Call for proposals: Support towards a European Roma organisation

One of the objectives of the Community Action Programme to combat discrimination is to develop the capacity of Non Governmental Organisations to tackle discrimination in an effective manner, in particular by strengthening these organisations’ means of action through support for networking at European level.

The Council decision establishing the Community Action Programme to combat discrimination makes provision for the Community to contribute to the running costs of European-level networks of organisations of non-governmental organisations. It stresses their important contribution towards a better understanding of the diverse forms and effects of discrimination and to ensuring that the design, implementation and follow-up of the programme take account of the experience of people exposed to discrimination.

Recent developments have confirmed the importance of ensuring a proper channel of communication between the European Institutions and Roma communities. The study supported by the Community Programme to combat discrimination on the situation of Roma, confirms that although Roma constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe, they are among the most deprived groups and are vulnerable to particular forms of discrimination. The Commission believes that in order to ensure the mainstreaming of Roma issues in EU policies, it will be necessary to provide ad hoc funding to a representative Roma network. Such an approach has already been successfully implemented in the disability context. Furthermore the Council Decision establishing the Community Programme to combat discrimination calls for "specific forms of discrimination to be accommodated". Such ad hoc support has demonstrated added value and complementarity with mainstream interventions.