ACCESS TO THE LABOUR MARKET

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ACCESS TO THE LABOUR MARKET
ROMA IN AN EXPANDING EUROPE Challenges for the
future
José Manuel Fresno García
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CONTENTS

• Foundation Secretariado General Gitano
• Social Situation of the Gipsy Community in Spain
• Employment and Roma Community
• Acceder Program
• The use of the Structural Funds with the Roma
  Community Key elements

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FOUNDATION SECRETARIADO GENERAL GITANO

• Non-profit non-governmental organisation
• Dates back to the 1960s foundation in 2001.
• Purpose improvement of living standards for the
  Roma community.
• Interculturality
• Activities Goal-oriented Non goal-oriented
  activities
• Volume of activity in 2002 was 11,500,000 euros.
• partnership 70 public administrations
• 400 staff professionals.
• Work is carried out in 14 of Spains 17
  Autonomous Communities
• 40 work centres.
• 40,000 direct beneficiaries and 60,000 indirect
  beneficiaries
• Participation in different fora and international
  networks

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SOCIAL SITUATION OF THE ROMA COMMUNITY IN SPAIN
(1)

• 600.000 people
• 45 in Andalusia
• Heterogeneity and processes of social change and
  cultural transformation.
• High birth rate. 40 under 16 years of age

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SOCIAL SITUATION OF THE ROMA COMMUNITY IN SPAIN
(2)

• Strengths
• High progress in the last 30 years
• Recognition as full citizens constitutional law,
  participation in elections, involvement in social
  movements
• Access to the welfare state system housing,
  education, health
• High access to integrated habitats migration
  from rural to urban areas
• Improving recogntion of the Roma cultural
  identity

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SOCIAL SITUATION OF THE ROMA COMMUNITY IN SPAIN
(3)

• Weaknesses
• Strong situation of social exclusion
• Low educational level early school dropouts
• Generally losing touch with traditional
  professions and labour activities
• Poor housing and living conditions
• Inadequate access and use (either due to abuse or
  shortage) of general services
• Prejudice, stereotypes and high level of social
  discrimination
• Lack of cultural recognition

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EMPLOYMENT AND ROMA Community (1)
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EMPLOYMENT AND ROMA COMMUNITY (2)

• Their traditional professions are in recession or
  require a strong re-conversion
• Very few Roma have access to the offer of
  normalised professional training.
• The life conditions of many Roma together with
  the social prejudices and stereotypes, affect in
  a negative way.
• Likewise, the cultural aspects (habits,
  traditions of reference, etc.) affect in a
  negative way, in the majority of cases, when
  trying to access a job.
• Otherwise, there are increasing expectatives of
  the Roma Community accessing the labour market.

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EMPLOYMENT AND ROMA COMMUNITY (3)

• Context
• Employment priority on the European Union's
  political agenda. EEE
• National Action Plans for Employment
• Use of Structural Funds (2000-2006) ESF,
  especially
• High growth of the Gross Domestic Product double
  than European average (SPAIN)
• High rates of employment creation 1 of every 5
  European new employments (SPAIN)
• High demand of non qualified labour

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ACCEDER PROGRAM
MULTIREGIONAL OPERATIONAL PROGRAM FIGHT AGAINST
DISCRIMINATION 2000-2006ACTIONS AIMED AT THE
ROMA POPULATION
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (1)

• OBJECTIVES
• To facilitate the Roma/Gypsy population's
  access to mainstream training and employment
• To provide Roma/Gypsies with professional
  qualifications and access to labour contracts by
  meeting their needs
• To adapt and make general vocational training and
  employment services more accessible to unemployed
  Roma/Gypsies with a view to facilitating their
  access to the labour market on an equal footing
  with the rest of the citizens.
• To raise awareness regarding prejudice and
  discriminatory practices affecting Roma/Gypsies
• To foster more active policies regarding the
  Roma/Gypsy community

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ACCEDER PROGRAM (2)

• METHOD
• Intercultural teams working on Integrated
  employment itineraries guidance, information,
  professional social counselling, basic skills
  training and vocational training as well as
  specific formula for labour mediation.
• This intervention is being implemented through
• 1. Individualised employment access itineraries
• 2. Partnership public and private entities
• 3. Lobbying influence on the employment policies

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ACCEDER PROGRAM (3)
OBJ 1 OBJ 3

• FUNDING
• ESF 55. 40
• Feder 6.20
• Central Government 6.40
• Autonomous Government 17
• Local Government 14
• Others 1

More than 70 public and private partners in the
program funding monitoring
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (4)
Municipalities where work is taking place
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (5)
BENEFICIARIES PROFILE
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (6)
BENEFICIARIES PROFILE
AGE
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (7)
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (8)
NUMBER OF CONTRACTS (APRIL 2003)
Contracts 7,287
Foreseen contracts 2006
Contracts 291
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (9)
DURATION OF THE CONTRACTS (APRIL 2003)
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (10)
HIRED PEOPLE PROFILE
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (11)
HIRED PEOPLE (December 2002)
Average 1.70 contracts/person
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (12)
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ACCEDER PROGRAM (13)

• Key elements
• Use of specific tools and revised methods
• Strong partnership
• Individual itineraries that include training and
  job seeking actions.
• Long term projects
• Participation of the Roma community
• Intercultural teams
• Sinergy between local, regional, national and
  European level (ESF, Council of Europe
  Development Bank)
• Experience of the solicitor entity

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THE USE OF THE STRUCTURAL FUNDS WITH THE ROMA
COMMUNITY

• Key elements
• Mainstreaming the Roma issue in the Communitary
  frameworks
• Targeting specific Roma programs with the
  Structural Funds.
• Promotion of the participation in the decision
  making (Empowerment) trough monitoring
  committees.
• Impact on a specific target group at the local
  level (Targeting territory)
• Networking different experiences supporting
  good practices

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ACCEDER PROGRAM
www.fsgg.org/acceder
BUDAPEST, 2003. José Manuel Fresno García