Early Today, we officially opened our 2018 Roma Network Meeting in Helsinki, Finland. The meeting, hosted by our Finnish member Helsingin Diakonissalaitos (HDI), will last until tomorrow afternoon and it is aimed at providing a forum for Eurodiaconia members to share experiences and good practices, identify the challenges they face, as well as discuss potential solutions and opportunities for development in the Roma integration field. This includes discussing what political strategies have been so far successful in supporting Roma inclusion.
This year’s meeting will be split into two sessions. One will be dedicated to exchanging of member’s best practices related to access to health care and adequate housing. The other session will focus on formulating recommendations for the post-2020 EU Roma policies. We are also delighted to welcome several external speakers from Helsinki University, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare and Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs who will present their work with Roma and thus give additional input to our work.
During the meeting, the participants will also have the chance to attend a study visit to our member’s HDI drop-in service for Roma EU migrants Hirundo.
More information about the Roma meeting can be found on the meeting agenda.