A disproportionately large number ofRoma in Europe today face deep poverty, social exclusion,and poor living conditions. Improving these is critical toachieving the targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy, theEuropean Union s 10-year growth strategy, which aims toreduce poverty, social exclusion, early school leaving, andincrease school attainment and employment by 2020. The EUFramework for National Roma Integration Strategies (NRIS) upto 2020calls on the European Commission and the memberstates to mobilize existing EU strategies and instruments inthe cause of securing the socioeconomic inclusion of Romaand invites the member states to make sufficient use of EUand national funding to address Roma needs. Theimplementation and success of the NRIS will very much dependon an effective and sufficient allocation of nationalresources. EU funding alone can certainly not solve thesituation of Roma, but the Commission calls on member statesto make efficient use of the funds. The European Structuraland Investment (ESI) Funds, principally the European SocialFund (ESF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF),and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development(EAFRD) generally constitute the EU s main instruments forsupporting member statesefforts to improve the lives ofvulnerable people, including the Roma. These funds will beinvested in shared management by the European Commission andthe member states and regions through operational programs(OPs) that cover a seven year period between 2014 and 2020.Based on the priorities established in the OPs, themanagement authorities invest these funds for projectsmainly on the basis of calls for proposals (CfPs). TheCouncil of the European Union, through a recommendation oneffective Roma integration measures,3 calls on theinvolvement of local authorities and civil societyorganizations (CSOs) in developing, implementing, andmonitoring national strategies through operationsco-financed by the ESI Funds. In this context, this handbookwas prepared to help prepare and implement effectiveinterventions for improving the living conditions ofdisadvantaged Roma at the local level, using European,national, or local funds. While there are legal texts suchas (1) Regulations of the European Parliament and of theCouncil, which lay down the general provisions on the EUfunds; (2) country position papers that outline the analysisof the main challenges and funding priorities relevant forthe ESI funds; and (3) Guidance on European Structural andInvestment Funds 2014 2020 which consist of a series ofguidelines and templates for operationalizing the EUpolicies and regulations, this handbook should be treated asa nonbinding reference source. It shares hands-on, practicalknowledge, techniques, and tools for enhancing the qualityof interventions. The handbook intends to provide globalinsights, experience, and ideas to broaden the range ofinterventions and actions considered by stakeholders, andalso to inspire further innovations.
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