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Project Generation Facility
March 03, 2010
The Open Society Institute is proud to announce that its Project Generation Facility (PGF) for Making the Most of EU Funds for Roma Inclusion has been launched and began its work in mid-2008. This new program seeks to bring together Roma communities, local governments and EU structural funds under the umbrella of a comprehensive, complex and targeted intervention for social inclusion of the Roma in the societies of the EU member states. This program will be led from the offices of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Institute in Budapest, an OSI program that has excelled in professionalizing public service, introducing principles of equal and fair public services and the latest and most reliable techniques for good governance for all across the region and beyond.
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Partners
National and pilot project partner institutions of the PGF initiative are: the Open Society Foundation-Sofia in Bulgaria, the Autonomia Foundation in Hungary, the Roma Institute in Slovakia; Microfond Sofia Foundationand Roma Civil Rights Foundation Hungary.
Open Society Foundation-Sofia, Bulgaria
The Open Society Foundation-Sofia, established in 1990, has sponsored a wide range of activities to democratize public life in Bulgaria, extend civil liberties, and has most recently turned to the integration of ethnic minorities and diversity management. It has been active in promoting minority projects in education and health, community policing, regional planning and development, distance learning, and desegregation. It also has established a network of Roma community centers in 12 towns across Bulgaria.
Building on its resources and experience as well as its new partners in this partnerships with the Open Society Institute-Budapest, the Open Society Foundation-Sofia has formed a consortium with three organizations: the Resource Center for Decentralization and Municipal Development, the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance Amalipe, and National Association of Public Servants Working on Roma Issues in Public Administration. The aim is to match and maximize the reach and experience of these four organizations in order to tackle the pervasive discrimination in public services and public policy that affect the Roma to the present-day in Bulgaria.
Ongoing projects:
Autonomia Foundation, Hungary
Located in Budapest, the Autonamia Foundation has over seventeen years of experience in supporting the Roma community in Hungary. Its groundbreaking activities have spanned over 1200 local initiatives in over 600 settlements and ranged from publishing to courses, from pilot projects to grant management, from community centers to partnerships, from technical assistance to microfinance, and from legal defense to the first Roma radio station in Hungary. It has been awarded several prizes for its work and many now prominent and successful Roma have passed through its programs.
Autonamia has gone from strength to strength and brings experience and know-how to this new partnership with the Open Society Institute to better Roma’s lives, especially those who are still deeply effected by poverty that have yet to be reached by other social interventions in Hungary.
Ongoing projects:
The Roma Institute, Slovakia
The Roma Institute is a nongovernmental organization based in Bratislava and the leader of a consortium formed with Edea Partners that has won the call for a national partner in Slovakia. The Roma Institute is the continuation of the InfoRoma Foundation (1994-2007) that made a significant contribution to designing pilot programs in education, health, training and capacity building for Roma, as well as contributing to infrastructure projects financed by PHARE and targeting Roma in Slovakia.
Ms. Klara Orgovanova will have the role of project manager in this new partnership with the Open Society Institute-Budapest, bringing her work and advocacy experience from the InfoRoma Foundation, the Open Society Fund Bratislava, and the Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities. Ms. Orgovanova’s team will be assisted by colleagues from the consulting and service company, Edea, who bring together experience with working on issues of social inclusion and a wide range of European Union funding opportunities.
Ongoing projects:
Dzeno Association
Dzeno Association is a successor of DLleno foundation, established in 1994 with the aim of preserving and developing traditional Roma values. The Association publishes the magazine "Amaro Gendalos" and is the founder of the first internet Roma radio station "ROTA' in the Czech Republic. Along with management of the Rota radio, Dzeno implements programs for training young Roma as journalists and editors in mainstream media. As a member of the European Network against Racism, Dzeno is involved in networking across Europe for the promotion of human rights, equal opportunities, anti-discrimination and social assistance.
Prospectus Co. has experience as a service provider of PHARE funded projects; in 2000 it acted as service provider for the task Force of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Development which was designed to prepare state authorities for the implementation of the EU Structural Funds. The company managed training programs for local administration as well as non-profit organizations related to the EU Structural Funds, including a training program for Roma associations in Central Bohemia.
On going projects:
Civil Society Development Foundation
The Project Generation Facility in Romania is implemented by the consortium of Civil Society Development Foundation (CSDF), Romanian Social Development Fund (RSDF) and the Institute for Public Policy (IPP). The partners of the consortium have a rich experience in working with Roma communities; generating development projects in poor, vulnerable and/or socially excluded communities; offering technical assistance to local authorities and NGOs; and facilitating local communities, including Roma ones. CSDF has been actively involved in the amendments and adoption of national acts regulating the functioning of NGOs; provision of training and consultancy services in the domain of proposal writing, project, organizational and financial management, fundraising and stability; and research activities. RSDF brings to the partnership its proficient experience in community development and activities targeting Roma as one of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups in the Romanian society. The work of the consortium will be complemented by IPP’s expertise in research, comprehensive and nonpartisan public policy analysis.
Pilot Project Partner Institutions and their consortia
Microfond Sofia Foundation
Microfond Foundation Sofia is a non-profit organization, which promotes the development of civil society in Bulgaria. As an independent entity since 2002, Microfond Foundation originated from within the Microcredit Program of the Resource Center Foundation (1999-2002) that targeted regions with high unemployment rate, low economic growth and ethnic communities. Microfond is devoted to building mutual cooperation among state bodies, civil entities and business organizations; it supports the democratic process in socioeconomic development; encourages sharing and adopting know-how in democratic mechanisms development.
Led by common aim, promotion of democratic development and building dialog in the relations between the citizens and the state, Microfond Foundation formed consortium with the Open Society Club – Rouse and the Regional Economic Development Center. The common objective of the consortium is to support Roma inclusion in Bulgaria through professional assistance for the development of infrastructure projects.
Ongoing projects:
Roma Civil Rights Foundation Hungary
Being one of the first organizations focusing on Roma community in Hungary, Roma Civil Rights Foundation (RCRF) was established in 1995. Main objectives of the Foundation are: emancipation of Hungarian Roma through professional programs and projects, providing free of charge legal advice to Roma, conflict prevention through social mediation and counseling, intervention in issues affecting Roma in domestic and international level.
Led by the aim of encouraging communities with dominant Roma inhabitants to establish NGOs, where needed, capacitate them and support their cooperation with local and regional actors Roma Civil Rights Foundation formed consortium with Kai Consulting Ltd and Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
Kai Consulting Ltd. partnership will complement the activities of RCRF with its proficient experience in project management, proven through its participation in the preparation of the Human Resources Operational Program (2004-2006) and its experience in work with PHARE and Structural Funds Programs.
Ongoing projects:
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