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The lack of robust and comprehensive ethnically disaggregated data at national level, including baselines for the monitoring of the national Roma integration strategy (NRIS), led to a preceding project (described as a FRA promising practice in 2020), establishing a comprehensive anonymised database and set of cross-sectoral national indicators on the Roma population in Croatia. As a follow-up, additional regional, sectoral (thematic) and targeted group analysis, followed by recommendations, supplemented the already existing national data set on Roma and enabled the development of a new policy document, the National Roma Integration Plan 2021–2027, which takes into account the regional disparities between Roma and the general population as well as disparities between targeted groups of the general population and targeted groups of Roma: children, youth and women.
Following up the analysis, a number of activities were carried out (such as a national campaign and fieldwork with Roma parents, youth and children) aiming to address the baseline data resulting from the research in the area of education, as were capacity-building activities for NPRI implementation at regional and local levels.
The project intervention logic continues as a long-term process, including evaluation of the implementation of the NRIS (2015), the National Platform for Roma (2016–2017) and a 2012 Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance project called ‘Roma inclusion in the Croatian society: A baseline data study’.
This project combined different types of activities involving different stakeholders.
The research activities included detailed regional and thematic analyses of the specificities of Roma in Croatia on the basis of the baseline data study. The analysis was carried out by the team of scientists in close cooperation with the project team and the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities. The research results were drafted, published and presented at five national thematic conferences (Inclusion of Roma in Croatian society: Identity, social distance and the experience of discrimination; The position of women, children and youth; Education and employment; Physical planning; Housing and environmental protection; and Healthcare and social welfare). The publications are available in English, and summaries in Romani.
To address the issues of low preschool education rates, school dropout problems and low enrolment rates in high schools and colleges, a national campaign aiming to raise awareness among the general population, professionals and Roma was launched. The campaign included TV adverts, billboards, radio jingles and an internet campaign as well as regional round tables and a national conference bringing educational and other professionals together with Roma on the issues that contribute to the low performance of Roma children in education. To address the attitudes of Roma parents, children and youth that contribute either to the low preschool education rates or to the poor final educational performance of Roma children and youth, workshops with children, youth and parents were organised in the Roma settlements.
There are great disparities between Roma women and girls, on the one hand, and either women and girls in the general population or Roma men. To raise awareness of this among the general population and the Roma community, every project activity was designed and conducted emphasising those differences and the discrimination that Roma women and girls face in various aspects of life, especially education. To nurture their strength and resilience, the documentary Their Own (Svoje) on life stories of successful young Roma women was produced and widely disseminated.
Activities for strengthening the coordinating role of the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities and the capacity of experts and representatives of bodies involved in the implementation of the strategic document for Roma inclusion in Croatian society included the regional sessions of the government monitoring commission for the NPRI, at which regional and local bottlenecks in NPRI implementation were discussed. In addition, an existing online system for monitoring the implementation of the NPRI and collecting data on it was improved.
Finally, youth workshops were conducted to encourage the involvement of Roma youth in the implementation of the NPRI and to create opportunities for Roma youth networking on NPRI issues.
The results of the original research together with its follow-up data have been widely quoted and used by various stakeholders (Unicef, Ombudsman, academia, civil society, state and local administrations, etc.) in advocating specific priorities under national/regional strategic documents or as an evidence base for the development of other national policies/documents (National Plan for Children’s Rights, Action Plan for EU Child Guarantee, programming documents for EU funds 2021–2027, etc.).
In addition, the usefulness of the data is branching out to other national authorities, leading to new research and publications (such as Public health indicators of Roma in Croatia, Croatian Institute for Public Health) that are ultimately also leading to better-targeted public policies.
Furthermore, the replication of the Baseline data study (Baseline data study II) is envisaged in 2024, as is a new round of regional and thematic analysis on the basis of the replication of the original research as well as comparison between the results of the two research phases.
The Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities, Government of Croatia (Ured za ljudska prava i prava nacionalnih manjina Vlade Republike Hrvatske) Email: ured@uljppnm.gov.hr
