Press Release by MEP Lívia Járóka
The EPP Roma Working Group held an open session Thursday afternoon to discuss and evaluate the results of the EU pilot project on Roma inclusion.
Press Release by MEP Lívia Járóka
The EPP Roma Working Group held an open session Thursday afternoon to discuss and evaluate the results of the EU pilot project on Roma inclusion. Lívia Járóka, chairwoman of the Working Group emphasized that assessing the transferability of programmes, strengthening their monitoring and developing an early warning mechanism for failing projects were the necessary prerequisites of upscaling real good practices.
MEP Lívia Járóka highlighted that upscaling specific projects with indisputable results were necessary to move a strategy beyond words to actions. “Besides strengthening evaluation and monitoring mechanisms, it is indispensable to check transferability of the applied methods and to provide a system of early warning, so that any specific project or action in difficulties could be addressed with a view to resolving the problems as rapidly as possible” – she underlined.
The pilot project consists of four strands – early childhood education, microcredit, awareness raising and data collection – and was jointly initiated by the European Parliament’s three largest (EPP, socialist and liberal) groups. The two-year program – as presented by Alexandros Tsolakis, advisor to the director for policy development of the Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy that is responsible for the project – was launched in June 2009.
John Walsh, deputy head of the thematic unit, in DG Regio presented the results of the “Good Start” programme for early childhood education implemented by the Roma Education Fund, the microcredit scheme run by the Hungarian Polgár Foundation and Kiútprogram, and the awareness raising campaign launched by the European Roma Grassroots Organization. The fourth strand of the project focusing on data collection and monitoring was presented by Andrey Ivanov, senior advisor of UNDP and Joost de Laat, economist of the World Bank on behalf of their organizations running the project.
The presentations were followed by a roundtable discussion whith Katarina Mathernova, a senior advisor of the World Bank and Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, Director for Equality in the Commission’s DG Justice. Answering the question of Járóka the director confirmed that the Commission was expecting the submission of the national Roma inclusion strategies until the end of the year, and that after a thorough evaluation the Commission would also present specific recommendations for their revision. Kinga Göncz socialist MEP also joined the session, speaking about the necessity of revising the post-2014 Multiannual Financial Framework in favour of marginalized communities.
Further information:
MEP Lívia Járóka: +32-228-47218
Miklós Panyi, EPP Group Press and Communications Service, Tel: +32-473-866137
