04/12/2023
FSG Internacional
Ana Gallego, European Commission's Director General for Justice and Consumers, together with representatives of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Spanish Ministry for Social Rights and Agenda 2030, visited two projects by Red Artemisa and Fundación Secretariado Gitano, that address the needs of Roma women.
This visit took place in the headquarters of Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) in Madrid. The EU delegation learnt about the Aracné project, by Red Artemisa, and about the Calí Programme, for the equality of Roma women, by FSG.
In a dialogue with the Director General, the recently published report on the results and impact of the Calí Programme was presented and they could also know first-hand about it in an open conversation with Roma women participant of the initiative.
The Calí Programme is a pioneering initiative, not only in Spain, but for the European Union as a whole, by developing specific actions to promote equality for Roma women from a comprehensive approach. Calí has worked on equal opportunities through personalised pathways to improve the employability and social inclusion of Roma women, especially the most vulnerable profiles; gender equality and co-responsibility between Roma women and men; support for women victims of gender-based violence; as well as equal treatment and the fight against discrimination and antigypsyism, especially addressing cases of intersectional discrimination suffered by Roma women.
FSG has developed this programme from 2016 to 2023 incorporating a technical team of 34 expert professionals, mostly Roma women, distributed in 30 cities in 14 Spanish regions, which has been an innovation compared to what has been done before.
4 676 Roma women in a situation of high social vulnerability have participated since the Programme began in 2016 through individualised pathways to favour their social inclusion and their pre-employment training and employability. A total of 1 546 training courses on personal development and 406 occupational and digital skills courses have been set up. As main results, 2 457 women have started an active job search and 704 of them have found a job. In addition, 280 have returned to formal education.
Calí has also accompanied 392 women in cases of gender-based violence and has implemented 2 736 awareness-raising activities on gender equality, co-responsibility and prevention of violence in which 17 209 women and 9 422 men have participated.
The Calí Programme has dealt with 1 708 cases of ethnic discrimination and antigypsyism and has carried out 246 awareness-raising activities on antigypsyism in which 5 232 key agents, including State security forces, have been trained. In addition, 924 awareness-raising activities on equal treatment and the fight against discrimination have been carried out with the participation of 5 152 women and 2 994 men.
The Director General conversed also with representatives of the Red Artemisa, a network of social entities that focus on the figure of the Roma mediator to advance the empowerment and inclusion of Roma women through socio-educational programs.
Ana Gallego mentioned later at the 16th European Roma Platform for Roma Inclusion, in Madrid, the Calí Programme and Aracné as a good example of programmess financed by the ESF that have an impact on the empowerment of Roma women from a multidimensional perspective.
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