Empowering Lives, Building Resilience | VOLUME 2
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The Roma
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the programme concluded in 2011—but the work goes on. Many Roma live in extreme poverty, with incomes of just a few dollars a day. They lack basic school education, and are deprived of employment opportunities. They suffer from inconsistent efforts to promote their interests. Integrating them into society has become a key priority for the European Union, and a key rationale for the programme. Benefitting over 34,000 people, the programme gave hundreds of Roma legal status, strengthened policies by embedding Roma coordinators at the local level, and helped the Roma organize local projects to improve their livelihoods. The work continues to this day as national authorities have assumed responsibilities previously carried out by international organizations.
Montenegro: helping the Roma become citizens in their own country
Roma muncipal coordinators take part in a training course. © UNDP Serbia
For many Roma in Montenegro, having valid personal documents is often a distant dream, so the programme began by helping them obtain legal documents. Take Barisa Span. He was on the right track by some measures. Married and the father of five, he held a stable job in Montenegro as a manual labourer. But his papers told a different story. Born in Yugoslavia, he didn’t have Montenegrin citizenship. By 2008, Montenegro required him to get national citizenship or risk losing his job. He didn’t know where to turn. Span was not alone. In 2008, in three municipalities of Montenegro—Berane, Niksic and Bar—approximately 75 percent of the population lacked personal documents. Working with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UNDP helped 626 Roma gain proper documents in three municipalities of Montenegro. The percentage of people registered with employment bureaus rose by 67 percent in these municipalities.
Bridging two worlds In order to support the Roma, two challenges needed to be addressed. First, they needed help in understanding administrative processes. Many didn’t know how to communicate with state agencies in their jargon. And state agencies were often poorly equipped to serve the Roma—to understand their different living conditions, habits and culture. Two worlds existed apart. UNDP built the capacity of local NGOs to help the Roma put their papers together and understand the procedures involved. Sweden’s SIDA funded all the administrative fees and travel needed for processing of the documents. For Span, NGO staff travelled to Serbia several times to cancel his Serbian citizenship, which he had automatically received after the break-up of Yugoslavia. The trips would have cost him 500 euros, far more than his monthly salary. UNDP also conducted training courses for social welfare centres and employment bureaus so they could better serve the Roma. For the first time, state employees visited