Roma Democratic Development Association SONCE (RDDA Sonce) is a civil society organization, well established on national and international level, actively participating in the civic and democratic integration, effective participation and equal practice of the democratic rights and possibilities of the Roma in the society, through capacity building, direct support and advocacy for the Roma.
RDDA Sonce and RAD Centre from Kosovo are currently implementing the project ‘Transmitting the Roma Decade Momentum from Macedonia to Kosovo’ (3D M-K), generously supported by the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF). The project is aiming to utilize previous experiences and current political opportunities, primarily provided by the Decade of Roma Inclusion, National Strategies for Roma and the EU accession process, in order to mainstream the effective participation of Roma communities, including women belonging to these communities, in the political and developmental processes in Kosovo and Macedonia.

The project envisages a round table on the Roma public policies in Macedonia, to be held in Skopje in December 2009. The purpose of the round table is to strengthen the effective participation of the Roma, including Roma women, into the political discourse and development processes. Representatives of the Macedonian Government, EU Delegation to Macedonia and the Roma civil society will introduce the topics. The participants are expected to take an active participation in the round table. The round table will bring together 25 participants to discuss the most relevant Roma targeting public policies in the region, namely the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005 – 2015, the National Strategy for Roma and the EU accession process.

To ensure the active participation of the participants RDDA Sonce is soliciting papers on the following topics:

- Roma and the EU accession process

- National Strategy for Roma

- Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005 – 2015



Guidelines for discussions:



o Which influence and changes have been brought about for the Roma with the current policies targeting Roma? What are the desired changes? What could be done to achieve the desired changes?

o Previous and future influence of the Roma on the process of policy creation in Macedonia, possible prospects and proposal concepts for the collective dimension of the Roma integration

o Influence of the internal unity and/or fragmentation of the Roma on the current policies and ways of improvement. Review of possibilities for consolidation of the positions of the Roma political parties and non-government organizations towards making use and connecting the current Roma policies (Strategy and Decade) with the EU accession processes.

o Is the respective policy adequate to the needs of the Roma community? In which way? Which priorities have to be considered and which measures would increase the benefit for the Roma?

RDDA Sonce will seek distribution of the participants over the proposed topics and gender balance.

Submissions must be full papers, 3 – 5 single-spaced A4 pages, including figures, tables and references, using Times New Roman font size 12. Submissions must indicate the title of the paper and the author of the paper.

Deadline for submissions is 30 November 2009. Submissions must be send by the specified date to the following address: P.O.Box 159, 1200 Tetovo or khamnrp@t-home.mk

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 Return address have to be specified for the notification of the author on the selection.



Deadline: 2009/11/30