Roma Civil Monitor is a pilot project with the full title of ‘Capacity building for Roma civil society and strengthening its involvement in the monitoring of national Roma integration strategies’.

The objective of the pilot project is to contribute to strengthening the monitoring mechanisms of the implementation of the national Roma integration strategies through systematic civil society monitoring. The additional value of civil society monitoring comes from the independent status and the field experience of participating NGOs. The pilot project aims to enhance civil society monitoring in two key ways: by developing the policy monitoring capacities of civil society actors, and by supporting the preparation of high-quality, comprehensive annual civil society monitoring reports. The project will be implemented with active participation of around 90 NGOs from 27 member states (Malta is not part of the pilot project as there is no Roma community).

2017 2020 

The FIRST MONITORING CYCLE (2017) of the National Roma Integration Strategies reviewed key structural preconditions of successful implementation: fighting discrimination and antigypsyism, governance and overall policy framework (including Roma participation, coordination structures, use of European Structural and Investment Funds), anti-discrimination and fighting antigypsyism, and for the countries with largest Roma communities (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia) also the impact of mainstream education policies on Roma. 

In the SECOND MONITORING CYCLE (2018), the reports focus on the key policy areas of education, employment, healthcare and housing.

In the THIRD MONITORING CYCLE (2019/2020), the reports focus on blind spots in Roma inclusion policies. Such blind spots include issues that hinder the Roma inclusion but have not been effectively considered or addressed by the Member States.

  • Capacity building: knowledge bank, workshops
  • Development of monitoring reports
  • Dissemination of monitoring reports
  • Networking of NGOs

European Commission DG Justice and Consumers

Directorate D: Equality and Union Citizenship