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Program Strategy |
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Roma Program Progress Report 2008 Program Progress Report "Roma of Ukraine" 2007 Roma Program Strategy, 2007-2009
- PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The International Renaissance Foundation is one of a few institutions in Ukraine which support Roma initiatives. The IRF adopted a first program fully devoted to the Roma issue in 1999. During 1999 – 2002, the IRF supported a considerable number of projects submitted by Roma organizations and prevailingly related to educational and cultural initiatives of Roma public associations (support for festivals, bands, Roma Sunday schools etc). Thanks to this activity, contacts with the most active organizations of Roman communities were established. Cooperation with IRF specialists helped Roma association leaders to better realize their priorities, identify key problems and develop activity strategies for their organizations for the near future. This promoted the IRF activity in this area to a new organizational stage, resulting in a separate Roma program.
Starting form 2002, the Program began shifting its focus from the cultural field to supporting improvements in the state Roma policy (policy initiatives). A first step in this direction was support for a large-scale social study, thanks to which a first state program to support the Roma population in Ukraine was adopted in 2003. In the following years, the Program worked to create favorable conditions for Roma NGOs exercising their control over the state authorities responsible for the implementation of the Program (public and parliamentary hearings, roundtables etc).
The Program of support for training of Roma youth at higher educational establishments during 2000-2005 allowed a large group of Roma youth to attain higher education. Operating since 2004, the Roma Memorial University scholarship program allowed releasing Program resources to support initiative in other spheres.
During 2004-2006, the biggest human rights project was in operation in Ukraine in partnership with the European Center for the Rights of Roma, co-financed by the European Union and the IRF. The project was aimed at improving access to justice for Roma people. Anyhow, the project terminates in 2006 but the need remains to support the wave of human rights movement and continue work in this area.
Also in 2006, the Program Council supported an array of projects submitted by Roma NGOs and aimed at improving access to medical services. The level of socially dependable diseases (tuberculosis, hepatitis etc) in Roma communities (especially in Transcarpathia) calls for an immediate action.
2. ENVIRONMENT
Context
Roma is one of the most vulnerable ethnic and cultural communities in Ukraine. According to official statistics, there are close to 50 000 Roma residing in Ukraine, but specialists believe their population actually exceeds 150 000 people. Problems of the Roma minority still do not attract due attention of official politics. There is an openly negative attitude towards Roma in the Ukrainian society. There is also discrimination against Roma at the level of social services, law enforcement bodies etc. Roma suffer most from unemployment, illiteracy, and unsanitary living conditions.
Since the IRF is the pioneer among donor organizations whose activities include tackling problems of Roma communities, it is a priority task for our organization to act as an agent in establishing the cooperation of Roma organizations with international agencies, NGOs and state institutions interested, potentially interested in or responsible for solving Roma minority problems. In view of an actuate shortage of state funds allocated for the resolution of these problems, one of the most important tasks for the IRF is to engage other donor agencies to the Roma issue.
The experience gained from the fulfillment of the National Program to Satisfy the Needs of Roma in the Social, Educational and Cultural Spheres in 2003-2006 was analyzed by all stakeholders, including the Parliament Committee for Human Rights, Ethnic Minorities and Inter-ethnic Relations, the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Migration, the IRF and representatives of Roma communities, during March 2004 all-Ukrainian public hearings and April 2005 Parliament committees hearings. It was pointed out that the state policy related to the Roma minority required substantial adjustments, i.e. a new document had to be adopted to provide clear guarantee of budget financing of the most problem-ridden areas of the Roma community in Ukraine and envisage monitoring mechanisms for such state obligations, including through the invitation of Roma NGOs to this process.
There is a deeply rooted, widespread practice of violation of the Roma rights by law enforcement agencies, educational and medical establishments. Cases of direct and indirect discrimination against Roma are rife. As a rule, courts make their decisions not in favor of Roma. Generally speaking, Roma have so far not enjoyed access to quality legal services.
A matter of special concern is the statistics reflecting the level of medical services provision to Roma people. For example, in many camps in the Transcarpathian oblast, the number of TB-affected people exceeds Ukraine’s average by tens of times.
Pressing needs
The Program is to focus on the following activities in the coming years:
- Enhancement of the state policy concerning the Roma minority.
- Provision of legal aid to protect Roma rights.
- Ensuring access of Roma people to medical services
3. TASKS AND RESULTS
The goal of the Program remains support for initiatives aimed at the development and monitoring of an effective state policy with regard to Roma of Ukraine, a higher level of legal protection of Roma and of medical services provided to Roma people.
Program priorities:
Support for initiatives related to analysis of the fulfillment of the "National Program to Satisfy Ethno-Social and Cultural-Educational Needs of Roma of Ukraine for the Period until 2006" with the purpose of developing a new national document which would take into account the shortcomings and declarative nature of its predecessor. In cooperation with Council of Europe experts and taking into consideration experience of eastern European countries, the new Program has to become a principally new step forward in satisfying the needs of the Roma community and a piece of evidence of Ukraine’s progress on its Euro-integration path as regards ethnic minorities. A separate task here will be support for Ukraine’s entry into the Roma Integration Decade, an initiative that allows access of Roma in nine European countries to resources of the EU, World Bank etc.
A Program activity area for years to come is support for enhancing access of Roma people to medical services. The Roma-populated areas show extremely high statistics of so-called socially dependant diseases, including tuberculosis. In cooperation with the program "Roma Health" of the Open Society Institute-New York, a network of Roma medical mediators is planned to be set up. This practice is similar to those introduced in the countries that signed the Decade of Roma Inclusion Agreement.
Support for legal aid centers for Roma based on Roma human rights organizations which will become active after the termination of the all-Ukrainian project "Defending the Rights of Roma in Ukraine and Ensuring their Access to Justice" in cooperation with the European Center for Roma Rights and the European Commission.
Actions
"Enhancement of State Policy Regarding the Roma Community in Ukraine" Competition (the competition goal is to support the development and adoption of state strategies, programs, laws and by-laws which would improve life of Roma in Ukraine).
Timeframe: 2007 – 2009.
"Enhancement of Access of Roma People to Medical Services" Competition (the goal is to support the development of a network of Roma medical assistants responsible for contracts between Roma communities and medical establishments).
Timeframe: 2007 – 2009.
"Support for Roma Human Rights Centers in their Efforts to Ensure Access of Roma to Justice" Competition (the goal is to support Roma human rights organizations in their efforts to ensure access of Roma people to justice and protection of Roma rights).
Timeframe: 2007 – 2009.
Expected results
The Program targets the following goals to be achieved during 2007-2009:
- The activity to improve the life conditions of the Roma community in Ukraine has progressed to a principally new stage thanks to the developed and implemented National Program to Satisfy Ethno-Social and Cultural-Educational Needs of Roma of Ukraine; in addition, a public discussion on the Program fulfillment will allow all the involved parties (state bodies, Roma communities and NGOs, international institutions) to continually exchange their ideas and join efforts in search for successful solutions to the problems of Ukrainian Roma in all relevant areas.
- An improved access to medical services has ended the epidemic of socially dependant diseases, including tuberculosis, in the Roma populated areas.
- Enhanced access to legal protection and justice.
Risks
The highest risks are:
- Instability of state institutions and possible changes in the country’s development vector, which may impede progress in joining to the Decade of Roma Inclusion;
- The human rights component may face unwillingness of the law enforcement agencies to duly react to Roma rights violations;
- The planned activity in the medical field will ultimately depend on the degree of cooperation with the Health Department and the Ministry of Health. It is hard to tell now how successful this cooperation will be after the new government of Ukraine is created.
4. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
Program Manager
Program Council
IRF Board
Cooperation with other IRF programs
Contacts with the following IRF programs are planned:
- The Public Health Initiatives Program — with regard to Roma’s access to medical services;
- The Rule of Law Program and Civil Society Impact Enhancement Program — in the field of human rights and support for the development of state documents protecting the rights of the Roma community in Ukraine;
- The East-East Program — to take advantage of its possibilities to establish contacts with international organizations (the Council of Europe etc) and Roma NGOs in eastern and central European countries, the CIS and the Baltics.
Information about the activity of donor/public organizations in the field covered by the Program and cooperation with them
The IRF is the only international organization in Ukraine that persistently works to resolve the Roma issues and has a special program entitled Roma of Ukraine whose top priorities include search for opportunities to attract resources of donor organizations and join efforts of donors which provide sporadic and unsystematic support for initiatives by Roma NGOs.
The organizations that support Roma initiatives include the Carpathian Fund which is currently implementing the Romanet program in the Carpathian region.
The IRF systematically exchanges information with the key donor in this sphere in Ukraine, the International Migration Organization, which has provided US$ 5 million worth of support to Ukrainian Roma since 2002. Other organizations that provide sporadic support to Roma NGOs are the US and Canadian Embassies as well as the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development.
Since April 1, 2004, Ukraine’s largest Roma human rights project has been active in the country. The project provides for monitoring of Roma rights violations in 15 regions of Ukraine, initiation of lawsuits on facts of such violations and strategic efforts to combat ethnic discrimination (development and advocacy of a relevant draft jointly supported by the IRF and the European Commission).
The Program performance is to be evaluated internally and externally on the basis of qualitative and quantitative performance indicators (by the Program Manager, Program Council members, and invited experts) first in late 2007, and thereafter — once a year.
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