[Brussels, 22 December 2014] The European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF), the International Roma Women’s Network (IRWN) and Phenjalipe, the Informal Network of Romani Women are calling for applications from Romani women from the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Sweden to act as National Roma Women Contact Point for the project “Making Roma Women’s Voices and Votes Count”, implemented with the support of the Ministry for Foreign A-airs of Finland.
Why?
The full and equitable participation of women in public life is essential to building and sustaining strong and vibrant democracies.
There is strong evidence that as more women are elected to o-ce, there is also a corollary increase in policy making that emphasizes quality of life and re-ects the priorities of families, women, and ethnic and racial minorities. By reason of their gender and their low social and economic status, Roma women remain one of the most marginalised groups in Europe. They are underrepresented in Europe’s national and local political bodies, and are excluded from the political process.
The current process of political participation in Europe represents a unique opportunity for Roma women to be part of the decision making processes and play a key role in improving the situation of Roma women, integrate and empower communities and support democracy.
Description of the project
The pilot project aims to support Roma women’s role in their political participation at local, national and European level and to build their capacity to engage in e-ective political and advocacy activities regarding gender equality but also the empowerment and active participation of women and of Roma communities in general.
The target countries include the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Romania and Sweden. The pilot project focuses primarily on increasing the e-ectiveness of advocacy activities with the political parties at a local, national and European level and in supporting Romani women in acquiring the tools and creating the premises necessary to participate successfully in all aspects of the political process.
To that aim, up to -ve Roma women will be recruited amongst the Roma community in each country of the project.
DEADLINE: Applications (CV & Motivation letter) must be sent by email (info@ertf.org) no later than 12 January 2015
The full description of the project is available
here and here:
Call for Application
Attached documents
