21/02/2024
FSG
FSG is committed to maintaining the same level of efficiency, rigour, professionalism, transparency and accountability that has led it to manage ESF+ resources for a new programming period until 2030.
Following a public competition process, Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) will be the Final Beneficiary in the new programming period of the European Funds 2023-2029 for the development of six major projects in key areas for the social inclusion of the Roma people, such as employment (with special emphasis on youth employment), education, promotion of Roma women and equal treatment.
This will mean the continuity of long-standing FSG programmes such as Acceder. For the employment of Roma, which has been running since 2000; Promociona. For the educational success of Roma students, since 2009; Calí. For the equality of Roma women, since 2016, or specific Youth Employment initiatives such as Learning by Doing, Acceder Joven or Training with a Guarantee; in addition, a very successful line of networking and mutual learning between countries such as the European EURoma network is being continued. On the other hand, a new Social Awareness and Equal Treatment programme has been launched.
In total, these initiatives will receive budgetary support from the ESF+ of 116 million euros, which in turn will require co-financing from other public and private organisations (among others, the "la Caixa" Foundation). With this funding, Fundación Secretariado Gitano is committed to working with at least 56 000 direct participants (more than half of whom are expected to be women), as well as achieving significant awareness-raising impacts on broad audiences and key agents.
This intervention will be developed through six approved operations, four in the ESF+ Programme for Social Inclusion, Child Guarantee and Fight against Poverty and two in the ESF+ Youth Employment Programme, both of which are multi-regional in nature.
Within the framework of the ESF+ Programme for Social Inclusion, Child Guarantee and Fight against Poverty, the largest investment will be focused on the ACCEDER Programme: Integrated pathways of socio-labour inclusion for the Roma. The employment situation of the Roma population is characterised by a weak inclusion in the labour market, a low employment rate (30%, 20 points less than the general population), high unemployment rates of 52% that are three times higher than those of the general population and with highly precarious conditions and weak protection.
Therefore, the main objective of this programme is to improve the social and labour inclusion of the Roma, increasing their participation in the labour market, recruitment and quality of employment, with a special focus on Roma women. Acceder Programme has a long and successful history. It started in 2000 and since then it has been achieving objectives and results, while introducing methodological changes and updates to adapt to the needs of the labour market. In 2022, an Impact Evaluation was carried out which shows the scope, coverage and efficiency of the programme. In this new stage, the programme will develop personalised pathways for social and labour inclusion in 55 localities in 15 Spanish regions.
The second priority of intervention with ESF+ will be in education, through Integrated Pathways of Educational Inclusion for the Roma: PROMOCIONA Programme "From school to employment". The Promociona programme responds to the serious situation of inequality in education that affects Roma students and that constitutes the main determinant of poverty and a structural barrier for the future labour inclusion and socio-economic integration of Roma youth, especially for women.
The aim of this programme is to promote the educational success of Roma students, acting on qualifications, continuity in studies, the reduction of school failure and dropout rates, the involvement of families and the motivation of students. The programme, which has been active since 2009, works in a personalised and intensive way on educational support and reinforcement, educational guidance with Roma students and their families, specific training in digital skills, coordination with schools, etc.
Thirdly, the CALÍ Programme for the Equality of Roma Women works on the socio-economic inclusion of Roma women. Given the serious inequality gap of Roma women, determined by the fact that they are women, as well as Roma, and which affects all areas: in the employment situation, in educational levels, in the family responsibilities and even in the low expectations of promotion, this programme aims to increase the opportunities for social promotion, to improve the employability and equality of Roma women.
Based on the experience of the Calí programme (in operation since 2016), recently evaluated, the proposal foresees a comprehensive intervention with Roma women in vulnerable situations with direct measures for social and employment promotion: pathways for the development of socio-personal skills and employability; support in cases of gender-based violence; awareness-raising actions for the promotion of gender equality, co-responsibility and conciliation, among others. The programme is expected to work until 2030 in 33 localities.
In addition to these actions, the ESF+ will enable the implementation of a new programme: Awareness Raising and Support for the Fight against Inequality and Discrimination of the Roma People. These new actions respond to the need to tackle the poor social image of the Roma population through actions to raise awareness among society as a whole, as well as to empower Roma people to exercise their rights and to accompany them in cases of discrimination, knowing, as many studies have shown, that the Roma is one of the most discriminated groups. Through these actions, FSG is committed to working on rights training processes with more than 5 000 direct participants in 15 Spanish regions, for the subsequent collection of cases of discrimination and accompaniment of victims. It also seeks to achieve significant impacts on broad audiences with awareness-raising actions for society as a whole.
With the focus on Roma youth, and within the ESF+ Youth Employment Programme, Fundación Secretariado Gitano will develop two types of operations. On the one hand, Integrated Inclusion Pathways for young Roma: ACCEDER JOVEN (Young Acceder). Roma youth have a decisive socio-demographic relevance (66% of the Roma population is under 30 years old) and social disadvantage: affected by poverty, low levels of education, low employment rate, high unemployment rates (higher among women), precarious conditions and weak employment protection. It is also the most rejected social group. This programme, which will work with approximately 21 600 young people, seeks to promote access to employment for Roma youth by establishing adapted measures to compensate for disadvantages and guarantee equal opportunities in access to the labour market.
In addition, the Learning by Doing and Training with a Guarantee programmes will focus on improving the employability, professional, basic and crosscutting skills through dual training and specialised vocational training for young Roma beneficiaries of the Spanish Youth Guarantee System.
The management of ESF+ resources is complex, but FSG has always valued the ESF as an economic instrument that allows the development of actions of great social impact with dimension, quality, on a national scale and in the medium-to-long term. An approach that has proven to yield good results. FSG's commitment in this fourth programming period in which it manages ESF+ resources is to continue maintaining the same level of efficiency, rigour, professionalism, transparency and accountability that has led it to manage ESF+ resources for a new programming period until 2030.
