Activities report 2004 - Fundación Secretariado Gitano...de Cáceres, COPECáceres, Solo RadioHellín, Tele Toledo, Publicaciones del Sur, Antena 3 de Radio in Asturias, Telefrontera,

Activities report 2004

One of the main obstacles still standing inthe way of Roma citizenship is the persistenceof a negative social image which, in practice,gives rise to acts of discrimination.

A number of research projects have shownthat the Roma community is the group facinggreatest social rejection and have also indica-ted that there is a tremendous lack of know-ledge as to the reality of the Spanish Romapopulation. The majority of the prejudice andstereotypes that the society has of Roma dateback to the pre-constitutional period andhave remained virtually intact despite themonumental improvement that the situationfacing this community has undergone sincethe beginning of democracy.

A recent ad hoc study carried out by theconsulting firm Salvetti & Llombard for theawareness heightening campaign being deve-loped by the FSG reveals a fundament bit ofinformation for our communication strategy,i.e. that stereotypes are rooted much more inthe image portrayed by the media and second-hand information than by direct experience orrelationships.

A food-for-thought campaign

This is the reason why in 2004 theFundación Secretariado Gitano implementedphase one of this awareness heightening cam-paign which, under the slogan “Get to knowthem before judging them” uses differentmedia to combat stereotypes and prejudicesagainst Roma.

The objective is to get the society to reflecton the serious discriminatory effects arisingfrom judging people on appearances, basingjudgements on preconceived notions andascribing mistakes made by a few to the entirecommunity.

The advances and progress made by theRoma community will not be recognised assuch until mainstream society abandons itsnegative and archaic viewpoints and opens itseyes to today’s reality in which the majority ofRoma men and women are making an effortto advance personally and become full-fledgedmembers of society in a quest for a better lifefor them and their families.

This is not only a message that the Romapeople today want to transmit to the societybut it is also a principle that all citizens need tobe taught if we are to achieve a more respect-ful society and one which, above all, is morejust and democratic.

The Fundación Secretariado Gitano’s cam-paign was created by the Saatchi & Saatchiadvertising agency following ad hoc researchcarried out by the Salvetti & Llombard researchgroup which clearly pointed to the lack ofknowledge of the majority of the populationregarding the Roma community and the attri-bution of obsolete and unfair stereotypes.

This was a pioneer initiative within theframework of the fight against discriminationin our country through which we address thefundamental problem that cultures, groups

Social Awareness Campaign“Get to know them before judging them”

FUNDING

EXECUTION

CONSULTING

RESEARCH

CREATIVITY

PRODUCER

WEB DEVELOPMENT

and peoples have had to face during the entirecourse of history: generalisations, stereotypesand prejudice and their most direct conse-quence, i.e. discrimination.

The campaign is comprised of differentgraphic pieces, radio spots, Internet bannersand television spots by the film director BenitoZambrano.

Implementation of the Campaign

This is the first time that a campaign ofthese characteristics has been launched in ourcountry. This is part of the secret of its successgiven that the media is taking great interest inthe campaign as a news item. During 2004 thecampaign appeared in several of the mediamostly as a new item but also as a commercialannouncement since its launching on 4 No-vember. The dissemination of phase one willcontinue during 2005 and will then be furtherdeveloped by phase two at the end of the year.

From 4 November until the end of Decem-ber a total of 620 campaign appearances willhave been made in the different media coun-ting both news items and advertising clips. Forexample, the official state-wide presentation,picked up by all of the media for at least twodays, got through to an audience of close to7 million people. This figure was furtherincreased not only by the publicity clips broad-cast nationally but also thanks to the newsreports, documentaries, articles and opinioncolumns and positive news items concerningthe Roma community during the subsequentmonths in which a clear change with respectto the way the Roma community is reflected inthe news has been perceived.

Special mention should be made of theimportance of the collaboration of other enti-ties in the success of this campaign becausegiven that it is social in nature it does not havea budget with which to buy media time. Thismeans that the dissemination of the messageand of the aims of the campaign dependsalmost exclusively on the work, good will and

collaboration of individuals and entities acti-vely involved in the social advancement andimprovement in the living standards of theRoma community.

We are grateful for the collaboration ofSpanish Public Television and for the majorityof the nationwide radio stations such as PuntoRadio, National Public Radio and SER. But weespecially appreciate the collaboration of localradio, television and press groups which haveagreed to ongoing dissemination of the cam-paign and which have established close links

Annual report FSG 2004 29

14.1%

MEDIA EXPOSURE

NEWS ITEMS

85.9%

FREE PUBLICITY CLIPS

MEDIA TYPES

Agencies 9

Written Press 206

Radio 168

Television 139

Internet 97

with our regional headquarters and aregetting a first-hand look at our work as thedriving force behind social change in Spain.We would like to highlight the collaboration ofthe Promecal group in Castilla y Leon, Localiain Valencia, Asturias and Castilla y Leon, SERAlgeciras and SER Asturias, Cadena COPE andCadena Cien Asturias, Popular TV Asturias,Oviedo Diario, Televisión Linares, Onda CeroLinares, Cadena COPE Jérez, Onda CeroCuenca, CNC Cuenca, SER Cuenca, TeleMerida, SER Mérida, Radio Forum Mérida,Granada Hoy, Granada Digital, Onda CeroGranada, La Opinión of Granada, Ideal ofGranada, Radio Granada, Vianorba, Televisiónde Cáceres, COPE Cáceres, Solo Radio Hellín,Tele Toledo, Publicaciones del Sur, Antena 3 deRadio in Asturias, Telefrontera, Telemérida…and a host of others.

But there are many other entities from awide array of fields that have supported andhelped the FSG in contributing to the successof the dissemination of the campaign. Thuswe find a number of public administrationswhich have made financial contributions, haveprovided meeting space for presentations orwhich have negotiated free publicity via citystreet billboards or in the public media. Alongthese same lines, private entities, associa-tions and other non-profit organisations haveoffered the Foundation their support andcollaboration in other ways. Town Halls andAutonomous Communities have lent physicalspace and public media publicity support forthe dissemination of messages helping us toachieve our proposed objectives of communi-cating with different sectors of the populationwith a view to breaking down prejudices andstereotypes that have such a negative effecton neighbourly relations.

Much of the campaign’s success is due to55 public presentations made throughout theentire country with the participation of 5,000spectators who were touched directly by thecampaign and enthusiastically shared thisgrand project with Roma and the Foundationthroughout all of Spain.

The national presentation was on the 4th ofNovember at the Círculo de Bellas Artes (FineArts Centre) in Madrid and attracted a numberof outstanding personalities:

Marcelino Oreja and Pedro Puente, Hono-rary President and President respectively ofthe FSG, Carmen Calvo, Minister of Culture,Amparo Valcarce, Secretary of State of SocialServices, Families and the Disabled andAntonio de Guindos, Coordinator-General ofEmployment and Citizens’ Services of the Areaof Government of the Madrid Town Hall,along with the journalist Julio César Iglesias,lent their support to the campaign and statedtheir intention of contributing to the impro-vement of the social image of the Romacommunity.

We were also joined by Benito Zambranoand the Executive Director and CreativeDirector of Saatchi & Saatchi, AntonellaBroglia and Carlos Anuncibay, who addressedthe creative side of the campaign.

The Foundation’s Roma members, IsabelJiménez, Pedro Aguilera and Valentín Suárez,FSG territorial directors in Aragon, Cataloniaand Extremadura respectively, also spoke inrepresentation of their people making anappeal for a society which is more just, com-mitted and tolerant with other communitiesliving in our country.

In all of the cities and towns where presen-tations were made, the Roma community wasaccompanied by a very respectable institutional

Social Awareness Campaign30

From top to bottom

CARMEN CALVOMinister of Culture

JULIO CÉSAR IGLESIASJournalist

BENITO ZAMBRANOFilm Director

VALENTÍN SUÁREZDirector of the FSG in

Extremadura

representation, the highest ranking officials inmost cases, who found themselves captivatedby the campaign’s creativity and sound argu-ments and therefore joined our initiative bylending support in a number of different ways,not only with funding but also by dissemina-ting messages.

The enthusiastic participation of all of theorganisation’s workers throughout the 55different acts was the key to our being able tomake presentations in the most emblematicsites of the different locations (the Casa de lasConchas in Salamanca, the ArchaeologicalMuseum in Alicante, the Las Bernardas MusicChapel in Burgos, the Museum of Contem-porary Art in Vigo, the Palau de la Generalitatin Catalonia, the Pumarín Theatre in Oviedo…)and also helped to close the gap with themedia, one of the campaign’s most importantpublic objectives given its multiplying effectand its importance in familiarising Spanishsociety with Roma. With a view to attractingmedia attention, well known journalists suchas Paco Lobatón in Jerez, Ramón Arangüena inPalencia, Jacinto Mañas in Cordoba, televisionjournalist “Keké” in Salamanca, Juan JoséTéllez in La Línea and Julio César Iglesias inMadrid took part. Some famous people alsocollaborated: entrepreneurs such as MikelUrmeneta (Kukuxumuxu), sports stars likeIñaki Perurena, and music stars such as MiguelRíos, Antonio Carmona, Aurora Beltrán ofTahures Zurdos and Tomatito.

All of these acts were widely covered by themedia and the interest sparked subsequentreports on the Roma community with a muchmore positive and personal focus than hasnormally been the case in the press.

The campaign has also been presented indifferent social and employment forums, tech-nical conferences for administrations andNGOs, fairs and other public events where itis being very well accepted as an example ofbest practices in the area of social awarenessheightening.

Components of the Campaign

• Television spots. Directed by BenitoZambrano, they take place in three differentsettings (commuter bus, dining room of ahome for the elderly and candidate selectionfor employment). All three situations portray aform of unfair treatment generalised to eve-ryone.

• Radio spots. Four different radio spotshave been recorded and, as with the televisionspots, they generalise a situation of discrimi-nation to an entire group. The settings are afootball match, a court hearing, someonereceiving a fine and the capture of a stowawayon a ship.

• Posters. The Foundation has printed15,000 posters featuring 5 different designsand distributed them throughout all of Spain.Some government administrations joined inon this initiative such as the RegionalGovernment of Andalusia which printed anddisseminated a further 30,000 in schools, theRegional Government of Castilla-La Mancha



or that of Catalonia which translated differentelements including the posters of which itprinted 5,000.

The posters have also been used for disse-mination purposes in the written press indifferent formats such as full page spreads,banners and half pages. Town halls andregional governments throughout the entirenation also made their urban publicity circuitsavailable, especially the street billboards, thusallowing us to achieve greater impact in citiessuch as Cuenca, Huesca, Madrid, Salamanca,Burgos, Granada, Valencia, Asturias and others.

• Microsite www.gitanos.org. With a viewto increasing the spread of campaign messa-ges and to creating an area of reference thatthe media could turn to, a specific campaignmicrosite was created, www.gitanos.org, whichexplains the reasons why the campaign waslaunched, its components and its messages.This is also a site for all people interested inheeding the suggestion of the campaign andgetting to know the Roma people. Here theywill find some basic information about thecommunity which will help eliminate certainstereotypes which are deeply rooted in thesubconscious of the majority of the population.

During the first 15 days of the campaign,the web page received 5,000 visitors and now(2005) that number has increased to 15,000with 7,000 downloads of files.

• Banners. These elements, which can alsobe downloaded via the campaign’s web page,

have been translated to Catalan, Galician,Basque and English and have helped to disse-minate the campaign through different webpages free of charge thanks to the generosityof the Castilla-La Mancha regional govern-ment, the Aviles town hall and the SpanishRed Cross to name only a few.

• Song “Porque soy moreno” (Because I’mbrown-skinned). Antonio Remache, singer,composer and FSG worker in Albacete, wrotea song for the campaign that is available viathe web page and which focuses on howunfair it is to judge people on appearances.

• Campaign brochure. 15,000 brochureshave been distributed mostly for the press,schools, universities, youth centres and otherinterested entities.

• Merchandising objects. To further contri-bute to the dissemination of the campaign, anumber of different promotional pieces werecreated in order to keep the campaign alive atdifferent forums even after it has concluded.25,000 pieces were produced, distributed andeagerly accepted throughout the wholecountry.

Moreover, and following the fundamentalphilosophy of the FSG that Roma themselvesshould be the ones transmitting the messages,shopping bags decorated with campaigncreations were distributed to mobile tradersat markets throughout all of Spain.

Left

Antonio Remache,composer of the song

Porque soy moreno,(Because I’m brow-

skinned) created forthe social awareness

heightening campaign.


• Television spots

ELEMENTS OF THE SOCIAL AWARENESS HEIGHTENING CAMPAIGN


• Radio spots

• Posters

• Outdoor publicity (Street billboards)


• www.gitanos.org

• Banners

• Merchandising

• www.fsgg.org

Given that education is considered to beone of the keys to social inclusion and equalopportunities, the Fundación SecretariadoGitano focuses a large proportion of itsefforts on promoting education in the Romacommunity at all levels and ages placing spe-cial priority on those stages that are mostcritical to subsequent development.

…Beginning with pre-school where increa-sing involvement of Roma families can beobserved in order to favour the early incor-poration of their sons and daughters in theeducational system, enabling them to developtheir capacities with a view to making sub-sequent mainstream education a reality.

…Followed by the compulsory educatio-nal stage where, despite headway madeand the concerted effort of all those involved,difficulties can still be observed: consistentattendance by Roma students, academicresults, relations with classmates and teachers…And one must not forget the early dropout ofmany Roma adolescents before receiving theirelementary education degree. In this sense,teachers point to the need for new materialsand teaching resources and effective and inno-vative strategies and methods that facilitateeducation’s focus on cultural diversity andintercultural education.

…And continuing with middle and highereducation, progress can be observed withRoma youth despite the aforementioned diffi-culties; the percentage of students whoindeed successfully complete compulsory

education and stay in school increases on ayearly basis. Roma students are studying awide range of subjects at the middle andupper levels of vocational training and at theuniversity and are thus setting an increasinglyvisible example for Roma families.

...And to conclude, we have basic trainingfor Roma adults addressing those thatdropped out of school prematurely and thosewho did not receive a quality education andnow feel the need to compensate for thatdisadvantage. Thus, one of the FSG’s workobjectives in 2004 was to provide the meansand opportunities -using our own resourcesor in collaboration with other entities- forthese adults to acquire basic training for theirpersonal development and to gain access toemployment.

Furthermore, one of the principal challen-ges taken on by the FSG was to join forcesto provide ongoing attention and suitableteaching and learning processes for Romastudents who are still having difficulties in thisregard. The aim is to support their access toand perseverance in school and the achie-vement of academic goals throughout com-pulsory secondary education (Spanish initialsESO), to facilitate advancement on to higherlevels of education and to develop strategies,materials and resources addressing fieldprofessionals with a view to facilitating theeducational process of Roma students at allof the different stages.

The FSG’s main lines of action in 2004 were:

The percentageof Roma studentswho stay in schooland passcompulsoryeducationis increasingyear by year

Education


• Promotion of mainstreaming at theprimary education level. Many differentactions have been developed aimed at encou-raging suitable educational processes forRoma students on an equal footing with therest of the student body. A special priorityeffort has been made with regard to accom-paniment programmes geared to gettingstudents into school and keeping them therethroughout compulsory secondary educationand on promoting Roma culture in bothformal and non-formal educational settings.A total of 9,058 young people have takenpart in these initiatives.

In conjunction with these lines of work, aconcerted effort has also been made to assessas objectively as possible the situation of Romastudents state-wide at the compulsory educa-tional level. This was accomplished by meansof educational research focusing on ananalysis of the factors influencing access toand the perseverance of Roma studentsin compulsory education and through theexchange and collection of best practices witha view to coming up with recommendations toimprove the situation. The European SocratesComenius 2.1 project entitled “Ethnic mino-rities and secondary education: the Romastudent body” has been a fundamental frameof reference with its transnational researchproject comparable to the one carried out inSpain.

• Training and support of educationprofessionals. Consulting, training and thedevelopment of educational resources for tea-chers at all levels of education is an ongoingline of work. In this connection, one of theprincipal resources used by schools and educa-tional professionals is the permanent teachingexhibit entitled “Culturas para compartir.Gitanos hoy” (Sharing cultures. Roma today)which, accompanied by a teacher’s guide forclassroom use, has been visited by a total of1,289 people (882 from schools -especiallyfrom the compulsory secondary level- and 407from public or private entities).

• Promotion of higher studies. These ini-tiatives, which have been implemented on thenational level for years, focus on providingRoma students at these stages of their edu-cation with economic and socio-personalsupport mostly consisting of tutoring classesand meetings in which students, their familiesand field professionals take part. In 2004meetings were held in Asturias, Murcia,Vitoria, Palencia and Santander catering to atotal of 390 people.

• Basic training for Roma women andmen including literacy and basic trainingactivities as well as preparation for academicdiplomas or access to higher studies.Moreover, through the Socrates Grundtvig 2programme, the FSG has participated for thethird consecutive year in the “Lumina” Projectthe purpose of which is to share best practicesemployed by adult education professionals indifferent countries, to design methodologicalstrategies and to develop intercultural ma-terials addressing adult students. Fruits ofprojects of this nature are the internationalintercultural exchange meeting known asWord Camp held in Madrid involving 233people from 4 countries (including 72 Romawomen) and the dossier entitled Los gitanosespañoles: así somos (The Spanish Roma: thisis us) focusing on customs and values.

SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS IN 2004

VocationalTraining 48

High School 67

University 71

Health is one of the most important indica-tors of inequality, living standard and degreeof active participation of individuals, groupsor communities as citizens with full rights. Inthis regard, socio-economic need, educationaldeficit, difficulties faced in gaining access tothe labour market, sub-standard housing and,in short, deficiencies in caring for one’s healthand living standard, are aspects which situatethe Roma amongst the most disadvantaged ofsocial groups making them susceptible to poorhealth.

Fostering Roma’s access to mainstreamresources made available to all citizens ingeneral, on the one hand, and encouragingspecific actions to solve concrete problemsfaced by Roma on the other, are two ofthe actions that have guided our work in2004 concerning health promotion in thiscommunity.

• Analysis and research. As part of thecollaboration agreement signed with the

Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, aworking group has been created comprised ofprofessionals working in different areas of thehealth field and with the Roma communitywith a view to making headway in the promo-tion of health amongst this group. One of theresults of this group was the drafting of adocument containing the conclusions reachedfollowing an initial diagnosis of the socio-health status of the Spanish Roma populationand a series of recommendations for actionwith a view to contributing to the eliminationof existing inequality.

• Health promoting actions. Work hascontinued on the development of groupworkshops providing health information andeducation focusing on Roma women for theacquisition of good health habits and theensuing improvement in their well-being andthat of their families. The accent is on preven-tive actions and the importance of properhealth education from the earliest stages ofpre-school.

• Technical assistance and consultingactions designed to promote the develop-ment of intervention initiatives at the Romaassociations themselves. A total of 557technical assistance interventions have beenprovided to 71 public and private entities wor-king with the Roma population on healthissues. The type of request received is mostlyfor materials and information regarding spe-cific workshops, the public resources networkand work projects and experiences that weare carrying out.

Health

We foster accessto mainstreamresources andencourage specificinitiatives to solvethe health problemsfacing the Romacommunity

• Actions focusing on drug abuse preven-tion which are grouped under the followingactions:

The Romano Sastipen Programme wherebyin some of the territories where our entity ispresent, we have set up a drug abuse pre-vention model which is adapting to the newpatterns of consumption of Roma youth. Ourefforts have mostly focused on channellingprevention activities through other specificprogrammes implemented with minors andyouth such as the Chavós Nebó Network ofyouth information checkpoints or the Ka-melamos Guinar Programme in Santiago deCompostela.

Training of social agents for drug abuseintervention with the Roma community. Twotraining initiatives have been initiated in thisregard thanks to a grant received from theGovernment Delegation for the NationalDrugs Plan. One of them is in Avilés with theaim of training field professionals in metho-dologies and working tools for drug abuseintervention with the Roma population. Thesecond is in Madrid and focuses on the train-ing of mediators for the development and spe-cialisation of their activity in the field of drugabuse. 20 and 34 professionals respectivelywho work in the field of drug abuse and/orwith the Roma population attended thesetraining sessions: inter alia, administrationtechnicians, social workers, mediators andeducators.

The Community of Madrid’s Anti-drugAgency and the Madrid Town Hall have con-tinued to lend their support to the AvillelaAcobá Drug Abuse Intervention Service thusfurther consolidating accompaniment andmediation actions. This programme contri-butes a specific intervention strategy andguarantees that the Roma population willbenefit from the care provided in this regard.

Transnational cooperation and experienceand knowledge sharing with EU candidateand member countries has been consolidated

within the framework of the PHARE pro-gramme. Working groups, seminars andmeetings have been organised and somespecific prevention materials have been adap-ted to the different situations and contextsof the Roma community in these countries.

• Awareness heightening and empower-ment actions within the Roma populationwith respect to HIV-AIDS. Work has conti-nued in respect of these activities as has healthservice and support lent to victims and theirfamilies with a view to reducing the impact ofthis disease and decreasing the damage suffe-red by infected Roma community members.Moreover, with the aim of adapting and upda-ting intervention practices to emerging needsas concerns this problem, priority has beenput upon the ongoing training and capacitybuilding of the different field professionalsworking in favour of the advancement ofhealth within the Roma community.

• Development of tailored materials. Inaddition to the translation of some drugprevention materials into different languages,the comic strip entitled Estos calós sí que cha-nelan (These Roma really know what they’retalking about) was also published with a viewto preventing the consumption of alcoholamong Roma youth and likewise to reducerisks when drinking does take place. It comeswith a teacher’s guide to support professionalsin the use of this material.


The situation facing Roma women today ischaracterised by an enormously wide array ofsituations, possibilities and perspectives. Manyof them are bringing about change to improvethe situation both within and outside of theircommunity by increasing their level of partici-pation in training and employment processesand in the socio-political arena as well (asso-ciationism, institutions, entities…).

Roma women face a number of differentbarriers blocking access to mainstream educa-tion, the labour market, leisure activities andexercise of citizenship. In order to alleviate thissituation, in 2004 the Fundación SecretariadoGitano’s Women’s Area renewed the objec-tive of including the gender perspective as atransversal element present in all actions andprogrammes and of favouring the social andpersonal advancement of Roma women. Othergoals have been pursued as well such asmaking headway in gaining greater insightinto the reality facing Roma women, theiraccess to mainstream resources on an equalfooting in terms of opportunities and thepublicising of the experiences, accomplish-ments and contributions that these womenhave made to society and to their community.

In accordance with these objectives, themain lines of action in 2004 were as follows:

• Awareness heightening and fosteringof social participation. Awareness heigh-tening activities focus, on the one hand, ongaining insight into the reality of Romawomen and fostering the dissemination of

positive role models and, on the other hand,on creating opportunities for participationand interaction between Roma women, fieldprofessionals and non-Roma women.

As part of the agreement with the Women’sInstitute, The VIII State-wide Conference forRoma Women: Reflect and Decide was held.Here a debate took place on training andemployment, health, cultural identity andgender and the need to set aside time forpersonal leisure. Also within the frameworkof this agreement, a Seminar against gender-based violence was organised and focused onthe exchange of best practices in interventionwork with Roma women who find themselvesin this situation.

Thanks to collaboration with other institu-tions and public administrations, similar eventshave been organised such as the III DonesGitanes Avui Conference in Terrasa (Catalo-nia), the Encuentro para Nosotras (meetingamongst us women) in Alicante, the Encuen-tro entre Mujeres (meeting among women) inGijón, the Conference on Roma Women anda number of other seminars held in differentprovinces.

• Research and drafting of teaching ma-terials. In 2004 the Women’s Institute helpedwith the re-edition and distribution of theGuía de motivación para el desarrollo perso-nal y profesional de las mujeres gitanas(Motivation handbook for the personal andprofessional development of Roma women)which includes material for the empowerment

Women

of processes geared towards training andimproving living standards.

In Aragon, delving further into the situationof these women with regard to remuneratedwork, the research project entitled Mujer gita-na y empleo (Roma women and employment)was carried out.

• Training and capacity building.Throughout nearly the entire nation, courses,workshops and programmes related to basictraining for adults have been implementedfocusing on reading and writing as well as per-sonal and professional development, health,entertainment and the use of leisure time. Ofthese, special mention should be made of theEscuelas de Desarrollo Personal y Empleo paraMujeres Gitanas (Personal development andemployment schools for Roma women) heldin Madrid, the socio-educational programmeknown as Romís Kalís held in Asturias andworkshops such as ¿Camelas Chanar? (Do youwant to learn?) held in Cuenca or Romí held inValencia. Furthermore, school support andmonitoring actions for minors and youth areconducted on a regular basis as are labour-oriented courses and workshops, job coun-selling, socio-cultural promotion and healtheducation at all levels.

Young and adolescent girls were the bene-ficiaries of basic training and school supportprojects such as Chanelando (Learning) inAlbacete where access to new technologieswas also addressed.

• Leisure and free-time actions. The diffe-rent leisure and free-time activities have beeninstrumental in bringing together womenfrom different places, giving them a breakfrom their family and work responsibilitiesto go on an outing, make a cultural visit orparticipate in workshops (buleria, flamencodancing, leather work…). Not only are theseevents entertaining but they also facilitate thecreation of mutual support networks.

In 2004 some women residing in Madrid

had the chance to go to the beach thanks toan outing organised by the Pan Bendito SocialAction team while others participated in theintercultural meeting known as Word Camp(as part of the Socrates Grundtvig 2 Europeanproject) together with participants fromMorocco, India, Pakistan, United Kingdom andRomania. In other places breakfast or after-noon tea meetings were organised such asthose in Granada or the Café-chats held inMurcia.

• Support, consulting and coordination.The Women’s Area regularly carries outsupport and technical consulting actionsaimed at the professional teams of the entityitself or of other entities on matters concer-ning equal opportunities for women and menor in relation with Roma women. Furthermore,the different services offer support andcounselling for Roma women upon request inaddition to accompaniment to the differentsocial services the purpose of which is to helpcut through red tape and mediate with thepublic institutions or social and health-careresources.

With a view to meeting objectives, the diffe-rent people implementing actions in benefitof Roma women coordinate their effortsthrough in-house meetings and electronic andtelephone communication. Work has alsobeen carried out in cooperation with Romawomen’s associations with a view to fosteringassociationism and mutual collaboration orproviding support for the creation of suchassociations through the implementation ofdifferent actions.


Many Roma womenare bringingabout changeto improvethe situationboth withinand outside oftheir community

Faced with the challenge of coming up witha redefinition of the cultural identity of youngRoma which is compatible with the exercise offull and active citizenship, here at the YouthArea it is our view that promoting and facili-tating the social participation of young peopleis an essential task as part of the social incor-poration process based on access to resourcesand services intended for youth and also ongetting together and working with otheryouth and other realities. This effort takesthe form of a Participatory Network whosepurpose is to facilitate forums where youngpeople can meet, reflect on their role in socie-ty and within their social group and becomeinvolved in activities of their interest.

Work was done on several different lines ofwork in 2004:

• Information and Participatory YouthNetwork “Chavós Nebó - Youth Today”.An intercultural forum for young people.2004 has seen the expansion of the Networkwhich has Youth Information Services inMadrid, Valladolid, Zaragoza, Avilés, Murcia,Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, Ciudad Real,Albacete, Badajoz, Caceres and Pamplona.The majority of these services have alreadybeen integrated into the regional and state-wide youth information network and are runby young staff members, many of whom areRoma. In addition to the standard activities ofa youth information centre, they also draw upan activities plan based on the needs andrequests from local youth responding toapproximately 1,100 requests for information

and with over 1,500 participants.

• Youth empowerment activities. Thework model used by the Youth InformationServices (Spanish initials SIJ) is based on streetempowerment and community work. At eachcentre the young people form working groupsto draw up, together with the empowerer, aplan of activities many of which are organisedin collaboration with other youth and/or Romaentities the common link of which is inter-culturality and inclusion through participationand the exercise of citizenship.

In 2004 the Network-based project wasnamed the best project in the empowermentcategory in the INJUVE “Best Practices inYouth Information Contest”. It was also pre-sented at the XI State-wide Meeting of the SIJheld in June 2004 at the CEULAJ (Mollina,Malaga) also organised by INJUVE.

• Training Actions. One of the key elementsof social participation is capacity building ofyoung Roma to serve as positive role modelsfor other youth. The Youth Area has organiseda number of training courses for youth infor-mers and empowerers the object of which wasthe aforementioned capacity building.

The youth empowerment project has beencomplemented and strengthened this yearwith the European pilot project on active citi-zenship and youth participation funded by theEuropean Commission and which has givenrise to different training courses in citizenshipat different points in the Network.

Youth

The Network-basedproject wasnamed the bestempowermentprojectin the INJUVE“Best Practices inYouth InformationContest”

• World Youth Fair. Forum of Cultures.Barcelona 2004. With the basic aim of foste-ring the active presence of Roma youth atinstitutional events and the associative move-ment focusing on youth, the Chavós NebóYouth Network decided to actively participateat the World Youth Fair held in Barcelonawithin the framework of the Forum ofCultures. We participated in the State-wideYouth Meeting of the Network with a Seminaron Citizenship and Roma Youth in the 21st

Century and with a stand and street empo-werment workshops with the participationof approximately 40 young people from theNetwork. These young people, accompaniedby the empowerers, shared both work and lei-sure time with youth from other communitiesand countries.

• Collaboration with other youth organi-sations, technical assistance and partici-

pation in different youth related events.Many Network actions were carried out incollaboration with other youth organisations.The most relevant events in 2004 were the VRegional Youth Participation Fair in Murcia,the IV Autumn School of Entertainment of theCommunity of Madrid, Cabueñes, ExpojovenValladolid, Zaragoza Global and Aragon Educa.

• FSG Youth Web Page (www.fsgg.org/juventud). Redesigned in 2004, this web pagehas become a meeting point for many Romaand non-Roma youth, especially its “EntreNosotros” (Just between us) forum whereinteresting and dynamic debates take placeon subjects proposed by young people. Newnetwork brochures and posters have likewisebeen drawn up and distributed throughoutthe year.


NETWORK OF SIJ CENTRES

The persistence of shanty towns and sub-standard housing, the deterioration of theneighbourhoods in which they are located,overcrowding and lack of guaranteed accessfor the most disadvantaged Roma families topublic housing are just some of the aspectsmaking this a priority issue in guaranteeingthe advancement of the Roma community.

The development and consolidation ofaccompaniment programmes for resettledfamilies -launched in Madrid in 1999 andspread to other regions in 2002- is the wayin which we have continued to respond toan explicit request from regional and localgovernments and served the needs of manyRoma families.

Another relevant FSG initiative in 2004 wasthe Strategic Housing Scheme making thisissue a high priority for the advancement ofthe Roma community. Its work priorities wereas follows:

- Political and institutional action aimed atputting the housing problems faced by manyRoma families on the political agenda of pu-blic administrations at all territorial levels.

- Improvement in the use and access of exis-ting housing resources and measures by theRoma community, facilitating families’ accessto information and accompaniment and mo-nitoring of the measures implemented.

- Development of specific measures aimed atthe resettlement of families living in shanty

towns and specific intervention in cases ofextreme marginalisation.

The FSG’s main lines of action in 2004 were:

• Technical assistance on housing issueswith the creation of request handling andresolution services and the carrying out of stu-dies and reports on the situation of Roma inrespect of this issue. A total of 68 requests fortechnical assistance have been met; in Estella(Navarre) a study was drawn up containing inter-vention proposals; and a proposal was madeto implement a programme in Tafalla in 2005.

• Intermediation in the purchase of housing.With a view to promoting access to propertyownership among the most disadvantagedsectors of the Roma population and to promo-te social incorporation processes, 16 homeshave been acquired for resettlement purposes.

• Accompaniment and mediation. In orderto foster incorporation into new environ-ments, 560 families have benefited fromaccompaniment services and we interveneddirectly in 6 conflict situations stemming fromresettlement processes.

• Institutional efforts and relations withpublic administrations with jurisdiction inhousing issues in order to heighten awarenessand propose work initiatives to improve thesituation. The FSG has taken part in theEmergency Plan regarding matters of Housingand Land drawn up by the Ministry of Housingand which will enter into force in the future.

Housing

In 2004 the FSGpassed a StrategicHousing Schememaking thisa high-prioritystrategic issue

The Roma prison inmate population ismostly comprised of individuals from groupssubject to transformation processes withgreater degrees of social destructuring, loss ofvalues and their own cultural identity withdiminishing opportunities in traditional labouractivities and facing a variety of different diffi-culties in finding employment. This reality,which coincides with that of the rest of theprison population, is further exacerbated bydifferences in Roma culture and the situationof poverty and marginalisation facing theRoma community.

The year 1995 saw the launching, with thesupport of the Ministry of Labour and SocialAffairs (Spanish initials MTAS), of the “Assis-tance and Advancement Programme forIncarcerated Members of the Roma EthnicMinority” carrying out intervention workespecially in the Soto del Real Madrid VPenitentiary Centre and setting up coordina-tion and monitoring actions at other centres.

Our work facilitates access to the pro-grammes already existing in the penitentiariesand opens channels for the advancement andsocial integration of incarcerated members ofthe Roma community. By developing activitiesand carrying out more individualised interven-tion, we are seeking to promote a culture andintegration into the prison medium and then,through mediation and counselling, facilitateincorporation into a life of freedom with guar-antee of access to existing reinsertion. Wework with inmates and their families becauseour nearly ten years of experience have

demonstrated the importance of prevention,especially with children and adolescents.

Intervention methodology is carried out intwo complementary spheres:

• Individualised attention and monito-ring (188 inmates): Individual interviews;coordination with penitentiary centre staff;drafting of social reports for treatment groups,lawyers, judges or external entities; referral tosocio-labour insertion programmes (13); follow-up in the case of inmates transferred to otherprisons (11); integral work with the families ofinmates improving the stability of the processes(116); support for drug-dependant inmatesand referral to programmes designed to dealwith their situation; monitoring and supportof inmates with AIDS or who are HIV-positive.

• Group work. This is of fundamental impor-tance to continue insisting on proper attitudes,the learning of personal and social skills, groupdynamics and teamwork. This is based on theorganisation of different types of workshops:Magazine workshop in which inmatespublish, draft and design the publication (29participants); Flamenco music group focu-sing on cultural identity work (55); Women’sclassroom workshop focusing on handicraftsalternating with transversal health instruction(56); Health education and preventionworkshops for men (15) and for motherswith children under three years of age (19);School support and personal hygieneworkshops focusing on a number of subjectsdepending on the needs of the centre (20).

Prison inmate population

We promote integrationin the prisonenvironmentwith guaranteedaccess tosocial reinsertionprogrammes

The development of Integrated SocialAction Programmes is based on the ascertain-ment that the complex needs of the Romacommunity should be given global responsesenvisaging their advancement in the commu-nity environment in which they live. This typeof intervention is based on the assertion thatin order to bring about real change, all issuesaffecting social and cultural advancementmust be addressed.

The FSG’s approach is to promote this typeof integrated action that has a bearing on thewhole range of problems suffered by anygroup of human beings. This has led to thedevelopment of our own unique work modelthat includes intervention in housing, educa-tional mainstreaming, the advancement ofwomen, fostering the participation of youngpeople, cultural promotion... Territorially-basedSocial Action is becoming more consolidatedalthough with different levels of developmentin the different autonomous communities.

In 2004 this work model has taken root inautonomous communities (regions) such asMadrid, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Navarre,Castilla y Leon, Galicia, Aragon, Murcia,Valencia or Andalusia but with differentprocesses.

The following lines of work have beendeveloped:

• Housing intervention: The objective of thisarea of work is to promote actions providingthe local Roma population with access tohousing and improved neighbourhoods as thebasis upon which to address other aspectsrelated to personal and group advancementas well as living standard.

• Basic services: The objective is to meet theneeds of the part of the Roma populationrequesting help and indicating needs, makeneeded referrals and accompany these indivi-duals when necessary to mainstream services

Social action

and teach them how to make proper use ofthe said services.

• Educational mainstreaming: The aim is towork with the compulsory school age segmentof the Roma population so that they regularlyattend school, acquire needed habits androutines and internalise school rules at a levelcommensurate with their age, are givencompensation classes to make up for theirsituation of disadvantage and do not dropout of the school system prematurely.

• Advancement of women: The objective isto implement a whole set of activities focusingon the advancement of Roma women allowingthem to emerge from a situation of doublemarginalisation -as women and as Roma. Aneffort is also made to empower Roma womento take up the fight for their own developmentbecause we are convinced that, to a greatextent, the future of the Roma communitydepends on it.

• Intervention with Roma youth andchildren: The purpose of this programme is tocreate a socio-educational support system forRoma children designed to keep them in theeducational system and enhance their perfor-mance, to foster their proper psycho-socialand cultural development and to compensatefor any difficulties and risks of maladaptationand exclusion that the children may be sub-jected to. A further goal is to empower andfoster social participation on the part of Romayouth in their social incorporation process.

• Health promotion: Development of initia-tives focusing on prevention and improvementof health and standard of living in the Romacommunity via improved access to mainstreamhealth services, capacity building for healthcare professionals and Roma participation indecision making bodies.

• Adult education: A large number of Romaadult men and women lack the level of edu-cation needed to play an active role in society.The aim of our efforts in this area is to

contribute to integral personal enrichment,foster socio-economic and cultural develop-ment and achieve at least a minimum level ofinstrumental learning.

• Promotion of social participation: Todaythe issue of participation is a fundamentalaspect for any social group. Everyone wouldagree that the degree of a group’s social inte-gration is a product of its level of participationin forums of work, reflection and debateestablished for that purpose. The Roma com-munity does not have access to such forumsthus making it necessary to address thissubject specifically fostering their involvementin their own forums as well as outside ones.

• Cultural promotion: This entails carryingout actions allowing us to recognise, establish,develop and transmit elements of the Romaculture with a view to their being recognisedas citizens with full rights as well as Roma intoday’s world, showing the society a morepositive and real image.

During the course of 2004, the Social Actionimplemented by the FSG has allowed for thedevelopment of working tools contributing tothe better tailoring of services to the needs ofusers. In this connection, a social action database has been developed which will becomefully operational during 2005 and will be oneof the main working tools. Use of this database will permit updated diagnosis of thestatus of the Roma population who we areserving and will mean improved service andmonitoring of our users.


Social actionis basedon the globalresponses withwhich the Romacommunity shouldbe providedto achieve socialadvancement

The fight against exclusion and discrimina-tion in respect of the training and employmentof the Roma population continues to be an FSGpriority action. In light of the special situationof inequality and disadvantage in which theRoma population finds itself, special compen-sating actions focusing on this group mustalso be established and these measures shouldalways lead towards mainstreaming in thelabour and social fields.

The main goal of our work is, therefore, tomake equal opportunity a reality for the Romapopulation when it comes to their access totraining and employment so that this main-streaming permits their full participation insociety. To this end our work revolves aroundthree broad areas of intervention:

• Direct intervention with the Roma popu-lation with a view to improving employability.These goal-oriented actions, focusing on andprioritising the participation of Roma andnon-Roma alike, are always implementedfavouring an intercultural context. This inter-vention, mostly organised around the Multi-regional Operational Programme on the FightAgainst Discrimination (ESF) but also withinthe framework of the Roma CommunityLabour Market Inclusion Programme under theSpanish income tax scheme (MTAS), theCommunity Initiative EQUAL and other trai-ning and labour inclusion programmes ofthe different provincial and municipal adminis-trations, envisions the following types ofaction:

- Labour information actions constituting thefirst phase of the work methodology entailingrecruitment, labour information and the initialdiagnosis of the employability of the bene-ficiaries.

- Labour guidance actions and accompa-niment in the search for employment entailinga more in-depth individual diagnosis andtutoring sessions to provide guidance and indi-vidualised follow-up for beneficiaries through-out all of the phases of the itinerary.

- Vocational training initiatives responsiblefor the organisation and teaching of trainingsessions closely linked to employment; theseare the result of prospective studies carried outin each territory.

- Mediation and labour-market inclusionactions comprised of accompaniment initia-tives in the active search for employment andmediation in the labour market identifyingpossible offers of employment that could becovered by service users.

- Actions to support protected employmentinitiatives and insertion companies (ECOTUR,Congress and Tourism Hostess Service; LACHOBUTIPEN: press Kiosk…) whose purpose is toencourage “springboards” from which to makethe transition to mainstream employmentthrough internship training processes veryclose to the real production of goods and ser-vices and therefore very effective for acquiringprofessional competency and skills and workhabit training.

Employment and vocational training

• Institutional intervention mostly focu-sing on supporting more pro-active socialpolicies for the improvement of living andwork conditions and the solution of theproblems and needs of the Roma population.It is generally the case that there is no real andupdated information on the situation andproblems faced by the Roma population withrespect to the labour market, there are veryfew specialised professionals in this line ofwork with the Roma population, there is notransfer of positive experiences and therecontinues to be a need to support betteradaptation of the Training and EmploymentSystems to the specific reality of this sectorof the population in order to favour access.

In this sense actions have been developed inthe area of training and the transfer ofmethodologies and materials so that the workthat is currently being done with the Romapopulation may be assessed and this includesquality control systems for all interventions.

Mention should also be made of the crea-tion and publication, within the framework ofthe Multi-Regional Anti Discrimination Opera-tional Programme, of the second edition ofthe Observatorio de Empleo y ComunidadGitana (Roma Community EmploymentObservatory) for the 2000-2003 period. ThisObservatory is intended as a tool for ongoinganalysis and reflection on the socio-laboursituation facing the Spanish Roma population.At the FSG we are aware of the importance ofcarrying out rigorous analysis allowing us togain profound insights into the current situa-tion in which the Roma community finds itself.The Observatory is an example of this processof analysis and assessment that has beencarried out thanks to the methodology andthe Operational Programme’s managementsystem providing abundant and relevant infor-mation on the training and labour situation ofa number of Roma individuals who, in oneway or another, have been in contact withthe ACCEDER employment facilities located inthe different Autonomous Communities. Wefeel that the value of this Observatory is self

evident because it is the first time that specificstatistical data has been collected on the Romapopulation with regard to vocational trainingor employment.

• And lastly, a permanent task of awareness-heightening of the society at large andof the agents intervening in the labourmarket favouring the elimination of all discri-mination against the Roma population andits access to training and employment. Thisgoal is met, on the one hand, by implementingactions with the Roma community to fosterchange in their attitude when it comes to trai-ning and employment and, on the other hand,by working with government administrations,entrepreneurs and potential employers withthe aim of raising their awareness with respectto the problems faced by this sector of thepopulation in the area of training and accessto employment, reducing prejudice andencouraging the commencement of positiveactions.


In 2004more than 11,500people participatedin FSG employmentand vocationaltraining initiatives

The European Social Fund’s Multi-RegionalOperational Programme to Combat Discri-mination, whose purpose is to foster accessto employment for certain groups in risk ofexclusion, has a specific line of action focu-sing on the Roma population: the ACCEDERProgramme managed by the FSG. Thisprogramme commenced in 2000 and is sche-duled to continue through to the end of2006. It is currently being implemented in atotal of 45 municipalities spread throughout13 autonomous communities and has 47work centres in operation.

The key aspect of the programme is the linkthat it establishes between the social and eco-nomic fields bearing in mind the situation andneeds of the Roma community and workingwith a sense of empathy and from the stand-point of their specific interests, moulding andfocusing actions to offer alternatives tailoredto their specific needs while at the same timeremaining mindful of the needs and require-ments of today’s labour market (skills andcapacities required to gain access to andkeep a job, a labour situation in the differenteconomic sectors, etc.).

Action therefore focuses on improving theemployability of the Roma community, notonly to facilitate its access to the labourmarket but also as a means to combat theprevailing situation of social exclusion: the aimis to palliate the situation of exclusion bymeans of labour market insertion and conse-quently the Roma community’s involvementand participation in society as members withfull rights.

The goal is the adoption of an integratedand individualised approach to interventionthat tends towards mainstreaming throughthe application of a methodology covering abroad spectrum of aspects: ranging fromcounselling on labour market opportunitiesto labour skills training while remaining ever

mindful of the social skills needed for em-ployment which this sector of the populationoften lacks. This integrated interventionmethodology has proven to be more effectivethan isolated actions because it covers abroader spectrum of the target population’sneeds rather than remaining limited to onesingle aspect.

Below is a summary of the results obtainedduring the year 2004 at the 47 ACCEDER fa-cilities run by this Programme:

• Persons served: The Programme’s initialobjectives were planned for the period 2000-2006 seeking to serve 15,000 users and pro-cure 2,500 work contracts. From the beginningof the Programme through to the end of 2004,service was provided to a total of 23,006people (a 32% increase with respect to 2003figures) and 14,742 labour contracts weresigned.

For the first time the percentage of womenserved by the programme is slightly higherthan that of men (50.3%) and the largest vo-lume of beneficiaries is in the under 30 group(61%) while the lowest number is found inthe over 45 group (6%).

• Training actions: After more than fouryears of work we have observed that a largegap exists between the average level of voca-tional training and qualification of the Romacommunity and that of the rest of the popula-tion. This undeniable lack of qualification hasclear consequences for Roma people’s chancesof gaining access to and holding a job becau-se it clearly diminishes their chances of beinghired and generally limits their access to low-skilled vocational sectors and jobs which tendto be unstable, precarious and offer littlechance of sectoral mobility and professionaladvancement.

In response to this situation within theframework of the work done via ACCEDERfacilities, both at the reception / informationand labour counselling stages, our goal is to

50 Employment and vocational training

ACCEDER Programme


promote training as one of the priority mea-sures, focusing mostly on the younger sectorsof the population. This effort follows an inte-grated approach to training and employmentbased on work experience and on achievingtechnical knowledge and skills as well as arange of instrumental skills (social skills, workhabits, etc.) which are incorporated into one’semployment repertoire and will play a key rolein the insertion itinerary.

Vocational training as a central resource inthe process, however, is only valid for certainindividuals who, given their personal charac-teristics (age, family situation, educationallevel…) and personal motivation to receivetraining in terms of the middle to long-terminvestment entailed, are willing and availableto embark upon relatively long trainingprocesses with a view to more advantageouslabour insertion.

In light of this dual perspective, we havebeen developing actions that respond to bothsituations and two types of strategies havetherefore been implemented:

- Direct management of trainingresources. Through ACCEDER centres andin function with the realistic possibility foremployment, mostly short-term training re-sources are managed and, whenever possible,are found on location at the company. Thisinternship-type training leading to a relativelyimmediate work contract is more or less

contingent upon the acquisition of specificskills needed for the job post. In some othercases (fewer in number) pre-labour traininginitiatives are carried out in order to raise lowemployability levels and therefore facilitatesubsequent vocational training and/or a workcontract.

- Referral to outside training resources.The ACCEDER teams analyse the resourceswhich best match the characteristics andrequirements of each person and refer them tothose deemed most appropriate. Especiallyduring the initial phases of the training,accompaniment also forms part of the processwhen deemed necessary to assure that candi-dates follow through.

Since the commencement of the Opera-tional Programme, the number of users takingadvantage of some type of training resource

In 2004 a total of14,700 contractswere signed,surpassingthe employmentgoal envisagedfor 2000-2006by 589%

PARTICIPANTS IN TRAINING ACTIVITIES (2004)

48Elementary School Diploma

Literacy 71

Voc. Training Courses 500

Social Guarantee 130W. School/Trade H./Employment T. 286

Other 762

FSG Courses 262

CONTRACTS SIGNED

JUN’02 DEC’02 JUN’03 DEC’03

5,9387,287

3,650

13,425

JUN’04 DEC’04

9,981

14,742USERS SERVED

21,296

JUN’04 DEC’04

23,006

JUN’02

9,220

DEC’02

12,35214,531

JUN’03 DEC’03

17,358

has been rising and today accounts forapproximately 25% of the total number ofbeneficiaries. These data confirm the positivetrend in the Roma community’s access(especially the youngest) to training resources.The ACCEDER resources have played animportant role in this connection having im-plemented over 200 courses. The participationof Roma individuals is very high accountingfor over 80% of the total number of users. Thegreatest area of success in terms of its validityas a tool facilitating access to employment iswith women, especially those between theages of 16 and 24.

If one observes the type of resourcesmade available to people who have opted fortraining, we notice that, in quantitative terms,participation in vocational training courses hasbeen the most important. Attention shouldalso be drawn to the number of people whoare turning to the Workshop Schools andTrade Houses as well as to obtaining ESO(Compulsory Secondary Education) certificates.

• Accompaniment initiatives in the searchfor employment and labour insertionentail the active search for employment andmediation in the labour market identifyingpossible offers of employment that could becovered by service users. A total of 14,742labour contracts were signed by 7,358 peoplewhich works out to 2 contracts per person.Logically this ratio will rise during the durationof the programme reflecting more active per-manence in the labour market although withmultiple contracts. Gender differences are

gradually diminishing in labour contracts aswell although men (52.7%) continue to out-pace women (47.3%). Of these contracts,close to 40% were first job experiences bothin the case of men as well as women. Thesedata are indicative of the importance thatACCEDER is having in fostering first-timeaccess to the labour market for many people.It is also worth noting that the percentage ofcontracts awarded to Roma individuals isalmost equal to the percentage of Roma userswho are taking advantage of the programme.This percentage parity did not exist at theoutset of the programme when the employ-ment index for Roma persons was a good dealbelow that of non-Roma. The conclusion cantherefore be drawn that today Roma are moreactive and determined in seeking employmentthan they were four years ago.

The majority of the jobs are with privatecompanies (8 out of 10) with no appreciablegender differences. More than half of thecontracts are with companies with fewer than50 workers and more than 70% are full-timecontracts and it is here that sharp genderdifferences become apparent: nearly 40% ofthe women were given part-time contractswhile that was the case for only 10% of themen. Approximately 6 out of every 10 contractswere for a specific work or service while38% were permanent contracts. 40% of thecontracts were for over three months.

The incorporation of the Roma populationinto the labour market is a process that willtake some time requiring role models, a largedose of motivation, investment in earningqualifications, breaking down prejudices… Aspecial accent should therefore be put onthe importance of long-term projects with agreater impact on the beneficiary population.The operational framework furnished by theOperational Programmes is making this apossibility.

And with a view to guaranteeing andstrengthening this action framework, inNovember 2004 the State Seminar on

52 Employment and vocational training


Employment and the Roma Community washeld with the slogan “At work we are allequals”. This Seminar, with the participationof representatives from over 80 public admi-nistrations who are co-funders of theProgramme, was held just as we passed theProgramme’s half-way point and as we arenearing the crucial moment for the definitionof the new round of Structural Funds that willtake us up to 2013 (new Community SupportFramework and Operational Programmes orthe forms of programming that will defineregulation).

It is our firm belief that the Roma peopleshould be on the agenda at that time and thattheir socio-labour situation should contributeto the definition of any future policy regardingemployment issues. To that end, and with theparticipation of all of these entities, our aimwas to make this Seminar a forum within

which to compare experiences and renewideas and efforts. The objective of this worksession was to provide a global vision of thesituation facing the Spanish Roma communityin terms of vocational training and employ-ment, to identify progress made as well asdifficulties and pending challenges and, inshort, to move forward on measures andaction proposals needed for the future.

ACCEDER FACILITIES

One of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano’spriorities is to take an active role in trainingand capacity building for intervention workwith the Roma community. The Training Sectorbears witness to this priority and seeks to res-pond to the training needs of those who workwith or participate in actions aimed at theadvancement of that community. The followinglines of action were implemented in 2004:

• Training and specialisation of profe-ssionals in their work with Roma. It is ourview that social intervention with the Romacommunity demands professionals capable ofmeeting quality requirements in the resolutionof a constantly changing set of social needs.

This type of training is found within theframework of a set of actions the objective ofwhich is to inform, train, guide and counselfuture social field professionals for social inter-vention with the Roma population. The princi-pal objective of this work is to offer, analyseand propose to these professionals strategiesand working instruments in different fieldstailored to this sector of the population. It alsoseeks to present an integrated social inter-vention model allowing for an increase in thequality of services rendered. In the context ofthese types of initiatives, special mentionshould be made of two courses on socialintervention with the Roma community, onein Salamanca and the other in Santiago deCompostela, addressing a number of differentprofessionals working with the said popula-tion within the framework of the Ministry ofLabour and Social Affairs’ 2004 Training Plan.

• Mediator training. The FSG has alwaysbeen mindful of intercultural social mediationas an intervention strategy developed thanksto the work done by mediators in conjunctionwith the Roma community. Over the lastseveral years this has become more professio-nalised as part of a process that has emergedalongside the demand for qualified mediatorsand for specific training in mediation.

From the Foundation’s standpoint, mediatortraining is a priority element in that it permitsthe training of field professionals giving themthe ability to intervene with their own peopleor with other communities. This line of workhas set the stage for the development of se-veral mediator training courses focusing onprofessionals working with Roma as well asexperience sharing and transfer initiatives.

• Training of trainers. Given the lack ofspecialised professionals capable of runningtraining courses for social intervention withthe Roma community, training and technical

Over 600 fieldprofessionalsand mediatorshave participatedin training sessionswith a viewto increasingthe efficiencyof their workwith the Romacommunity

Training


advisory schemes have been devised for trai-ning trainers. Our aim is to transmit curricularcontent as well as the specific tools necessaryfor this type of training (skills, pedagogicalfoundations, teaching resources, tailoredmaterials, etc.) and our beneficiaries are trai-ners and technicians from social interventionentities.

• Specific seminars, conferences andmeetings within the different fields ofintervention. The purpose of this facet oftraining is to disseminate, visualise and reflecton intervention experiences with the Romacommunity in the different fields of interven-tion (education, Roma women, etc.). This isdesigned as on open forum for joint sharing

and reflection among the different entitiesregarding the problems arising from socialintervention with the Roma community ineach territory. During the year 2004 a numberof specific seminars were held in differentAutonomous Communities: for the advance-ment of Roma women, education, youth, etc.

• Coordination, support and technicalassistance. The Training Area is responsiblefor the coordination and management of trai-ning activities outside of the Foundation andan ongoing technical assistance service is pro-vided for Foundation professionals themselvesas well as for any outside agent requiring suchassistance.

The factors playing a role in exclusionprocesses vary for each group and for eachindividual person and it is therefore essentialto gain insight into them in order to addressthe issue of inclusion with a certain level ofguarantee. Roma continues to be one of themost vulnerable groups suffering from thegreatest social exclusion in our country. This isdue not only to a lack of material assets butalso to the obstacles standing in the way toresources, goods and services.

The end goal of our activity in this field is topromote processes of change and improvement,exert an influence on social policies so thatthey have a more profound effect on the needsof the Roma community, remove obstaclesstanding in the way of social inclusion andmobilise other actors to collaborate in this taskand to take on an attitude of solidarity andsensitivity towards the situation of this minority.

During the year 2004 the FSG has im-plemented a number of different actionsdesigned to promote the social inclusion ofthe Roma population. These initiatives arecarried out via three main programmes:actions fostering the social inclusion policies ofthe Multi-Regional Operational Programme toCombat Discrimination (Acceder Programme)funded by the ESF; the Programme forTechnical Assistance and Social InclusionAwareness of the Roma population fundedby the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairsand the European Policies to Promote morePro-active Social Inclusion Policies focusing onthe Roma community:

• Advisory and cooperation actions withsocial administrations and organisations.Work has been done with 170 different insti-tutions or departments consisting of activitiesranging from work meetings with officialsfrom the different local or regional administra-tions for the purpose of addressing situationsthat affect Roma communities to the draftingof analysis, proposal and recommendationdocuments in order that the Roma issue betaken into consideration when social plansand policies are drawn up.

In 2004 the Foundation actively participatedon the Roma Development Plan’s AdvisoryCommission. The aim of this Commission wasto create the new State Council of the RomaPeople and to draft a new plan. Work isexpected to conclude during 2005.

• Promoting more pro-active socialinclusion policies. The FSG is leading thisEuropean project the aim of which is topromote cooperation and exchange amongEuropean Union Member States in combatingpoverty and social exclusion affecting theRoma and Traveller communities. Specifically,this project seeks to put European inclusionpolicies focusing on these groups on theagenda especially at the upcoming rounds ofthe National Action Plans for Social Inclusionand will lobby for actions specifically designedto palliate the situation of social exclusionthat they face.

This initiative has a strong transnationalcomponent given that it is based on the work

Social inclusion

and experience of 14 partners from sevenEuropean countries (Spain, Ireland, CzechRepublic, Portugal, Greece, Hungary andRomania): the public body responsible fordrafting the National Plans and one NGO percountry (www.fsgg.org/socialinclusion).

• Training and awareness-raising actions.If headway is to be made in social inclusionprocesses with the Roma community, wemust set the stage for a more inclusive socialenvironment, one that is more sensitive tothe situation of the Roma people; in short,swe must work side-by-side with the differentagents involved in order to make sure that theRoma issue is on their agendas.

In this regard we have carried out a flurryof activity in all of the Autonomous Commu-nities with 30 training sessions in which 1,555people have taken part, mostly technicians,professionals from the social services areaand from other administrations as well as per-sonnel from Roma organisations and othersocial entities. This large-scale participation ofagents involved in one way or another in theadvancement of the Roma minority is a good

indicator of the impact of this Programme andserves as proof that awareness-heightening isindeed possible and that these agents canbe provided with better know-how and toolsgiving rise to more effective interventions thatremain sensitive to the needs of Roma.

• A specific action meriting special mention inlight of its relevance and impact in 2004 wasthe design, production and dissemination ofthe Social Awareness Campaign entitled“Get to know them before judging them”detailed information on which can be found inanother section of this report.

• Fostering network action. The FSG hasbeen one of the entities behind the promotionof organising the different social organisationsworking in the field of social inclusion. In 2004we continued participating in the WorkingGroup on Inclusion of the Social Action StateNGO Council. The Spanish Anti PovertyNetwork was also created and since its im-plementation the Foundation has formed partof the Executive Committee, the StandingCommittee and the different RegionalNetworks.


The overarchingobjective ofour activity isto promoteprocesses ofchange andimprovementregardingthe needs of theRoma community

The transposition of Directive 2000/43 onimplementing the principle of equal treatmentbetween persons irrespective of racial orethnic origin into the Spanish legal systemtook place on 30 December 2003 by meansof the Fiscal, Administrative and Social OrderAct, Law 62/2003. The said Act includes theminimum legal framework laid down in theDirective reinforcing protection of the equaltreatment principle in our country and givingrise to the creation of the Council for thepromotion of equal treatment and non-discrimination of persons for reasons of racialor ethnic origin the implementation of whichshould have been regulated within the firstthree months subsequent to the Act’s entryinto force.

In order to eliminate a large number of thediscriminatory practices accepted as normalbehaviour by the majority society, not onlymust legal provisions be applied but ins-truments are also needed to promote, interalia, care for victims, mediation, awareness-heightening and training of agents and thedissemination of codes of conduct; sphereswithin which the Council for the promotion ofequal treatment should play a major role asthe guarantor of minority rights.

In 2004 the Area of Equal Treatmentfocused intervention on:

• Institutional Action: The FundaciónSecretariado Gitano established a workinggroup in conjunction with the organisationsCEPAIM, ACCEM and the Spanish Red Cross

for the monitoring of anti-discrimination regu-lations in our country, especially regarding thecreation of the Council for the advancementof equal treatment and non-discrimination ofpersons for reasons of racial or ethnic originand likewise submitted a recommendationdocument with a view to broadening thelegal scope of protection of the right to equaltreatment.

• Training and awareness-raising: TheEqual Treatment Area implemented the Equalaccess to public services project funded by theEuropean Commission’s Directorate-Generalfor Employment and Social Affairs andIMSERSO (Spanish Social Services). Its mainactivities were the organisation of twoawareness-raising seminars aimed at the statepolice and security forces and public agentswith powers in the realm of social services.

On 27-28 May the seminar entitled SocialServices and the Promotion of Equal Treatmentwas held in Madrid with 52 participants fromNGOs, local and regional administrations andthe Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Theydebated relevant issues such as the transpo-sition of Directive 2000/43 into the Spanishlegal system and its practical effectiveness andlikewise the active role and concrete measuresto be implemented by the Administration’sSocial Services.

On 3 June the Seminar entitled Police andethnic/cultural diversity in Spain was held withthe aim of analysing the role of the police incombating discrimination and the barriers

Equal treatment

The EqualTreatment Areahas responded toover 200 queriesregarding ethnicdiscriminationfrom victims, publicadministrationsand NGOs

blocking the way to full enforcement of theequal treatment principle within the scope ofthe state police and security forces havingregard to ethnic or racial minorities in Spain,mainly Roma. The seminar’s 37 participantswere from the national, municipal and regio-nal police forces as well as the civil guard.

• The Roma EDEM European Project,Promotion of Roma / Traveller integration andequal treatment in education and employ-ment, financed by the European Commission.The project’s preparatory phase was carriedout in 2004 with the aim of reducing theexisting gap between anti-discriminationlegislation and institutional practices. Inaddition to the FSG, a number of the spe-cialised bodies for the promotion of equaltreatment of Northern Ireland, Portugal,Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary,along with the NGO Romani CRISS, (Romania)participated in the project. The preparatoryphase included the design of objectives andactivities for the project’s two-year implemen-tation consisting mainly of the organisation ofnational and international seminars in thefields of education and employment andlikewise the publication of a discriminationhandbook addressing the Roma communitiesof all of the partner countries.

• Advisory support for victims of discri-mination: With the collaboration of all of theterritorial outposts, the Equal Treatment areadealt with over 200 queries related with thefight against discrimination posed by the vic-tims themselves, public administrations andNGOs and has documented 92 cases of dis-crimination which will be presented in a reportfocusing on equal treatment and the Romacommunity. In all of those cases the Funda-ción Secretariado Gitano implemented itscomplaint intervention strategy which isbased on dialogue and can be summarised ascommunication, mediation, conciliation andlegal action.


For over a decade now the FSG has beenworking in Europe-wide projects and partici-pating in transnational networks. This facethas continued to grow over the years and, tothe degree that the Foundation consolidatesits work in Spain, has expanded both in termsof the geographical area covered as well as thescope of the projects.

Since 1999 the FSG has been spreadingits actions in the direction of the EasternEuropean countries recently incorporated intothe European Union in 2004. The timelinessand political relevance of the protection ofminorities on an international scale, togetherwith the process of European enlargementwhich, between 2004 and 2007, entails theincorporation of approximately six millionRoma, has focused attention over the last yearon the repercussions and impact this will haveon the Spanish Roma population. Until therecent enlargement, Spain was the EuropeanUnion country with the largest Roma popula-tion. Thanks to its specialisation and expe-rience in this field, the FSG can contribute itsown experience in working with this group aswell as the social integration model followedby Spain over the last several decades.

The FSG’s international cooperation activi-ties are carried out mainly along four basiclines of action:

- Provision of technical assistance and advisorysupport to public administrations as well asRoma or pro-Roma associations and social enti-ties working with this sector of the population.

- Provision of specific training and improvingthe qualifications of the Roma themselves andof the field professionals working with them.- Broadening and promoting links and expe-rience sharing with entities and institutions ofother countries.- Reinforcing our active presence and partici-pation in international forums where subjectsaffecting the Roma community are addressed.

The following projects and activities werecarried out during the course of 2004:

• The institutional twinning PHAREProject (Twinning-Light) with the CzechRepublic “Combating the social exclusion ofthe Roma community”. This is a EuropeanCommission project designed to support thatcountry in its design of an institutional modelto coordinate and execute actions focusing onthe Roma population and on improving theimpact that employment, social affairs andhousing policies have on this group. Also, anumber of seminars aimed at social entitiesand NGOs operating on the local level wereorganised.

• Institutional twinning PHARE Projectwith Hungary “Improving the effectivenessof policies focusing on the Roma community”.This is also a European Commission project butwith an 18-month duration (2002-2004) andfor which the FSG contributed with a Pre-accession Advisor stationed in Budapest whowas responsible for providing institutionalsupport to the Hungarian Government’s RomaAffairs Office consisting mainly of technical

International cooperation

The recentenlargement ofthe EuropeanUnion to includeEastern Europeancountries has hada very significantimpact onthe FSG’sinternational work

support and training for the personnel of theaforementioned body.

• Joint technical assistance programme ofthe Council of Europe-Council of EuropeDevelopment Bank “Identification of pro-jects aimed at improving the standard of livingof the Roma community in Eastern Europeancountries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,Romania and Bulgaria)”. The FSG identified5 possible projects especially in the fields ofhousing and employment and it will be up tothe Council of Europe-Development Bank toselect those to receive economic support fromthe said Bank.

• Project to foster ethnic tolerance in theRepublic of Udmurt (Russian Federation).The purpose of this new European Commissioninitiative focusing on the former Soviet repu-blics is to create cooperation mechanismsbetween the central government, town halls,ethnic associations and the media with a viewto fostering ethnic tolerance in a republic withover 70 minorities. This is a one-year projectand also involves the stationing of an advisorin the Republic of Udmurt to provide counselto the Ministry for National Policy.

• Project for the promotion of more pro-active social inclusion policies with theRoma community (phase I and II). This pro-ject, supported by the European Commissionand whose first phase was implemented in2002-2003, has been renewed for a furthertwo years and partners have been added.Phase one of the project included Spain,Portugal, Greece and Ireland and phase twohas added the Czech Republic, Hungary andRomania. The fundamental aim of this projectwhich is led by the FSG and the partners ofwhich are the ministries responsible for draf-ting the National Action Plans for SocialInclusion and social entities, is to promotemore pro-active social inclusion policies for theRoma population through the creation ofsocial indicators, the publication of an aware-ness guide and training of Roma and profes-sionals who work with the Roma community.


Technical Assistanceto the Council of Europe

BilateralCooperation

COOPERATIONAND ADVISORYPROJECTS

PROJECTS INSPECIFIC AREAS

EducationProgramme

HealthProgramme

Social InclusionProgramme

Equal TreatmentProgramme

The path towards full citizenship ofthe Roma community is hindered by thesituation of exclusion in which an importantpercentage of this community finds itself andalso by the lack of recognition of its culturalidentity and the discriminatory processes thatit has historically suffered.

The absence of specific policies focusing onthe Roma community is especially notoriousin the cultural sphere. Despite the recognitionof autonomous regions, of peoples and ofgroups of human beings, the Roma culturehas never been given even the slightestrecognition. On occasion its cultural realityhas been denied or reduced to aspects relatedwith poverty and marginalisation.

International organisations such as theCouncil of Europe address the need to work infavour of the defence of ethnic minorities andthe obligation of nations “to implement thenecessary legislative, administrative, judicial and

any other pertinent measures to create, in bene-fit of minorities, conditions allowing the latterto affirm their identity and develop their educa-tion, culture, language, traditions and customs”.

In the case of Spain, the 1978 Constitutionstates that “It is the responsibility of the pub-lic powers to promote conditions so that liber-ty and equality of the individual and thegroups he joins will be real and effective; toremove those obstacles which impede or makedifficult their full implementation, and to facil-itate participation of all citizens in political,economic, cultural and social life.”

However, despite this formal recognition ofequality, reality bears witness to enduring situ-ations of social, economic political, … inequal-ity against which one must fight on all fronts,among those the cultural.

The Area of Cultural Promotion hasconsolidated its initiatives during 2004 by

Advancement of Roma culture

10,331 peoplehave participatedin the culturalactivities organisedby the FSGin 2004

implementing some of the measures approvedin its Strategic Plan with a view to encouragingthe majority society to gain insight into andrecognise the cultural life of the Roma com-munities in Spain and throughout Europe andthe social changes which they have undergoneover the centuries.

The main lines of work this year have been:

- To foster the celebration of cultural weekscontributing to the recognition of this culturethroughout the different regions of the country.

- To underscore and recognise the contribu-tions that Roma culture has made to Spanishcultural heritage.

- To foster the meeting of different culturesand intercultural neighbourly relations.

The most relevant actions carried out in2004 were:

• The organisation of cultural weeks andcommemorative acts by the FSG and incollaboration with other entities has contribu-ted to the visibility of the Roma culture andhas likewise helped to systematise thesesorts of initiatives with a view to making themcyclical events in the cultural offering of themunicipalities in which we work. A total of10,331 people from all of the autonomousregions where the FSG is present have partici-pated in these activities and events have beencelebrated in 25 towns and cities.

• Our Documentation Centre continues toserve as a benchmark in terms of bibliographi-cal reference. The Area of Cultural Promotionhas set up cooperation links with differentinstitutions in order to foster the revival andorganisation of productions related with Romaculture.

• The exhibit entitled “Culturas paracompartir. Gitanos hoy” (Sharing Cultures.Roma today) has embarked upon its journeyaround different parts of our country. It isgradually being further disseminated throughcultural centres and public and private entities.The travelling exhibit has been shown in 15towns and cities throughout 7 autonomouscommunities. In Madrid the permanent exhibitwas visited by 1,298 people, 68% of whomwere from schools.

• Relations have been maintained withinstitutions in the cultural field with aview to increasing the presence of the Romacommunity at the national and internationallevels. The most relevant have been theMinistry of Culture, the Cervantes Instituteand regional film archives and libraries.


Through its Volunteer Programme the FSGseeks to develop a sufficiently organised socialbase to help us become further establishedand recognised by society. In this way we hopethat our services acquire enhanced humanquality. To this end we feel that it is importantto involve Roma and non-Roma alike asvolunteers who are committed to the Romacause.

In order to further promote this area, in 2004a specific working group was formed to dealwith volunteers, the object being defining theFoundation’s volunteer model and designingstrategies for growth. The Volunteer Recruit-ment and Promotion Programme known as“People who need People”, whose purpose isto promote solidarity on the part of societytowards the Roma cause, was also presented.

One of the key aspects of this Programme isthe training of our volunteers and to that endtwo meetings were held in 2004:

• III State-wide Volunteer Training Con-ference 2004: People who need People(April, Salamanca); in collaboration with theMinistry of Labour and Social Affairs and theEuropean Social Fund.

• IV Volunteer Training Conference (De-cember, Torremolinos - Malaga), specificallygeared towards the southern part of Spain. Anumber of different social entities collaboratedin this endeavour.

The objectives of these meetings were:

• To give the entity’s volunteers and interme-diate level staff a forum for reflection and deba-te on the role and functions of FSG volunteers.

• To collect proposals and practical suggestionsfor the drafting of a Manual or Handbook forthe incorporation of volunteers to the entity.

Said meetings gave rise to a series of contri-butions that the working group will use in thedrafting of two documents:

• An “ideological” document that defines theFoundation’s concept of volunteer work.

• A “practical” document to be used as aHandbook for Volunteer Participation whichcould establish the work to be carried out byvolunteers: recruitment, reception, training,accompaniment, monitoring, recognition, etc.

During 2004 the FSG had 150 volunteerscompared with 82 in 2003.

Volunteers

Over 150 volunteershave collaboratedwith the FSG inthe developmentof its activities

Over the last several decades the Romacommunity has made significant headway interms of social advancement. However, themajority society continues to have an archaic,negative and distorted image charged withnegative prejudices and stereotypes leadingto serious discriminatory effects.

Improvement in the social image of theRoma community is one of the essential linesof action which for some time now has beenamong the Foundation’s strategic priorities inits strive for the integrated advancement ofthe Roma community. 2004 was an importantyear in terms of FSG action in the field ofcommunication and image with the develop-ment and implementation of a StrategicCommunication Scheme for 2004-2006 andthe launching of an awareness heighteningcampaign focusing on the society at large.

This new Communication Scheme, moreclosely tailored to the current characteristicsof the organisation, mainly seeks to furtherstrengthen traditional activities (magazine,Internet, press office, corporate materials…)and likewise to implement other new oneswith greater impact such as the awarenessheightening campaign:

• Social perception of the Roma commu-nity. With a view to clearly defining thecommunication strategy’s objectives andpublic messages and as an essential basisfor the campaign, an internal study was doneof secondary sources (analysis of principalresearch, surveys and studies on these aspects)

as well as qualitative research following the“focus group” technique farmed out to a spe-cialised company.

From among the main findings specialmention should be made of the fact that theRoma community continues to be the mostrejected social group and, to a large extent,this negative social image is based much moreon the image portrayed in the media andsecond-hand information than on direct expe-riences or contact.

• Awareness Campaign “Get to knowthem before judging them”. This campaign,funded through the Anti Discrimination Pro-gramme of the European Social Fund, was puttogether by the Saatchi & Saatchi advertisingagency and is to be implemented in two sta-ges. The first, launched in November 2004,seeks to draw attention to the problemscaused by generalisations. The second stage,scheduled for the autumn of 2005, will focuson combating prejudice.

Communication and image

66

• The magazine entitled Gitanos, Pen-samiento y Cultura (Roma, thought andculture). Issues 24 to 28 were published in2004 and in addition to providing updatedinformation on the Spanish and internationalRoma communities, they also delved deeperinto the following subjects: Roma Youth(issue 24), The social image of the Romacommunity (issues 25-26) and Roma Women(issues 27-28).

The magazine has a circulation of 3,500and, in the case of the special issue on socialimage, this number was increased to 5,000.

• FSG and the Internet. This year markedthe definitive restructuring of the Foundation’sweb page (www.fsgg.org) both in terms ofdesign as well as updating procedures througha content manager. The number of visitorscontinues to rise with a total of 216,000 hitsin 2004.

The awareness-raising campaign is also verymuch a part of our web page with its owndomain (www.gitanos.org) providing accessto complete information on the project andpermitting the downloading of informationor the filling out of a survey. This web site,launched in November 2004, received 5,000visitors in that first month alone.

• Media relations. The FSG’s territorialexpansion has led to growth and a more pro-

active attitude to media relations on the state,regional and especially local level.

The launching of the awareness heighteningcampaign in the principal Spanish capital citieshas intensely reinforced this relationship as hasthe presence of content on the Roma issue inthe media (interviews, reports, news…) thusfulfilling one of the campaign’s indirect objec-tives: to foster greater insight into the Romacommunity throughout society.

• Corporative identity. As the symbol ofthe awareness heightening campaign a newFoundation logo was commissioned and finallyaccepted as the corporate logo. This decisionimplies, especially in 2005, the redefinition ofthe Foundation’s entire visual identity. Thisnew image simplifies the former symbols(“campfire”) and eliminates one of the wordsof our former name (“General”).

• Internal communication and training ofspokespersons. Internal communication isanother fundamental element contributing tothe success of lines of communication andthe campaign through numerous meetingsand gatherings of workers as well as the bi-monthly electronic Newsletter. Issues number46 to 65 of this bulletin were disseminatedin 2004.

In addition to carrying out a number ofinternal trials concerning the campaign, theworkers’ meetings this year focused especiallyon the training of spokespersons.

Communication and image

The number ofweb page visitorscontinues to risewith more than220,000 hitsin 2004


The FSG has been developing differentactions in an attempt to compensate for theprevailing lack of information that the societyhas with regard to the Roma community andis doing so by disseminating its own publi-cations through its Library - DocumentationCentre or through direct dissemination to themedia of images and content that do justiceto the diversity and wealth of this culture.

Specialised in subjects related with theRoma people (history, culture, sociology, etc.),the Centre selects, organises and monitorsexisting documentation for dissemination anduse by interested parties. It is a must as asource of documentation given its breadth andquality. Growth in the volume of informationand diversity of documentary services andproducts have led the documentation centreto change its working tool through the ABSYSintegrated library system and as a specific database for the electronic management of press.These changes imply a review of cataloguesand registers (bibliographic information andhard copy) and of technical processing.

One of the new lines of action involvesencouraging the use and sharing of informa-tion in electronic format as well as technicalassistance and advisory support provided toall types of public and private institutionsinterested in acquiring and disseminatinginformation on the Roma community.

The Centre’s main line of activity is alsomaintained:

• Processing of documents. Currently theCentre has documentary resources includingbibliographical and audiovisual material,collections of periodical publications and pressmonitoring. The stocks of information areregistered and subsequently catalogued andclassified in accordance with their own tableof contents and thesaurus. Data bases can bechecked via a consultation form available atwww.fsgg.org or by filing an information searchrequest via e-mail, telephone, fax or post.

• User support. A total of 628 requests havebeen answered including in-house queries andrequests for bibliography and informationthrough other channels (fax, e-mail…). Specialmention should be made of the e-mail version

Documentation and publications

The quality of ourover 6,000 graphicand audiovisualdocumentsand 66,000press clippingscatalogued overthe course offour decadesmakes usan essentialpoint of reference

DOCUMENTARY SOURCES

Audiovisual Mat.

Analyses

Unpublished Docs.

Monographs

TOTAL: 6,332 documents

Magazine Collect.

TOTAL: 123 titles

Press clippings

Complies since 1967

645

580

2,070

123

66,013

3,037


of this service and of the data base consul-tation via the Internet.

• Bulletins containing summaries andnovelties. E-mail notices of the summarybulletins of publications received at the centre(on a quarterly basis) and bibliographicalnovelties (on a monthly basis). These are disse-minated to other documentation centres, FSGworkers and to interested parties. They arealso available through Internet.

• Bulletin entitled Los Gitanos en laPrensa (Roma in the Press). This is a monthlybulletin which containing a selection of newsitems published in the national press withrespect to the Roma community. It includesan analysis of the month’s news as well as astatistical appendix. It is available free ofcharge through the Internet.

Estos calós sí que chanelanArza, Javier.Área de Salud de la FundaciónSecretariado Gitano.FSG. Madrid, 2004

Observatorio ‘03:Empleo y comunidad gitanaDepartamento de Formacióny Empleo de la FundaciónSecretariado Gitano.FSG. Madrid, 2004

FSG PUBLICATIONS IN 2004

Documents

Activities report 2004 - Fundación Secretariado Gitano...de Cáceres, COPECáceres, Solo RadioHellín, Tele Toledo, Publicaciones del Sur, Antena 3 de Radio in Asturias, Telefrontera,