Katarina Mathernova 23 May 2011

The right thing to do!

Political opportunity – greater awareness; political momentum at the EU level – April 5th Communication

Makes economic sense – World Bank study on Benefits of Roma Inclusion

Economic argument for

Roma inclusion

4 country study: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia

Majority populations in these countries are aging. Roma share of new labor market entrants is high and growing

Large employment gap

Biggest driver is the large educational gap

Main Finding: Integration is Smart Main Finding: Integration is Smart EconomicsEconomics

◦ Closing labor market gap can increase national incomes by up to Euro 5.5 billion and tax revenues by Euro 1.5 billion in these 4 countries annually

◦ Cost of inaction will rise over time because of demographic trends

◦ Necessary investments in education and labor market opportunities a fraction of economic gains

Accurate and representative data lacking

Estimates (e.g. UNDP, 2006) indicate Roma employment levels are even lower in Slovakia than in these 4 countries

Every reason to believe that the economic benefits of labor market integration are similarly large and growing in Slovakia (see also Marcinčin and Marcinčinová, 2009)

Priority AreasPriority Areas

• Ensuring equal education opportunities, starting with Early Childhood Education

• Employment activation policies

• Addressing housing inequities

• Closing health disparities

04/19/23

Slovakia:urban: Martin and Banska Bystricarural: Abranovce and ZborovRomania: urban: Craiova- Mofleni neighbourhood; rural: Telechiu villageMacedonia:urban: Šuto Orizari, Vinica, rural: Trabotivište, CrnikHungary:urban: Nyiregyhaza, rural: Mateszalka micro region

Program by Roma Education Fund (REF) € from EU Parliament and DG Regional Policy Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Macedonia

Implemented by local partner organizations◦ Slovakia: Abranovce, Zborov, Martin, Banska

Bystrica ◦ KARI, Equal Chances, Cult. Assoc. of Roma

Supported by international partners:◦ Slovak Governance Institute, International Step by

Step Association (ISSA)◦ World Bank and UNDP

Roma parents strongly believe in the importance of early childhood education

Cost is key issue to non-enrolment of project families, as is unemployed parents being at home and not having good communication with teachers

Feasible to implement a good monitoring and evaluation framework

East Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka Latin America: Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,

Dominica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru

Africa: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia,

North Africa: Morocco, Tunesia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan Eastern Europe and FSU: Albania, Azerbaijan,

Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan

Source: “EU legislation on the 2011 Population and Housing Censuses” (Eurostat 2011, ISSN 1977-0375)

In summary: Household survey like EU-SILC have breadth

of indicators, but sample sizes too small to be representative for local area units

Population censuses do allow small areas calculations but frequently lack breadth of indicators necessary to calculate main poverty indicators

Common Household Background CharacteristicsEU-SILC or other detailed

survey

Common Household Background Characteristics

National Population Census

Background characteristics unique to EU-

SILC

Household Welfare Indicator(s) such as at-risk-of-poverty in

EU-SILC

Step 0

Step 1

Household Welfare Indicator(s) such as at-risk-of-poverty

not in census

Step 2

POVERTY MAP(S)

LAU 1 level (‘nuts 4’) – 262 municipalities (2005)

Poverty maps can be very useful tool to target poorest areas with inclusion programs

Poverty maps have been implemented around the world. If data are available, production of poverty maps takes several months

Policy relevance and adoption of poverty maps enhanced through considerable outreach and capacity building

Population censuses being implemented throughout the EU in 2011 and availability of annual EU-SILC survey data are promising