Back The concept of Roma Responsive Budgeting at the local level discussed in Podgorica

The concept of Roma Responsive Budgeting at the local level discussed in Podgorica

A meeting on improving budgeting for Roma and the Egyptians at the local level was held on 13 June in Podgorica. The event was organised by the Council of Europe Programme Office – through the joint EU-CoE ROMACTED Phase II Programme, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) - Roma Integration project.

The meeting aimed to build a common understanding of the Roma Responsive Budgeting concept of the municipal administration and institutions at the central level. It was done by presenting this concept and its importance and discussing the preconditions for its implementation and the support needed by municipalities.

"One of the basic goals of the Government of Montenegro and the relevant ministry is the full integration of all minority peoples and minority national communities into social life. We will help local authorities integrate measures for the Roma and Egyptian communities into regular policies and budgets, increasing the participation of their representatives in designing, implementing and monitoring policies and projects related to their integration," said Fatmir Gjeka, Minister of Human and Minority Rights at the opening of the meeting. The Minister emphasized that international partners, the Council of Europe and the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, are great and immeasurable support in that process, in financial and expert terms.

Evgenia Giakoumopoulou, Head of the Council of Europe Programme Office in Podgorica, reminded that the Council of Europe bases its activities within the joint programme with the European Union ROMACTED on the human rights approach. It is also at the heart of the concept of Roma Responsive Budgeting. "The purpose of applying this concept is to harmonise the policies of empowerment of Roma and Egyptians with the financial resources needed for their implementation. It contributes to better integration because it considers Roma and Egyptians' real needs when creating and conducting budget policy. Within the ROMACTED programme, we will strive to work on implementing Roma Responsive Budgeting at the local level and providing support to our partner municipalities in this process through planned trainings, development of guidelines, and mentoring," said Ms Giakoumopoulou.

Responsive budgeting for Roma does not differ from other institutional budget planning, but it is intended primarily for the line ministries responsible for the priority areas for Roma integration and most importantly for the Ministries of Finance. These institutions need to be able to recognise and provide an appropriate response to the potential for promoting Roma integration when preparing and adopting policy proposals and concrete measures, whether they are mainstream socioeconomic policies or policies specifically targeted at Roma. "The ultimate aim is to ensure equality for Roma by reducing the socioeconomic gaps between Roma and the rest of society. The Poznan Declaration foresees the obligation of the goverments to implement regional standards on public budgeting, secure and increase the public budgeting, both central and local, and ensure that the outcomes of the mainstream and targeted policies will advance the status of Roma", said Sheila Fidani, Policy Expert, Regional Cooperation Council Roma Integration.

Mladenka Tesic, Programme Manager for Human Rights and Democratization, Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, stressed that, although the position of Roma in Europe and Montenegro has improved somewhat, especially in the field of education, we still have a long way to go to achieve equality for Roma concerning the majority population. Many Roma faces discrimination, antigypsyism, and socio-economic exclusion. She added: “As EU funds are most often used to finance Montenegro's strategic decisions on the road to the European Union, it is very important that these strategic commitments and programmes are planned in the budget at the national and local levels. In this way, introducing Roma Responsive Budgeting would mean that we have a clear picture in the phase of planning, implementation, and monitoring of results in various policies aimed at improving the position of Roma.“

Continuing the meeting, The Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Institution presented the concept of Roma Responsive Budgeting and its importance. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the secretariats in charge of drafting budget decisions and implementing local action plans for social inclusion of Roma and Egyptians from partner cities/municipalities involved in the implementation of the ROMACTED programme: Podgorica, Bar, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Herceg Novi, Niksic, Tivat and Ulcinj. The preconditions and necessary support for implementing Roma Responsive Budgeting were discussed with them.

Podgorica, Montenegro 13 June 2022
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Action summary

ROMACTED, “Promoting good governance and Roma empowerment at local level”, is a Joint Programme between the European Union (DG NEAR) and the Council of Europe. The programme will be implemented by the Council of Europe’s Support Team of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Roma issues and the Office of the Directorate General of Programmes in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey.

To build up political will and sustained policy engagement of authorities, to enhance democratic participation and empowerment of local Roma communities, to design and implement projects and to access national and external funds.

  1. To empower Roma community - on the individual level (assisting people to practice their basic rights and to expand their capacity and skills), as well as on the community level (assisting people to get organised to voice out their interests around community problem solving);

  2. To improve and expand the institutions' commitment, capacities, knowledge and skills in working for Roma inclusion, putting in practice the concepts of good governance;

The specificity of the actions would be to assist the local authorities to integrate Roma specific dimension/measures into the mainstream local policies, budgets and public service delivery in their agenda. 

Estimated results

The key assumptions for this support are based on the theory of change and are as follows:

  • Support to local authorities for ensuring openness, transparency and equity in dealing with local plans and budgets will lead to inclusive local plans and resource;
  • Enhanced capacity-building through training and coaching has a positive impact on public administration for delivering quality services to all citizens (including Roma citizens);
  • Municipality regulations and practices have an impact on the participation and empowerment of Roma: information is available, there is a recognition of the Community Action Group, participation is effective;
  • Community Action Group interventions will have a positive impact on presenting choices to be transformed into actions that will increase the ability of ordinary Roma citizens to assess their needs, contribute to the development of local public projects, watch-over their implementation, and monitor the local public budget;

Main activities

  • All Programme activities and incentives are meant to support strategic interventions (training, coaching, the implementation of participatory working cycles, advocacy actions, etc. during key moments of the municipal cycles: planning, budgeting, local decisions, projects etc.) which influence the attitudes, behaviour and actions of the local actors.
  • The Programme will adapt its actions and activities to each country and to each selected location from these countries, in order to fit in the policy cycle and to the dynamics and reality of each municipality, thus bringing an additional input to existing policies and practices for an effective and more inclusive functioning;
  • One of the leading guidelines in the methodology of the Programme is that participation in local governance can only be effective if it is context-appropriate. Thus, preliminary mapping, assessment, baseline survey and research are done in each selected municipality so as to facilitate the adaptation of the Programme and its support and monitoring of the process

This webpage has been produced using funds of a joint project between the European Union and the Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.

Project at a glance
  • Duration: 36 months (May 2017 – April 2020)
  • Beneficiaries/Partners: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey
  • Funding: The European Union and the Council of Europe
  • Budget: 3 750 000 EUR

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence. 

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