Problem:
Minorities in the countries of the Western Balkans are still severely affected by economic and social discrimination. There is still a lack of capacity in public institutions such as social centres and municipalities to ensure that minorities, including Roma, have sufficient access to public services. In an initial project period in 2016, expertise from minority policy in Schleswig-Holstein was transferred to four Balkan countries. Implementation of the expertise in the Western Balkans with the support of the German partners was not yet possible during the short project duration.
Project objective:
Local actors in the Western Balkans adapt best practices from Schleswig-Holstein to improve Roma access to municipal services to local conditions and begin implementation with the support of partners from Schleswig-Holstein.
Methods/methodical implementation:
During the 2016 project period, the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and the institutions FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities) and ECMI (European Centre for Minority Issues) funded by the federal state shared their knowledge and experience of minority policy and minority access to public services with partners from four countries in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia) and developed initial ideas for implementation options.
The follow-up project starts here and continues the project. Representatives of the eight municipalities will each develop one or two project plans based on their experiences to date and present them in a workshop with the partners from Schleswig-Holstein. One project per municipality will be selected for introduction during the course of the year with the advisory support of the partners from Schleswig-Holstein. The advisory logistics guide can take the form of targeted counselling sessions by telephone and Skype, via Email as well as short-term on-site assignments and the possibility of internships in Schleswig-Holstein institutions. In the last quarter, the services introduced will be presented at a conference on minorities in the Western Balkans. The expertise will be passed on to other municipalities via the conference.
Target groups:
The direct target group is members of (pro-) Roma non-governmental organisations and local authorities.
The Roma population in Serbia, Macedonia, BiH and Kosovo benefit indirectly from the measure.
Partner structure:
Partners are selected decision-makers and project managers from local (pro-)Roma non-governmental organisations as well as municipal administrations and social centres in the four countries of the Western Balkans who already participated in the 2016 BLP project "Promoting Roma access to municipal services in the Western Balkans".
The implementing partners are the SH-based organisations FUEN and ECMI. The implementation of the measures will continue to be closely coordinated with the State Chancellery of Schleswig-Holstein.
Further information on the predecessor project can be found in the factsheet.