04 June 2019                                                                                                                                                              (2019)10

EXPERT SEMINAR ON THE TRANSITION OF ROMA YOUTH FROM EDUCATION

TO EMPLOYMENT AND WORKING LIFE

4-6 September 2019 – Marija Bistrica, Croatia

PRESENTATION OF THE SEMINAR

BACKGROUND

Roma[1] integration remains a large challenge for many member states of the Council of Europe, as Roma communities continue to face social and economic exclusion and are exposed to rampant levels of discrimination and anti-Gypsyism. In July 2018, the Fundamental Rights Agency published a survey, as part of its EU-MIDIS II, about the transition from education to employment of young Roma in nine EU Member states. The report identified a worrying trend in lack of transition of Roma young people from education to employment, with many children leaving school often before upper secondary education.

The report[2], shows that almost two thirds (63%) of young Roma aged 16-24 are neither at work nor in education or training (NEET). The disparity with non-Roma is obvious and striking since non-Roma does not exceed an 18% of young people who are NEET in any of the member states surveyed. It is also worth noting that the gender disparity is quite large with around 72% of Roma women being in NEET.  Of the same age group of Roma, on average 19% are in employment. A concerning factor is that many young people leave education at very early stage before even completing at least upper secondary education. Although some positive results have been achieved in the field of education for Roma, there is still significantly higher rate of around 50% of Roma children with incomplete primary education.

The research initiated from the Government Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities and carried out in 2016 in Croatia[3], showed that unemployment rate is very high among the young Roma, or those from 16-30 years. Out of the 1447 respondents, 669 (46.2%) stated that they were unemployed. The category of housewives, of whom there are 278 (19.2 %) can be added to this category. An analysis of the forms of paid work in the young Roma population has confirmed that very few are in formal employment. Only 5.7% of them have permanent jobs and 5.8% temporary. The situation with seasonal work is very similar. Only 7% of young Roma are engaged in seasonal work. Although very few young Roma are employed or doing some kinds of paid work, men do statistically significantly more paid work than woman.

A closer look at the results of the NEET population in regard to labour market activity on weekly basis, reveals that only 28.4 % of them performed any kind of job paid either in kind or in cash.

Presented results become even more worrying when they are combined with data regarding the secondary school engagement. While the data on primary education shows significant progress (95.2% of all children aged 7-14 are included in the primary education), research stressed that only 31% of young Roma aged 15 to 18 are engaged in secondary school education. In addition, only 2.3% fourteen-year-olds and 2.7% of nineteen-year-olds attend the secondary school while the share of those (aged 14-18) who were enrolled in secondary school but dropped out is 15.9%. In the same age group (14-18), 3-year vocational training school was finished by 6.9% while 26.3% are currently in secondary school. In the age group 19-25, the share of those who have completed secondary school is 27.3% (22.9% a three year and 3.8% a four-year vocational schools, 0.6% finished gymnasium) and proportion of the drop-outs is 15.7%.  

According to the National Roma Inclusion Strategy, the general goal in the area of employment and inclusion in economic life is to “bridge the gap between the Roma minority and the majority population on the labour market”, so naturally the increasing competitiveness and employment rate of Roma youth is one of the specific objectives. As far as increasing young people’s competitiveness in the labour market, the information about 31% secondary school coverage of the young people aged 15-18 speaks in favour of the proposition that an increasing number of Roma are getting educated, thus increasing their chances in the labour market. However, there are 16% of unemployed and 3.2% of housewives among fifteen year olds. The share of unemployed grows with the age, reaching 53.6% in eighteen year olds (among them there are 17.9% of housewives). Above this, the lower coverage of girls becomes visible as early as in secondary school, reducing the girls' chances of inclusion into labour market.

Survey respondents confirmed the opinion of the Ombudswoman who warned about the existence of discrimination against Roma in the area of employment. For this reasons, it is obvious that building up Roma educational and vocational skills are not the sole areas of intervention. Additional work needs to be done to deconstruct the stereotypes and prejudice against Roma and highlight the good practice in hiring young Roma.

The closer look into the measures of the active employment policy reveals that Roma have mostly consumed only one out of nine policy measures (public works). Although public works have a positive effect on the exercise of certain rights (like obtaining health care insurance) and inclusion in the life of the community, they are not the measure that will solve the long-term unemployment. Especially, having in mind that only 4.2% Roma completed primary school and 6.4 % secondary school in adult age and that at the same time active employment policy measures concerning vocational training are consumed by only 4.6% of Roma subgroup in the NEET population. This is a clear sign that measures of active employment policy do not meet needs of the Roma NEET population, and that they should be redesigned in a way that will not only motivate the unemployed Roma NEET to engage to vocational training and lifelong learning, but also assure the preconditions for their enrolment in the policy measures (like coverage of transport cost or sometimes even the transport itself).

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINAR

The seminar will be organized on a national level, by the Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers Team in co-operation with the Government of Croatia’s Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities.

It will build upon the work done by the Roma and Travellers Team in the past years. It will place particular focus on the outcomes of the 4^th meeting of the Council of Europe Dialogue with Roma and Traveller civil society and the international expert seminar “Transition from education to employment for Roma youth. A key step in Roma inclusion” organized on the in Brijuni Islands under the Croatian Chairmanship with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The national seminar will follow-up on the conclusions and recommendations and further contribute towards the topic of transition of young Roma people by analysing the national policy frameworks, creating networking opportunities and holistic policy support on the topic of transition of Roma youth from education to employment and working life in general.

The conclusions of the 4th meeting of the Council of Europe Dialogue with Roma and Traveller civil society, among others, reiterate:

… More policy and strategic commitments should be shown by all relevant stakeholders to implement quality actions to tackle the increasingly high number of Roma and Traveller youth who are neither in education, employment or training (NEET). There is an immediate need for national policy definition and strategic intervention identification within National Roma Inclusion Strategies/Action Plans…

…All stakeholders should show more commitment to addressing the need for a tailored approach to redirecting Roma and Traveller youth drop outs back into education and training by examining current support programmes, such as second chance schools, vocational educational training (VET) pedagogies and multidisciplinary teams, counselling and outreach programmes, and whole family support schemes, as well as the need to review the procedures of validating informal and non-formal learning…

The recommendation of the international expert seminar on “Transition from education to employment for Roma youth. A key step in Roma inclusion”, among others, suggest:

…There is need for effective anti-discrimination measures and for strengthening equal access projects to education and training for Roma youth aimed at the active labour market.

…Inclusion and active labour market policies are only effective if they actually reach their target groups. Roma youth are largely underrepresented in such measures or they profit less in terms of meaningful outcomes. Measures targeting Roma youth need to be flexible and unconditional in access to ensure that Roma youth are not excluded…

…Local and regional authorities should play an active role in the fight against anti-Gypsyism. There is need to acknowledge, that anti-Gypsyism is a major barrier for young Roma to enter the labour market. Local and regional authorities should raise awareness for this specific kind of discrimination and encourage employers in their municipalities or regions to refrain from stereotypes and prejudices against Roma…

The contribution of the Council of Europe in the area of transition of young people, including Roma, to autonomy and working life, is based on the interdisciplinary approach and grounded on the variety of standards, policy guidelines and programme experiences, such as:   

§  The Thematic Action Plan for the Inclusion of Roma and Traveller Issues (2016-2019);

§  The Dialogue with Roma and Travellers Civil Society Recommendations for the transition of Roma youth from education to employment;

§  The Conclusions and Recommendation from the international expert seminar “Transition from education to employment for Roma youth. A key step in Roma inclusion”;

§  Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation (CM/Rec(2015)3) on access of young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods to social rights ;

§  The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Resolution 366 (2014) on Empowering Roma youth through participation: effective policy design at local and regional levels;

§  The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Resolution 414 (2017) on the role of youth policies and youth work at local and regional levels in supporting young people’ transition to autonomy and working life;

§  The recommendation from the thematic visits under the Ad-Hoc Committee of Experts on Roma and Traveller Issues (CAHROM).

The seminar is contextualized and developed to respond to the policy and programme planning needs and in relation to Roma integration in Croatia. In this regards the seminar will build upon on the following processes and initiatives:

§  National Roma Inclusion Strategy from 2013 to 2020 of the Government of the Republic of Croatia;

§  Evaluation report of the Croatian national Roma inclusion strategy, April 2015 of the national strategy;

§  National Action Plans for the Implementation National strategy for inclusion of Roma.

Aim and ObjectiveS of the Seminar

The aim of the seminar is to assess the existing policy, legal and programme measures in Croatia and develop strategic orientations and solutions for enabling a successful and inclusive transition of Roma communities, and Roma youth, from education to employment and working life.

The specific objectives of the seminar are:

§  To raise awareness and improve the understanding of relevant stakeholders about the need of a holistic approach in securing the transition of Roma youth from education into employment and working life;

§  To enable dialogue among institutions with a mandate in the areas of education, vocational training, employment, business community, social inclusion and policy, youth work and youth policy, national minorities, Roma inclusion, civil society, etc.;

§  To better understand the needs, challenges and aspirations of Croatian Roma youth and take into consideration their perspectives in developing the policy solutions which should target them and their peers;

§  To identify the effectiveness and complementarity of the current policy and programme support for Roma inclusion, as well as identify areas for improvement, aiming at personal and professional development of Roma youth and their inclusion into the labour market;

§  To develop specific policy recommendations to support the transition of Roma youth from education to employment as a specific support for the policy development process of Roma inclusion policies for the period post 2020;  

§  To introduce Council of Europe’s standards, policy guidance and experiences.

Expected outcomes:

§  Developed policy proposals and strategic orientations to support the transition of Roma communities from education and into working life;

§  Strategic guidance developed for the post-2020 period and in relation to the Croatian National Inclusion Strategy for Roma; 

§  A dialogue is initiated among relevant institutions with active participation of Roma communities;

§  The standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe are taken into consideration and support the policy development processes in Croatia.

PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS

The seminar will bring together around 25 participants with the following background:

-          Representatives of national, regional and local public administration institutions with a mandate in the areas of: education, vocational training, employment, social inclusion and policy, youth work and youth policy, national minorities, Roma inclusion, civil society, etc.;

-          Central, regional and local representatives of national employment agencies;

-          Central, regional and local representatives of centres for social protection;

-          National, regional and local civil servants working or related to Roma inclusion, employment, education, youth issues, etc.;

-          Members of the National Roma Platform coordination structure;

-          Activists, leaders and representatives of civil society organizations, including Roma youth.

The Council of Europe and the Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities will welcome applications from all candidates who fulfil the specific profile of the activities, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, colour, religion, belief or sexual orientation.

PRACTICAL AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The seminar will be held in Zagreb, Croatia, during 4-6 September 2019.  The working language of the seminar will be Croatian.

Accommodation and meals will be provided by the Council of Europe and paid by the event organizers. Travel costs for the participants of the seminar will be reimbursed according to the rules and regulations to be provided by the organizers of the event.

All information related to the participation of the seminar will be provided by the Office Office for Human Rights and Rights of National Minorities in due time.