Guide for local, municipal and regional authorities working with the Roma community in the structural funds Brian Harvey Prague 11 th May 2011

Purpose of the guide Promote participation of local, municipal and regional authorities in structural funds for benefit of the Roma community, outlining: Situation of the Roma community Structural funds Potential of structural funds with Roma community Role of local, municipal and regional authorities. This is the core issue. Next round of structural funds

Situation of Roma community Growing concern by European institutions Ten common basic principles for Roma inclusion (2009) Specific initiatives to promote greater involvement in EU funds in general, structural funds in particular Community instruments & policies, 2008 Roundtable Fundamental Rights Agency, 2009 Commission expert group, 2010 Improving the tools – expert group report and project examples, 2010

Why structural funds are important Size: substantial resources (€347bn) Duration: seven-year timeframe Enough to make a difference Introduce European issues and concerns into national agenda Partnership principle, giving better results Organized, disciplined structure, with monitoring, indicators, evaluation Possibility of sharing, learning across member states

Structural funds: critical features for us Quality of design NSRF, operational programmes, which depends on Quality of consultation process Operation of partnership principle (#11) Identifies local, regional authorities Who delivers? Regulations actually say very little, but... Local, regional bodies can be managing authorities Degree of openness to multiple delivery agents Quality of delivery systems Availability of global grants (#42,43)

Current delivery systems Regulations say little about who delivers, but there is scope for delivery by local and regional authorities and through global grants, with technical assistance to make their task easier

Structural funds and Roma people: scope ESF regulation Does not name Roma but broad scope in employment, training, enterprise, discrimination Includes funding to build capacity project promoters ERDF regulation Local development Neighbourhood services Health and social infrastructure High concentrations social problems and from 2010: Renovation of housing Non-profit or municipal housing for low-income households

Structural funds, Roma people: instruction to desk officers Education Employment Housing and habitat Health services, facilities Women

Structural funds and Roma people: practice History of projects to pre-accession programmes Mixture of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ projects Community facilities, health centres Education, training, Roma economy Discrimination, capacity building But issues, problems Projects too short, too small, too fast Tackling soft issues, not deeper problems Top down, not consultative or participatory Lack of institutional, policy linkages Weak on indicators, evaluation, dissemination, self-criticism

Structural funds and Roma people: preparation Two years ahead, to ensure consultation Allocate staff, train them Identify technical requirements at start Engage with managing authority Build financial reserve Ensure quality management by managing authority. Good authorities: Publish guidance manual Set down MOU for operations Train people in structural fund operation Hotline for problems

Structural funds and Roma people: good practice Bottom-up, empowering Multi-dimensional, gender sensitive Partnership approach Scale, mass, duration to make impact Linked to national strategies, institutions, policies, long-term change Hard as well as soft issues Address root causes, inequality, rights Indicators, evaluation for impact, progression Leave a legacy

Why local, regional authorities should participate Providers key services Social, health, education services, utilities, housing Important deciders at local level Especially settlement, spatial & physical planning Arbitrators of competing claims Especially disputes with settled community Neutral political role Good faith broker to build partnerships

Why there has not been more so far National governments slow to involve local, regional government Politically contentious to some local voters Low technical capacity, inexperience Operating structural funds can be difficult, complex

Routes to participation Ask for involvement in national consultation process (‘open the door’) Ask for a strand/measures in OPs E.g. ERDF and or ESF HR OP As managing authority/global grant Develop vision, programme for working with Roma community Avoid ‘follow-the-money approach’ Acquire technical capacity Look for technical assistance (#46, regulation) Build skills, training necessary

A ‘good’ measure/strand/OP Involve Roma community as partners, from design > evaluation Clear understanding situation of Roma Transfer learning previous programme What the measure will do: Amounts, how, what, direct & indirect System for calling for, selecting projects Quality management Indicators, monitoring, evaluation

‘Good’ measures: instructions to desk officers Workshops to promote, develop partnership Lead role for mayors Programmes should be long term Short-term interventions only in context of long-term plans Participating NGOs must have good cash flow Following Roma projects must be priority of monitoring committees Quality datasets, indicators

Guidelines for projects developed by local, regional authorities Build on core competences (housing etc) Involve, empower Roma community Link to all sections of authority New routes for Roma to work with officials, elected representatives Leave legacy Improved relationship New systems, protocols, dialogue, mediation E.g. Roma representative council Systems for self-critical sharing with other authorities

Next round of structural funds 2011 June Regulations (debated ) 2012Common Strategic Framework Negotiate Development and Investment Partnership Contract 2013 Negotiate operational programmes 2013National consultations 2014Start new round

The next round Key stage for local and regional authorities is, during the national consultations, presenting a case for their own involvement, with a ready-to-go plan

Aims, objectives of next round EU2020 strategy 16% reduction poverty From 120m to 100m Education Reduce ESL from 15% to 10% Secondary participation from 31% to 40% Environment 20/20/20 R&D to 3% Participation employment 69% to 75%

Key proposals from Investing in Europe’s future 5 objectives Convergence, competitiveness, intermediate, cross-border, territorial cohesion (cities & urban agenda) Thematic priorities Local development Active inclusion Regeneration deprived areas Areas of concentrated deprivation Institutional reform, administrative capacity Social innovation

Key proposals from European Platform on poverty Simplified access to funds Easier access for groups in high poverty, multiple disadvantage Global grants Concentration on vulnerable groups, esp. Roma community New fund social experimentation, part drawn from ESF

Regulations: watch for: Scope of next round How commitments of Investing in Europe’s future, platform are put into effect Stated role for local, municipal authorities Iteration of partnership principle Delivery mechanisms e.g. global grants Improved, simplified access Ensuring wider use technical assistance

Next steps for local, regional authorities Identify, prepare projects in consultation with Roma community (now) Prepare, present model measures/OP Outline purpose, budgets, management etc Request role as managing authority either or own or as part of global grant Look for distinct strand(s) delivered by local, regional authorities Ask for support from desk officers Get in technical assistance to plan, train

The next steps The time to set this in train is now, to have a presentation and plan ready for when the national consultations begin. It will work best in a broad, deep national consultation process.

Finally, key messages Situation Roma attracting more attention Considerable scope in ESF, ERDF So far, limited contribution But new hopes in Cohesion report, platform Now is time to prepare an involvement in next round Approach national authorities Participate in national consultation process Prepare a distinct strand(s), programme, projects Apply lessons of what makes for good programmes, projects Thank you for your attention!