Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation 2026

ongoing

With the 2026 work programme “Roma equality, inclusion and participation 2026” (EQUIP) the European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network aims to combat antigypsyism and contribute to creating better living conditions for the approximately 12 Million Roma living in Europe. At European level, ERGO Network bridges the gap between day-to-day reality of Roma communities and EU policy-making. It provides expertise to policy makers to design and implement more effective approaches to Roma equality as part of the EU Roma Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation and mainstream social policies. In parallel, it empowers grassroots Roma civil society to influence decisions affecting them, to monitor the effective implementation of Roma policies and to hold their governments accountable. The 2026 work programme promotes, protects and raises awareness of the rights of Roma, promotes equality, prevents and combats antigypsyism and Roma poverty, and contributes to all seven horizontal and sectoral objectives of the EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation. The strategic objectives of this annual work programme are: - To strengthen European and national anti-racism and anti-discrimination policies with a focus on antigypsyism - To ensure that the Roma are included in social policy frameworks - To build awareness and capacity to combat antigypsyism - To empower Roma civil society on national and local level - To strengthen ERGO as a network of grassroots Roma organisations. Activities include feeding a Roma perspectives into new social policy initiatives of the European Commission; preparing for the development of the post 2030 EU Roma Strategic Framework, based on the mid-term evaluation; the development of a visual index of Roma equality, inclusion and participation in Europe; a study session to empower Roma youth, and exchange among member organisations.