The first in-person meeting for the Dutch Roma Civil Monitor II (RCM) took place on March 26, 2022 in Amsterdam. The objective of the Roma Civil Monitor project is to contribute to strengthening the monitoring mechanisms of the implementation of the national Roma integration strategies through systematic civil society monitoring.
After the formation of the Dutch Roma Civil Monitor Coalition, which consists of 5 organizations working in the Netherlands (Zas Angle, Step-up4Youth, Radio Patrin, Vereniging Sinti Roma Woonwagenbewoners, and ISSA’s Romani Yearly Years Network), the Phiren Amenca organized a one-day meeting as a part of the project. During the meeting, the coalition members had the chance to learn about the work of Phiren Amenca and their role as the national coordinator for the Benelux region, understand their own roles as coalition members, and discuss more in-depth the activities under the Roma Civil Monitor in the Netherlands in the period up to 2025. Mrs Georgeta Pintilie, an independent RCM expert for the Netherlands presented her working plan on collecting information and compiling the first monitoring report expected after 30 June 2022.
This meeting also provided a place to discuss several important issues concerning the Roma, Sinti and Woonwagenbewoners communities in the Netherlands. During the afternoon session, the representatives of the civil society organizations shared their different needs and experiences regarding capacity building. All coalition members agreed that due to the lack of professional and personal interactions within the Roma civil society in the Netherlands, there is a great need for further meetings where they can exchange information and build cooperation with each other. According to their needs and as a part of the project, Phiren Amenca will establish a capacity building plan and will support the organization of yearly meetings up to 2025 where Roma and pro-Roma organizations can strengthen the Roma civil society in the Netherlands.
As an upcoming and related activity, Phiren Amenca will conduct the meeting of the Belgian RCM Coalition on 1 April 2022 in collaboration with the ERGO Network and Belgian Roma civil society organizations.
More about the Roma Civil Monitor II Project you can learn here.
