective to Roma issues, said ERGO Network’s Valeriu Nicolae today. “You cannot fix the Roma,” Nicolae said, “but that has always been the approach: how to house us, how to get us to work, how to get us to school. It will not work.” Nicolae spoke at the presentation of the book “Roma: A European Minority”, published by the S&D Group in the European Parliament, to which both he and Lili Makaveeva, of Integro Association, contributed. ... more ...
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