Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG), an intercultural organisation with over 40 years of experience promoting the rights, social inclusion and equal opportunities of Roma people in Spain and Europe, seeks to draw attention to the persistent educational inequalities affecting Roma children and to propose policy measures aimed at addressing these challenges effectively.

Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) is an intercultural organisation that has been working for over 40 years to promote social advancement, defend rights, and ensure equal opportunities for the Roma community across Spain, with a strong European dimension.

The European Social Fund (ESF) is the primary financial instrument of the European Union dedicated to investing in people and guaranteeing their right to active inclusion. Rather than being a mere redistribution mechanism, it serves as a strategic tool of Cohesion Policy, translating broad European social goals into concrete, field-adapted interventions that address the structural causes of inequality.

We would like to share our views for the ESF+ mid-term evaluation, focusing in particular on the use of ESF+ for vulnerable groups (especially Roma) in Spain (for full contribution, see document attached). We have a positive view of the way in which ESF+ has been programmed in Spain at national level.

The Roma Secretariado Foundation is a state-level social and intercultural NGO that has been working for almost 40 years on equal rights and social inclusion of Roma in Spain and Europe, providing services to Roma, fighting discrimination and advocating more inclusive public policies to improve the social image of Roma, carry out awareness-raising campaigns, etc.

Filed in Spanish · English published by the European Commission

Fundación Secretariado Gitano welcomes the recognition of vulnerable groups, particularly people from minority backgrounds such as Roma, within the EUs crisis, preparedness and disaster response frameworks. Anticipation and preparedness are decisive to ensure equitable responses in times of crisis, especially for those living in conditions of severe social exclusion.

Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) is a Spanish national, intercultural, non-profit social organisation that has been working for more than 40 years for the equality and promotion of the Roma people. It develops, among others, programmes to improve the education, employment and housing of Roma people in Spain and Europe, as well as political advocacy to place the Roma issue on the European political agenda.

ESI Funds, and especially ESF, have proven to be crucial instruments for addressing the situation of groups/people in situations of greater exclusion/vulnerability, such as the Roma. Characteristics such as duration, scale (in terms of budget, dimension & geographical coverage) make possible to design and implement interventions with a high potential for impact and social change.

In relation to the implementation of the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan in Spain, from Fundación Secretariado Gitano we would like to provide the following comments: - We are concerned that Spain has not yet prepared or published a National Action Plan against Racism that complies with the guidelines established by the Commission, although the deadline to do so ended in December 2022.