The Board of Directors of the Roma Education Fund (REF) extended their gratitude towards the Government of Serbia for hosting REF’s headquarters in Belgrade in the upcoming ten years (2020-2030). This communication took place during an official meeting of the REF’s Board with Ana Brnabic, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia.
Roma Education Fund and the Government of the Republic Serbia, reached a consent to formalize their partnership by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation. This document will have the aim to harmonize goals of REF Strategic Framework (2021-2030) with the ongoing policy commitments in Serbia, which are related to increasement of educational and employment opportunities for Roma. REF Board will ensure that the Memorandum of Understanding is in line with the EU post-2020 agenda, i.e. the Poznan declaration to be signed by all Western Balkan governments, serving as a new momentum for aligning Roma inclusion policies with EU accession of the region.
Further, REF’s Board and executives have held meetings with the state secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, Dr Marko S. Milenkovic and representatives of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Zoran Lakicevic, responsible for coordination and monitoring the implementation of the Strategy for social inclusion of Roma men and women in Serbia.
From 1st to 3rd July, REF’s Board meeting is taking place in Belgrade. Part of the agenda are the bilateral meetings with Serbian state officials and the representatives of the EU Delegation in the country.
