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PROJECT PROMOTER: THE ROMANIAN INSTITUTE FOR RESEACRH ON NATIONAL MINORITIES 400697 Cluj-Napoca, Str. Gavril Muzicescu nr. 5.

Tel: 0040 364 116261, Fax: 00 40 364 103177 E-mail: office@ispmn.gov.ro Web: www.ispmn.gov.ro

PARTNERS: THE FOUNDATION FOR AN OPEN SOCIETY 010613 Bucureşti, Sector 1, Str. Căderea Bastiliei nr. 33.

Tel: 0040 21 212 1101/02, Fax: 0040 21 212 1032 E-mail: info@fundatia.ro Web: www.fundatia.ro THE RESEARCH CENTRE ON INTERETHNIC RELATIONS 400604 Cluj-Napoca, B-dul 21 Decembrie 1989, nr. 128.

E-mail: socioromap.ccrit@gmail.com Web: www.ccrit.ro Editor: The Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, February, 2015 For official information on “Poverty Alleviation” Programme please access www.norwaygrants-povertyalleviation.org For official information on EEA and Norway Grants please access www.norwaygrants.org

SocioRoMap Socio-graphic mapping of the Roma communities in Romania for a community-level monitoring of changes with regard to Roma integration

Why is this project needed?

Romania has the biggest Roma population in Europe although the figures vary greatly depending on the source. Besides statistics, currently there is an information gap regarding the socio-economic and fundamental rights situation of the Romanian Roma communities. Relevant and reliable local level data on the status of these communities, their needs and priorities, the structure of the material and human capital is critical for identifying priorities regarding policies and interventions and monitoring progress.

However, working networks capable of generating such data and using them in the Roma inclusion process are missing. This is one of the weakest links in the institutional infrastructure of Roma inclusion.

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specific and relevant research tools in line with the methodologies and estimated results;  a set of interactive social maps regarding the socio-demographic and economic profile of the Roma communities;  research report and scientific articles;  an online platform will be created and promoted, the results of the crowdsourcing component will be capitalised in order to consolidate local and national networks.

Our entire undertaking will stimulate local participation and accountability, it will encourage partnerships and the involvement of the academic world.

Results

What is our response to the current situation?

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Within the framework of this project we will develop and implement a system of mapping and monitoring the socio-economic and fundamental rights situation of the Roma communities in Romania at the local level.

One of the major objectives of this project is to identify, to make an inventory of and briefly describe certain relatively segregated Roma communities, characterised by relative deprivation at the level of local administrations from Romania Systematic data collection at the local level, structured on the basis of a well-defined set of indicators, clear qualitative criteria, precise methodologies and the continuity of the data collection process are crucial.

All these elements will be elaborated and tested during the project in order to establish and put in place such a sustainable structure of data collection.

A network will be set up within this project which will not only serve as a basis for the monitoring system at the national level, but will also produce comparable data at the EU level.

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What will the project achieve?

Our aim is to map 3.181 rural and urban administrative-territorial units, to elaborate sociological descriptions for 50 urban localities with more than 30.000 inhabitants and 25 community studies.

We will elaborate:  research methodologies specific to rural settlements, small and medium towns, as well as areas from big cities where the Roma population is concentrated;

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indicators showing policy progress and outcomes from the local to the national level; reliable data populating the indicators at regular intervals; a more clear picture of the needs and priorities identified for an efficient and balanced development of local communities; a useful tool for public policies initiated by the Romanian state, as well as by other international and transnational actors interested in eradicating poverty, local development and the promotion of the success rate of certain marginal groups.

Impact In the long term, the project aims to direct the actions of actors who wish to offer assistance to administrative units and local societies confronted with the existence of communities that are territorially well-delimited, relatively isolated from a spatial or social point of view and where the probability of life below the poverty line is very high, as well as communities considered to be composed mostly of people of Roma origin, yet situated in localities with non-Roma majorities. Usually, these local administrations or societies lack the resources, the know-how or a firm local political will to assist these territorially segregated and marginal communities through their integration process.

The project will provide information and reliable data both for public institutions with specific responsibilities in the elaboration of relevant public policies and efficient measures in the field of inclusion, for authorities that develop programmes and grant schemes for projects that aim to improve social inclusion, as well as for NGOs that will propose specific interventions in order to respond to the real needs of the communities.