ERIO Presents Best Practices of Social Inclusion of Roma in Barcelona

Between 21- 23 February 2007, ERIO’s representatives made an important contribution to a workshop in Barcelona, Spain. The workshop was organized under the project ‘Policies on Roma’s Social Inclusion in Europe: Towards Succeeding in Social Intervention’ (ROMAin), of which ERIO is a partner. This project, coordinated by the Department of Welfare and Family of the Government of Catalonia, Spain, aims to contribute to the social inclusion of Roma through reviewing good practices concerning policies on Roma inclusion and set up a list of recommendations about how such practices should be applied in specific regions.
ERIO’s representatives introduced positive practices for social inclusion already implemented in several EU Member States. They also highlighted that EU investments in policies for Roma’s social inclusion should be strategically focused. In order to have a long-term impact, coordination during the process and evaluation on completion is needed. The involvement of Roma in all levels of the process was also highlighted an important factor for successful implementation of these policies.

ERIO proposed recommendations that call for devised national strategies and developed, comprehensive legislative frameworks, which are necessary to ensure the level of coordinated and multilayered activity across all sectors and which address all issues faced by Roma in their every day life.