Active Inclusion and Rights of Roma People in Western Balkans Communities is one of the regional projects carried out by CARE International in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. Training courses and seminars dealing with different topics, including gender responsive budgeting, were carried out in cooperation with the Institute for Youth Development KULT to help improve the socioeconomic status and position in the community of Roma people in our country, as well as in Serbia and Montenegro. The training programme will help Roma women and men of the Roma Network Success (“Uspjeh”) become empowered to participate in policy creation more actively.
Working with activists of the Female Roma Network, composed of many Roma Associations from throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Institute for Youth Development created an environment for understanding gender, budget and gender responsive budgeting, concepts which the network and associations will be able to use in their future activities.
The participants gladly accepted the role of advocates for gender equality in all aspects of life and work. They observed last week’s budget, focusing more attention on analysing public expenditure from the aspect of gender, i.e. the participation of women and men in public expenditure.
Roma women of Bosnia and Herzegovina are discriminated on at least 2 bases:
- because they are women, and
- because they belong to a national minority.
90% of Roma females have no access to jobs and social and health services. The number of Roma girls attending school is extremely low compared to the number of boys (the ratio is 3:7 in favour of the boys). The Roma minority is the largest minority of the 17 national minorities living in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The above stated are all facts discussed in the documentary film produced by the Roma Youth association, which will premiere at the training course on gender responsive budgeting.
The process of Roma population empowerment is continued through the training programme and connecting with the Roma population of other Western Balkans countries.
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