08/07/2024
FSG
Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) has presented its Annual Report 2023 in online format at https://www.gitanos.org/informeanual/ (in Spanish) with a Summary Bookleft in paper and pdf (soon to be published in English), and a video with the main results of its activity.
Fundación Secretariado Gitano is a national NGO with offices in 14 regions in Spain with 82 offices, working in 90 localities. In 2023 it supported 37 671 people directly and had nearly 140 000 participants in its 757 programmes dealing with training and employment, education, housing, equality and anti-discrimination, among others.
One of the main events of the year for the organisation was that for the first time a Roma woman, Sara Giménez, took over as Director General. At the same time, Jesús Loza, member of the Board of Trustees of the FSG since 2020, took over the presidency.
According to the Director General, "2023 has been a particularly intense year. In addition to our daily activities, we have denounced the serious situation of inequality of Roma students and demanded the implementation of compensation measures by public administrations. Within the framework of the Spanish Recovery Plan, we have received Next Generation EU funds that have allowed us to tackle the exclusion caused by the digital divide that affects many Roma, with the Actualíza_TEC project. And in collaboration with the Spanish Public Employment Service (SEPE) we have developed the TándEM programme to address the specific employment needs of young Roma men and women under the age of 30".
Acceder presents its impact in Europe
In 2023 FSG presented the Evaluation of the Results and Impact of the Acceder Programme 2000-2020 to political and social representatives in Brussels, in the presence of the Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit. Acceder is a benchmark programme for Roma inclusion in the labour market, which works with around 3 800 companies, and which in 2023 managed to ensure that 4 out of 10 people on pathways found work.
For the educational success of Roma students
During the 2022-2023 school year, FSG worked through its Promociona education programmes with 4 981 students, 3 738 families and 1 153 educational centres.
Faced with the dramatic figures of school failure among Roma students, Promociona's intervention ensured that 168 students graduated from Compulsory Secondary Education and 95% of them went on to post-compulsory studies. Of the students who were already in the last years of post-compulsory studies, 185 graduated.
Initiatives to break the generational cycle of poverty
In 2023 the FSG presented the Evaluation of the results and impact of the Calí programme, for the equality of Roma women 2016-2023, which reveals that 92.5% of the participating women expressed their satisfaction with the programme. Last year, the Calí programme worked with 1 291 women with high social vulnerability profiles, with a team of 34 Roma women professionals.
FSG assisted 15 646 people in inclusion programmes, including 12 964 in the basic needs service. It worked with 3 615 families with comprehensive intervention plans and offered support to Roma families in a situation of greater exclusion for access to decent housing and to ensure that their basic needs (including access to Minimum Income) and health needs were covered. Through the programmes financed by entities such as "la Caixa" Foundation, it attended to 2 189 minors and their families with basic needs related to food, health, hygiene and offering school support.
Fight against discrimination, defence of victims and strategic litigation
In the fight against discrimination, FSG assisted 777 victims of discrimination and trained 1 343 key actors. It brought 34 strategic litigations in antigypsyism cases to court and presented its 19th Annual Report on Discrimination and Roma Community. It also renewed the coordination of the Victims of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination Support Service of the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination.
Advocacy and lobbying
FSG participated in advisory groups of the European Commission and continued to coordinate the EURoma European Network, involving 15 Member States and the European Commission. Advocacy work has also contributed to the approval by the European Parliament of a Resolution urging the European Commission to launch an EU action plan for the eradication of Roma settlements by 2030.
The publication and dissemination of the Study on the educational situation of Roma students in Spain highlighted the serious situation of Roma students and the need for effective policies.
All this FSG activity has once again been supported by the European Social Fund; the state and regional allocation of Income Tax/ 0.7% Subsidies for activities of general interest considered to be of social interest; the support of regional and local administrations; entities such as "la Caixa" Foundation and companies such as Accenture, Orange Foundation or Deloitte, among many others, as well as partners and donors.
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