Promoting the usa of ESI Funds for Roma inclusion

The

Belgian

Flanders OP

(ESF), under the Specific Objective ‘Roma are being guided

towards training for qualifications or to work’ supports measures to outreach, orient and

guide Roma participants. The objective is that 15% of participants looking for work,

following a training, obtain a (professional) qualification or find a job after the intervention.

In some of the OPs, in addition to interventions targeting directly Roma,

actions targeting

other actors crucial to successfully achieve the labour integration of the Roma community

are planned, including:

Actions targeting employers

, including awareness-raising initiatives to help fight

stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes, provision of intermediary services, promotion

of apprenticeship and internship programmes, incentives…

One of the lines of intervention within the action ‘socio-professional integration of Roma

communities’ of the

Portuguese

Social Inclusion and Employment OP

(ESF) consists in

the elimination of stereotypes and the promotion of equal opportunities among employers,

ensuring the accompaniment of employers and employees in the labour market, raising

awareness about the rights and duties of both parts.

Both the

Romanian

Human Capital OP

(ESF) and the

Bulgarian

Human Resources

Development OP

(ESF) foresee the provision of incentives to employers. The first one,

financial support to encourage them to create new jobs and develop apprenticeship/internship

programmes; the second, incentives to hire unemployed people from disadvantaged groups.

Actions targeting professionals working with the Roma community (both in the public

and private sector)

, notably related to capacity-building and to development of tools

and materials.

Within the

Austrian

Employment OP

(ESF) the action focused on ‘Roma empowerment for

the labour market’ foresees actions for key workers for the empowerment of the Roma to

support them in the training, advise and empowerment activities.

Actions targeting the public authorities and policy-makers

aimed at overcoming

stereotypes and promoting that public policies and initiatives take into account the

specific needs of the Roma population.