www.peer-review-social-inclusion.eu

Poland Second Semester Report

Promoting Social Inclusion of Roma

Irena Topińska Centre for Social and Economic Research, CASE

Disclaimer: This report reflects the views of its author(s) and these are not necessarily those of either the the European Commission or the Member States. August 2011 Revised: November 2011

On behalf of the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

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Content

Summary ...... 3

1. Description of national situation ...... 4 1.1. Roma population ...... 4 1.2. Geographic distribution of Roma ...... 5 1.3. Poverty and social exclusion ...... 6 1.4. Roma discrimination ...... 11 1.5. Data gaps ...... 12

2. Assessment of existing policy and governance framework ...... 13 2.1. Overall policy framework and governance arrangements ...... 13 2.2. Poverty reduction and social inclusion targets ...... 15 2.3. Roma and the National Reform Programme ...... 15 2.4. Social inclusion and integration in light of the Roma Programme ...... 16 2.5. Good practice examples ...... 18

3. Structural Funds ...... 20

4. Role of civil society and international organisations ...... 21

5. Recommendations ...... 22

Acronyms and abbreviations ...... 25

References ...... 26

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Summary

The Roma population in Poland is very small. Their total number is estimated at about 13,000 – 50,000, depending on the data source. Altogether, this is much less than 1% of the total Polish resident population (0.03 % - 0.13 % out of ca. 38 million). The Polish Roma community breaks into four ethnic groups (Polska Roma, Bergitka Roma, Kelderari, and Lovari). Over 90% of them live in urban areas, mostly dispersed throughout small towns, but ethnic enclaves are also visible. Roma may be found in all regions of Poland but the majority of them – mostly Bergitka – live in southern provinces. In recent times, they are not nomadic anymore. However, after Poland’s accession to the European Union there is some migration of Roma in and out of the country. The Bergitka Roma differ from other groups in terms of customs, codes (less restrictive) and standard of living (very low for most of the group) making their acceptance by others difficult.

Social exclusion and discrimination against Roma remain an issue. Although statistical information is incomplete and often outdated, it allows showing the scale of Roma deprivation in health (high incidence of various diseases, rare use of medical service), education (very high share of Roma with uncompleted primary school), employment (up to 70% unemployed) and housing (lack of sewage, electricity etc, especially among the Bergitka Roma). Discrimination cases are reported by media and NGOs (entrance bans, assaults) and evidenced by surveys (high incidence rate).

Policies aimed at Roma social inclusion and integration are implemented by a single government Programme for the Roma Community in Poland scheduled for 2004-2013 and by ESF-funded “Roma component” of the Human Capital Operational Programme 2007- 2013. Both are closely related, given similar goals and areas of interventions. They are also similar in terms of expenditure per year (over 3 million euro).

The government programme covers eight areas. Education is the most important one, taking over 50% of expenditure and offering a variety of measures (financing assistant teachers for Roma children, school commuting, textbooks, school meals, stipends and many others). Housing is the second important area of the programme support (repairs, setting up utilities), then culture and maintaining ethnic identity. All others, including health and labour issues, are much smaller. Roma component covers six areas, but most projects regard labour inclusion (supplementing government programme) and, once again, education and culture.

Both programmes support development of the Roma civil society, and their implementation has visibly strengthened Roma non-government organisations. Over the last decade, the number of Roma NGOs more than doubled, Roma representatives are members of the government advisory body for ethnic minorities and they also work for regional governments. The design and performance of the Programme for the Roma Community allows concluding that, despite some visible weaknesses and lack of spectacular success, it has brought about a number of positive effects. They may be found in the area of primary education, housing, health prevention or preservation of Roma culture and ethnic identity. Also worth noticing are the increasing role of NGOs, empowerment of Roma activists, and certain changes of the general public attitudes towards the Roma community.

But many challenges remain. School enrolment rate is still low, and higher education is beyond the reach of most of the Roma. Unemployment rate is alarmingly high and somehow disregarded by the government programme. Attitudes of the medical personnel towards the Roma as well as

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Roma’s customs related to health call for changes. Finally, discrimination should necessarily be raised as an issue for the programme promoting social integration of Roma.

1. Description of national situation

1.1. Roma population The Roma community in Poland is very small. Precise figures are not available but its size is estimated at about 13 – 50 thousand, depending on the data source. Altogether, this is much less than 1% of the total Polish resident population (strictly speaking from 0.033% to 0.132%, out of ca. 38 million). These estimates were made almost a decade ago but are still widely used. However, it is hard to say whether the current figures would be quite similar or would significantly differ since they are influenced by, both, demographic processes (fertility, mortality, migration) and a revealed sense of ethnicity which may change over time. It is also not easy to decide which estimates are the most reliable.

National documents and publications usually refer to the lower figures. They were estimated on the basis of the 2002 Census, and additionally by regional (voivodship) authorities during the preparation of the government programme for the Roma (Table 1). The Census shows either 12,731 (number of people who declared Roma ethnicity) or 15,658 Roma living in Poland (number of people who declared using Roma language). The voivodship figure – drawn up during the preparatory work on the government programme for the Roma minority – indicates 20,750. International sources, based on NGOs’, individual or experts’ estimates, provide higher numbers: 50,000-60,000 (Minority Rights Group of the European Council) or about 42,000 (International Organization for Migration).1

The Roma community in Poland breaks down into four main ethnic groups: Polska Roma, Bergitka or Carpathian Roma, Kelderari and Lovari.2 The Polska Roma came centuries ago from the west, and they still reveal some German influence (in their language, for instance).3 Other groups came from the south, and the “southern” flavour is still recognizable in some of their names. The Kelderari (“boiler-making” people) and the Lovari (“horse sellers”) immigrated in the 19th century from the region of today’s Romania. The Bergitka were arriving since the 15th century from Wallachia, as well as from the regions of today’s Hungary and Slovakia.

The Bergitka Roma are somehow distinctive. This regards their customs, codes, standard of living as well as the way they are perceived by others. Their group cohesion seems weaker and they are visibly poorer than Kelderari or Lovari. Also, they are often not accepted (or are even rejected) both by the other Roma and by non-Roma.

1 Figures quoted from Mazur S. (2010), Polityki Unii Europejskiej i jej państw członkowskich wobec Romów, in Mazur (2010), Table VI.1, p. 140 (MRG) and Table VI.2, p. 141 (IOM). See also figures quoted by E.Mirga- Wójtowicz in Instytut Obywatelski (2011), p.8. 2 Other groups are also found (Xaladytka or Russian Roma, Sasytka, Vurdonara and Sinti) but the size of their populations is really tiny. 3 All information about Roma groups, their origin and the current status presented in this section comes from Mazur (2010), chapter 1 (by A. Paszko) and MSWiA (2003), Annex 6, http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romowie_w_Polsce and http://www.mswia.gov.pl/portal/pl/61/Mniejszosci_narodowe_i_etniczne_w_Polsce.html . But other reports as well as articles on Roma also provide general information on Roma customs, codes and differences among varius groups.

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At present, all Roma in Poland are sedentary. Except of Bergitka, they were nomadic until the end of the sixties of the 20th century. In 1964, the Roma were legally forced to settle but a few migrating carts were sometimes spotted even in the mid-seventies. Today, they migrate occasionally and their migration process – which is rather temporary - has intensified after the EU accession in 2004. Many of them follow typical directions of the Polish migration flows towards the UK and Germany. On the other hand, some cases of recent immigration of Roma – mainly from Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, less from the FSU – have been reported. These immigrants are visible mostly in the large cities and they look seriously excluded. Their number is hard to estimate but it does not seem being very high.

1.2. Geographic distribution of Roma In Poland, Roma live mainly in urban areas (approx. 93%, according to 2002 Census), in towns rather than in the large cities. Sometimes, Roma families live in close proximity to each other making small ethnic enclaves.4 Cases of hostility towards them are quite often reported. Roma may be found in all regions of Poland but rather – mostly the Bergitka – in the southern part (Map 1, Table 1). Table 1. Roma population by region (voivodship), 2002

Roma population according to Voivodship Authority Ethnicity a Language a estimates b % of the % of the Number regional Number regional Number population population Dolnośląskie 1319 0.045 1499 0.052 2500 Kujawsko-Pomorskie 634 0.031 826 0.040 1400 Lubelskie 670 0.031 813 0.037 800 Lubuskie 272 0.027 381 0.038 700 Łódzkie 1018 0.039 1203 0.046 1200 Małopolskie 1678 0.052 2176 0.067 3500 Mazowieckie 1291 0.025 1552 0.030 1600 Opolskie 847 0.080 1011 0.095 800 Podkarpackie 712 0.034 910 0.043 1500 Podlaskie 365 0.030 392 0.032 700 Pomorskie 187 0.009 262 0.012 500 Śląskie 1189 0.025 1485 0.031 2300 Świętokrzyskie 338 0.026 373 0.029 650 Warmińsko-Mazurskie 426 0.030 610 0.043 1000 Wielkopolskie 1086 0.032 1396 0.042 600 Zachodniopomorskie 699 0.041 768 0.045 1000 Total 12731 0.033 15657 0.041 20750 Source: a Census 2002 http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/5840_4520_PLK_HTML.htm b Roma Programme: MSWiA (2003), Annex 1.

4 See Mikulska, Hall (2009) for more comments on spatial distribution and segregation of the Roma.

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Figure1. Geographical distribution of the Roma population in Poland, 2002 (Data provided by the voivodship authorities)

Source: http://www.kxetanes.cazr.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=83 Based on the figures displayed in MSWiA (2003), Annex 1. See also the last column of Table 1.

According to all data sources, the largest population of the Roma – both in absolute and in relative terms – lives in Małopolskie voivodship (the very south of Poland). Dolnośląskie and Śąskie, located more to the west, come next. These three southern regions alone make about 33% - 40% of the Roma population in Poland. All southern regions taken together (Małopolskie and Śląskie in the centre, Dolnośląskie and Opolskie in the south-west, Podkarpackie in the south-east) account for about half of all Roma living in Poland. Opolskie voivodship also shows the highest density of the Roma population, clearly above all other regions.

On the other hand, Roma community is relatively small in the north (Pomorskie voivodship) and in the central-west (Lubuskie), accounting together for 4% -5% of the total Roma population, and about 1‰ (Pomorskie) or less than 4‰ (Lubuskie) of the total regional populations.

1.3. Poverty and social exclusion

Income poverty Income poverty statistics showing at-risk-of-poverty rates or absolute poverty rates of Roma living in Poland are virtually absent. It results from too small Roma population which cannot be covered by representative samples of household surveys – both at the country and at the regional levels – as well as from the problems of involved in estimation of monetary incomes of Roma families5. Given the lack of quantitative data on Roma poverty, opinions rather than statistical estimates are often presented. One can read that “next to unquestionably wealthy Roma individuals […], there are entire communities living in poverty and penury” or “incomes of most of Roma families fall below the poverty threshold” 6. In such a case, proxies are needed.

Take-up rate of income tested benefits could have been used as a proxy for the income poverty rate, and this rate for Roma is sometimes provided. One of the surveys conducted in 1999 shows

5 On top of “regular “income estimation problems, other one are faced, too: communication with Roma, their reluctance to participate in the surveys etc. 6 MSWiA (2003), p. 47 (Annex 6) and p. 16 (Annex 6, Polish version). But notice that opinions that many Roma are very rich (affluence of Roma” kings” who live in palaces) are also quite common.

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that social assistance benefits are the main source of income for almost 20% of the Roma.7 However, as regards the Bergitka Roma, much higher figures were reported, namely 75% or even 95% of families living on social assistance8. In general, the opinion that Bergitka Roma live on social assistance9 prevails and this view is often extended by the non-experts to the whole Roma community.

According to the 2010 survey of officials responsible for policies towards minorities at the regional level, majority of Roma live on social benefits (social pensions, social assistance benefits, housing allowances and alike).10 Ranking of the social assistance support provided for the Roma looks as follows: targeted benefits, permanent benefits and temporary benefits. Quite surprisingly, child allowances have not been included in the list of the most frequently used benefits.

Education

Contrary to the weak recognition of income poverty, education of Roma is better documented. Education level is known from the Census of 2002.11 It shows a huge education gap between the Roma minority and the total population. In 2002, as much as 50.8% of Roma aged 13 years or more did not complete primary education or did not have any education at all.12 At the same time, 3.6% was the share of uneducated people in the total population. About 40% of the Roma completed only primary school (30% was the country average), 5% basic vocational school (compared to 23% nationwide), 2.6% secondary school (28.3% of the total population) and only 0.14% acquired university degree (while 9.88% of the total population). Unfortunately, neither further breakdowns (by gender, age or by Roma group) nor updates are available13. One may assume, however, that the education level of Roma is better at present than ten year ago – at least as regards completion of a primary school – given a visible effort by the government authorities, non-government organisations and Roma activists to improve it. It is debatable, however, whether changes would be spectacular. This may be evidenced by the enrolment figures for the last six school years, provided by the voivodships’ authorities (Table 2).

7 Mazur (2010), Table III.3, p.55-56. 8 MSWiA (2003), p. 47 (Annex 6). 9 Mazur (2010), pp. 15-16, 21. 10 Mazur (2010), Table III.6, p.68-69. Notice that the surveyed population as well as the response rate were very low. 11 Data in this paragraph are quoted from Mazur (2010), Table III.5, p. 58. 12 Notice a rather low age threshold (13 years or more) for these figures. If the population aged 15+ is considered, education indicators look somehow better, especially as regards the lowest levels: 15.8% with no education, 24.2% uncompleted primary school. See Mazur (2010), chapter III, p. 52. 13 They will come with the results of the current (2011) Census.

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Table 2. Education of Roma children 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007/ 2008 / 2009 / 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Number of children of compulsory school age 3259 3424 2936 3191 3297 3369 Number of children enrolled in school 2767 2849 2542 2680 2764 2764 Enrolment rate [%] 84.9 83.2 86.6 84.0 83.8 82.0 Enrolment rate : min - max [%] 51 - 100 48 - 100 59 - 100 59 - 98 55 -100 55 -100 Attendance rate : average [%] na na 76 76 75 73 Attendance rate : min - max [%] 52 - 85 57 - 100 52 - 100 55 - 100 64 - 80 44 - 87 Source: MSWiA (2007-2011) Note: According to the authorities compiling information, data reliability is limited. Annual figures are corrected each year. Min - max refers to regions (voivodships)

Since 2004, school enrolment rate of Roma children has remained low, in fact much lower that the average rate in the country where it reaches almost 100%. Moreover, there are regions (voivodships) where only about a half of Roma children of compulsory school age are in school. In 2004/2005, the lowest enrolment figure was in Warmńsko-Mazurskie voivodship, in 2009/2010 in Podkarpackie – in both cases rather underdeveloped regions in the east of Poland.

Also, school attendance rate is low for the whole period, with no visible tendency to increase. On the contrary, it seems rather declining. As in the case of enrolment, school attendance is quite differentiated by region. In some voivodships, it does not reach 50%.

Yet another problem regards poor grades of the Roma students and a high percentage of Roma children in schools for handicapped children (2010: about 20% overall, compared to 2.5% as regards Polish children; 37% in Opolskie, 32% in Małopolskie voivodships are the highest figures)14. This may result – as some experts argue – from inadequate knowledge of the Polish language by the Roma.15 But such an opinion is sometimes questioned and additional apparently more important reasons are provided. They concern weaknesses of the procedures used by the qualifying boards (incorrect classification of children), deficiencies of the educational system (ready to get rid of students requiring more attention from teachers) as well as some incentives to send children to special schools for the handicapped (monetary support provided in such cases)16.

Employment

Not surprisingly, the employment figures for Roma are low and unemployment is very high, much higher than for the whole resident population. Given the small size of the Roma minority, labour force surveys cannot be used for providing relevant information. Census and administrative data are more useful but it is easy to notice that they lack detail and quite often solid methodology.

14 Stowarzyszenie Romów w Polsce (2011) gives all results and the analysis. 15 H. Grzymała-Moszczyńska (interview in the TOK FM radio, July 14, 2011) and the discussion in the daily news paper Gazeta Wyborcza 14.07, 15.07 and 22.07.2011. 16 See Stowarzyszenie Romów w Polsce (2011), discussions in the media (Gazeta Wyborcza of 27 and 28.10.2011) and opinions of the MSWiA experts.

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According to 2002 Census, only 8.3 % of Roma over 15 years old were working, compared to 42.3% of the total population.17 Lower share declared being employed: 3.6% of Roma, 30.8% overall population. The difference is really noticeable. Also, lower share of Roma than of the whole population indicated self-employment – 4.4% and 10.9%, respectively – so this time the difference was not that large.

Inactive population accounted for 91.7% of the Roma and 57.8% of the total population in Poland, and the unemployment rate reached 31.0% and 11.4%, respectively. However, data collected by the voivodhips’ officials indicate much higher unemployment rate among Roma reaching over 70%18, but no clear concept of this statistic is provided. According to the 2010 data, the unemployment rate of Roma amounted to 50% - 100%, the lowest rate showed up in Świętokrzyskie (53%) and Mazowieckie (73%) voivodhips, the highest in Kujawsko-Pomorskie (100%), Lubelskie and Podlaskie (98%)19. Experts suggest that this results first of all from their very low level of education, lack of skills and sometimes specific attitudes and prejudice.20 Also, reluctance of the Roma to take up regular jobs and willingness to live on social welfare is sometimes reported. On the other hand, discrimination against Roma may also play a certain role here21.

It may also be noticed that a survey on Roma labour activity conducted in 1999 shows that in 43% of Roma families there was no single employed family member.22 Interestingly, answering the question about willingness to undertake paid work, as much as 57% of Roma declined giving any answer, 32% was positive about it, and 11% was negative (mostly Bergitka Roma).

Health

While quantitative data on the health problems of Roma living in Poland are scarce, if not to say absent, qualitative information is easily available. It usually includes the list of the most prevalent diseases and enumeration of reasons of the bad health condition of the Roma.

“The Roma people to a larger extent than the Polish general public tend to fall ill with various diseases. Cases of diabetes, diseases of circulatory system and respiratory system (asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia) as well as viral type B hepatitis are definitely more common among them. Among the Roma living in socially devastated house estates and homesteads also cases of tuberculosis happen. High morbidity rate combined with poor living conditions and reluctance to use public health service result in the higher mortality and lower life expectancy of Roma, compared to the rest of the Polish population.”23 This assessment was done almost ten years ago but – although health conditions of the Roma seem improving24 – it is still very much true. In fact,

17 All 2002 Census figures in this sub-section come from Mazur (2010), Table III.4, p. 56. 18 MSWiA (2007-2011), sections on combating unemployment. 19 MSWiA (2011), p. 15. 20 ASM (2008) p.6 but references are numerous. As regards prejudice, see for instance Mazur (2010), p. 18, Milewski J. (2008), Dym się rozwiewa, Zysk i S-ka, Poznań and others. 21 See EU-MIDIS (2009). Discrimination issue is discussed in Section 1.4 of this report. 22 1999 nationwide survey of the Roma, government officials and employers – altogether about 2,000 questionnaires were filed out. Results quoted from Mazur (2010), p. 57 23 MSWiA (2003), English version of the government Programme, p.6 Notice that the last sentence quoted is not an official translation. 24 See conclusions regarding the implementation of the Programme for the Roma Community in ASM (2008), p. 11.

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it is quoted by various recent reports, with only slight modifications and supplementary information added.

An activist and at the same time plenipotentiary of the regional authorities for the minority issues (in Małopolska voivodship) summarized health related problems of the Roma community presenting a more complete list of prevalent diseases and indicating barriers faced by Roma in access to the public health care.25. On the top of already listed diseases, hypertension, ischemic heart diseases, kidney and gall stones, psychological disorders, arteriosclerosis, blood clots, and some others have been found widespread and threatening as well.

Barriers in accessing healthcare seem more important. According to the plenipotentiary, they are numerous and they include: (1) discrimination against Roma in the form of refusal to grant basic medical assistance,26 (2) lack of knowledge of the Roma customs by medical personnel, (3) taboos related to sexual behaviour and shortage of hygiene products useful before visiting a doctor reported by Roma women, all leading to insufficient prenatal and pregnancy care, (4) customs and norms making it difficult for Roma women to look for medical consultation during periods, pregnancies or after delivery, and (5) extreme poverty of Roma resulting in lack of funds for travelling to health centres or for buying medicines.

Much more statistics is available on the health support offered to Roma within the special government programme27 than on their health conditions. This shortage of data calls for change.

Housing

There is a widespread opinion that housing conditions of Roma are extremely bad, much worse than those of the overall population28. Experts would add that this regards first of all Bergitka Roma. In fact, surveys and administrative data confirm these views.

According to the RAXEN study of 200929 “the only quantitative data concerning Roma living conditions, their access to public utilities, household size and the number of dwellings with rent arrearages may be found in a report on the research conducted in 2001. However, this report is limited only to the Świętokrzyskie voivodship. The research covered Roma who were present in their residences from July through September 2001 and consented to participate in the research. According to estimates, 30-40% of the Świętokrzyskie voivodship’s Roma population participated.” The results indicate that 84% of flats (105 out of 125 studied) had no bathroom or toilet, 68% lacked running water, and central heating was installed only in 4% of homes. They also show that 44 % of Roma families were cramped in spaces of 30 sq. m. or less.

One should add that some households had no electricity, houses were poorly maintained and not renovated for years. Quite often, buildings were erected without building permits and they violated building safety code30. Unfortunately, for this quantitative data are not available.

25 Mirga (2008). 26 For this, see also EU-MIDIS (2009). 27 See Section 2.4 of this report 28 Once again, Roma “palaces” are sometimes mentioned in this context, too. 29 Mikulska, Hall (2009), pp 22-23 and p.4 Data quoted are from Zakrzewski L. (2002), Report: ‘Social mapping of the Roma in Świetokrzyskie Voivodship 2001’ , Office for Regional and Economic Development, Kielce. 30 Mikulska, Hall (2009). See also MSWiA (2003), Annex 6.

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Roma housing conditions depicted by the 2001 survey in Świętokrzyskie possibly reflect the lower bound of what can be found nationwide at present. The reason is twofold. First, Świętokrzyskie belongs to the poorest regions of Poland with possibly very poor Roma minority (Bergitka?) as well. Second, in recent years housing standards and dwelling equipment (sewage, water, etc) have improved due to the Programme for the Roma Community (see Chapter 3). In 2010, 535 flats were renovated (somehow more than in 2009, by 100 more than in 2007 and 2008, and by 3000 more than in 2005 and 2006). Sewage, water and electricity were made available in 69 flats (more than in the previous years), and in 2005-2009, 167 new flats for Roma families have been built.31

Improvement of Roma housing conditions through renovation or establishment of sewage/water/electricity faced various obstacles. Unclear legal status of their dwellings is often mentioned. Also, very few Roma families could receive support in the form of housing allowance, mainly because of their rent arrears.32

1.4. Roma discrimination

As the Polish government strongly emphasises, it has not found “any reliable information on discrimination cases against the members of the Roma minority in the access to their rights” and it “has no knowledge of any studies that would prove widespread discrimination of the Roma minority”.33 Nevertheless, in view of many experts, activists, non-government organizations and international agencies discrimination of Roma is an issue in Poland. 34 In fact, it is not difficult to document it. Evidence is provided by the media, by research and analytical reports, and also by official statements of some government agencies.

According to the EU-MIDIS survey conducted in 2008, over 59% of Roma respondents from Poland indicated that they were victims of discrimination based on their ethnicity during the previous 12 months.35 This indicator is quite high compared to other countries considered (a bit lower than in the Czech Republic and Hungary, somewhat higher than in Greece, much higher than in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania) and thus it should be treated with caution.36 As regards specific discrimination experienced over the last 12 months, the survey results for Poland are not optimistic either. The share of Roma who declared experiencing discrimination in private services was the highest of (48%), it was also quite high for discrimination by healthcare personnel (22%), by school and social service personnel as well as while looking for work or at work (about 20%).

31 Figures come from MSWiA (2006-2011). 32 MSWiA (2003), Annex 6 33 UN CESCR (2010), p. 3. 34 See for instance the opinion of UN CESCR ”The Committee remains concerned that the Roma communities in the State party continue to face widespread discrimination in areas such as employment, education, land tenure, access to welfare benefits, housing and health care, which impair the enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights.” UN CESCR(2009), Considerations of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrs43.htm, p. 4. 35 EU-MIDIS (2009). Nine areas of discrimination have been considered: (1) when looking for work, (2) at work, (3) when looking for a house or an apartment to rent or buy, (4) by healthcare personnel, (5) by social service personnel, (6) by school personnel, (7) at a café, restaurant or bar, (8) when entering or in a shop, and (9) when trying to open a bank account or get a loan. 36 EU-MIDIS rely on subjective opinions and attitudes which may be quite specific in a given country.

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Media usually report the most spectacular cases of discrimination, such as physical assaults, destruction of property (houses, cars), admission bans, etc37. They are not numerous but they indicate that the problem exists and that it cannot be neglected. For instance, serious clashes and assaults which originated from ethnic prejudice or racism were reported several times for Limanowa (a small town in Małopolskie voivodship) 38 and for Żywiec (a town in Śląskie)39. It also happens that Roma are not admitted to restaurants (recently in Poznań), they have problems receiving medical treatment, Roma children may face discrimination at school and alike40. There are also various examples of Poles’ hostility toward living near Roma.41

It should be noticed, however, that the government and its agencies make effort to eradicate ethnic intolerance and discriminative behaviour against Roma. This may be seen through some tasks of the Programme for the Roma Community, activities of the Team for Roma Affairs (see Chapter 2), as well as statements / interventions by Ombudswoman or Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment.42 But still, some antidiscrimination regulations are lacking. For instance, there are no regulations prohibiting housing discrimination, aside from the Constitution’s general clause.43

1.5. Data gaps

In the Polish case, deficiencies of the Roma related quantitative and qualitative information are twofold: available data reveal gaps and they lack revision over time. Moreover, methodology of data collection is clearly underdeveloped.

First, while qualitative information is quite rich (ethnographic and historical data, interviews, opinions etc), quantitative data are insufficient. Income and poverty rates have never been estimated. This may be in part understood, given small size and geographical distribution of the Roma population in Poland as well as problems with the assessment of household income. Nevertheless, more attention should be paid to finding proxies for poverty measurement and investigation.

Second, there are some areas which could be better covered by statistics of the Roma population but they are neglected. This regards, for instance, demography (family and household composition, migration, fertility and mortality rates), health condition (morbidity, hospitalization), discrimination (so far, it relies on international research and/or anecdotal evidence) or material deprivation (say, equipment in durables, access to the Internet and ICT in general).

37 The most spectacular one, consisting in series of violent incidents during which rioting mob attacked Roma residents, destroyed their houses etc took place in 1991 in Mława (a small town in Mazowieckie vovodship) and was called “Mława pogrom” afterward. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mława_pogrom for details. 38 See http://www.limanowa.in/forum/tematy-archiwalne,152.html or http://www.limanowa.in/wydarzenia,2146.html . The conflict in Limanowa has not ended. Recently, the priest supporting the Roma has been recalled by Church authorities and this has called for reaction of Roma activists. See http://www.limanowa.in/wydarzenia/news,7200.html and Gazeta Wyborcza of 14.10.2011. 39 See http://super-nowa.pl/druk.php?i=4223 and the project Wspólny Żywiec run by the Klamra foundation. See www.klamra.org and http://zywiecforum.pl/projekt-wspolny-zywiec/ 40 See Gazeta Wyborcza of 03.12., 2010, 27.0.2011 and 02. 2011; http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/72196.html , information by Roma NGOs on http://www.stowarzyszenie.romowie.net/, Mirga (2008), and many others. 41 Mikulska, Hall (2009), pp. 32-33. 42 See for instance http://www.rpo.gov.pl/index.php?md=8834&s=1&zaznacz=1#znalezione , http://www.rownetraktowanie.gov.pl/wystapienia_interwencje/dyskryminacja_ze_wzgledu_6 43 Mikulska, Hall (2009), pp. 4.

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Third, social exclusion figures which are available do not allow for adequate analytical investigation. Lack of important breakdowns – by gender and age – is the most problematic. This may be seen, for instance, with respect to education and labour market statistics.

Fourth, many statistics look outdated. They were mostly produced during the Census of 2002 and the preparatory stage for the implementation of the Programme for the Roma Community in 2003. Some figures may be updated using information from monitoring reports of the Programme, some useful information may be found in the ministries but it does not solve the problem of proper updating.

Fifth, methodology of data collection suitable for the Roma case is underdeveloped. Specific features of the Roma community in Poland (small and dispersed population, with distinct subgroups and ethnic problems) call for adequate methodological arrangements. Technically, tools of small area statistics may help a lot. But one should also determine how should the proper data base (in terms of its scope, sources, timing etc.) look like. For this, comprehensive overview of information and statistics currently available might prove really useful.

2. Assessment of existing policy and governance framework

2.1. Overall policy framework and governance arrangements

Overview

In Poland, policies aimed at the Roma social inclusion are almost all implemented through a single government programme established in 2003, officially called “Programme for the Roma Community in Poland”.44 It has been designed as a long-term comprehensive programme, for the years 2004 – 2013, with a possibility of continuation in the next years. Such a long term approach is perceived as an advantage45. It allows for better planning, for undertaking more complex tasks and/or renewing them if necessary. And all this gives participants a sense of stability and certainty.

The Programme was built on the solid ground. It drew lessons from the implementation of the pilot Programme for the Roma Community in Małopolskie voivodship set for 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, from academic research, as well as international experience. This helped selecting and designing tasks and measures. Importantly, the preparatory process related on the wide partnership, involving government officials, researchers and Roma representatives, mainly activists of the non-government organisations.

Programme for the Roma Community is supplemented by so called “Roma component” of the Human Capital Operational Programme [Program Operacyjny Kapitał Ludzki, POKL] which has been established in 2007 in order to use the European Social Fund over the period 2007 – 2013.

The government Programme and Roma component of POKL are closely related, given similar goals and areas of interventions. However, in the next sections of this chapter only the Programme for the Roma Community is discussed. This would allow for more clear presentation

44 MSWiA (2003). See also MSWiA (2010). 45 PSDB (2008), p. 63

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of the government approach to the Roma integration. Roma component of POKL is considered in Chapter 3.

Main goal and scope of the Roma Programme

The “fundamental goal” of the government Programme “is to lead the Roma into a full participation in the society’s public life and to level differences dividing this group from the rest of the society”.46 In order to reach this goal, various areas of activity have been considered and a variety of tasks has been proposed. These areas include: education, civil society, labour, health, living conditions, security and ethnic crimes, culture and identity, and knowledge of the Roma community.47 This makes the Programme really wide-ranging, covering more aspects of Roma integration than the component of POKL. Specifically, POKL does not include projects directly related to the improvement of the living conditions (such as housing renovation, for instance).

Financing and Administration48

The Programme for the Roma Community is financed by the state budget (mainly from the earmarked budget reserve) through the Ministry of Interior and Administration [Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji, MSWiA]. The Programme has assumed a constant amount of PLN 10 million (about EUR 2.6 million) for financing its annual activities. There is no indexation of this amount and this means that it somehow declines in real terms. Each year, the Ministry of Education provides also about PLN 700 thousand (EUR 180 thousand) and MSWiA about PLN 300 thousand (EUR 78 thousand) from the own funds. Additional funding comes from the implementing units (over PLN 2 million or EUR 400 thousand in 2010).

The Programme is coordinated by the Ministry of Interior and Administration through the Department for Denominations and Ethnic and National Minorities. Tasks’ implementation is supervised by MSWiA, by regional authorities (governors of voivodhips) and – as regards education, sport and recreation – by other relevant ministries (Ministry of Education). Labour related tasks are implemented by labour offices at the poviat level (lower than voivodship). Actually, in each voivodship there is a plenipotentiary or an official responsible for dealing with the issues of ethnic and national minorities (more than one person in some voivodships). Some of them have a good understanding of the Roma questions.

All entities with legal personality (such as self-government bodies at the gmina level, NGOs, Church, Roma representatives) may become participants of the Programme and implement its tasks. In fact, many Roma organizations and their activists are strongly involved in the Programme. They were also active at the preparatory stage, and they are present in Joint Commission of Government and National and Ethnic Minorities [Komisja Wspólna Rządu i Mniejszości Narodowych oraz Etnicznych].49 The Commission was set in 2005 as consultative /

46 Citations in this sub-section come from MSWiA (2003). 47 Additionally, tasks related to culture and identity of Roma may be supported by separate projects (festivals, publications, etc) aimed at all ethnic minorities. Roma community benefits from this support to a small extent. 48 Most information in this subsection is drawn from the Programme - see MSWiA (2003) - and from evaluation reports ASM (2008) and PSDB (2010). 49 Detailed information on the Joint Commission as well as its Team for Roma Affairs (legal basis, reports etc) see http://www.mswia.gov.pl/portal/pl/313/4228/Komisja_Wspolna_Rzadu_i_Mniejszosci_Narodowych_i_Etnicznych. html and for details on the Team http://www.mswia.gov.pl/portal/pl/473/ or main Roma NGOs portals, such as http://harangos.pl/komisja-wspolna-rzadu/ .

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advisory body gathering government and non-government members. It is affiliated to the Ministry of Interior and Administration. In fact, it has been active since 2002 but it was organized in less formal structure. From the very beginning, Roma issues have been handled by the Team for Roma Affairs [Zespół do spraw romskich or Podzespół at the early stage] of the Joint Commission, somehow transformed and strengthened in 2008. It has twenty members. They are Roma activists representing all Roma groups (including Sinti), major Roma NGOs, and a few people working for the Roma Programme.

Altogether, the Ministry of Interior and Administration plays the main role in administering the Roma Programme. Such an arrangement may be questioned because the Programme is focused on social issues (social inclusion, integration or, more generally, on social policies) and MSWiA deals rather with public safety, order, the police etc. One may argue that the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy might be more suitable for coordinating and implementing programmes with social inclusion/integration priorities, such as the Programme for the Roma Community.

2.2. Poverty reduction and social inclusion targets

The Programme for the Roma Community does not set any clear (quantitative) poverty reduction target. In other words, although in general it implicitly assumes diminishing poverty among Roma, it does not propose any benchmark figure to be achieved. This may be easily understood, given the lack of proper poverty estimates for the Roma population.

As regards specific areas of social inclusion and integration, such as education, employment, health, living conditions, etc., Programme for the Roma Community does not set numerical targets either. It rather assumes a general goal, namely the improvement of the current state in a given area. In most cases, this general objective is supplemented by a few specific indicators which may be used for measuring the Programme achievements.

For instance, in the field of education the goal is to “improve the state of education among the Roma people through: increasing the coefficient of graduating from school, improving attendance and grades of Roma children and youth…”.In the field of employment /unemployment, it is “counteracting the unemployment [and] decrease the unemployment rate”. In the field of living conditions “the Programme’s goal is to improve [the standard of living], in particular housing conditions (…) [and] sanitary situation”. In some cases, such as health or civil society, specific indicators are not set.

Such an approach may tentatively be accepted. Nevertheless, more precise targets could have been proposed for some areas (housing, education). This might prove useful for better monitoring the Programme’s achievements and for its evaluation.

2.3. Roma and the National Reform Programme

Neither the National Reform Programme nor harmonized medium-term strategies that go in line with the NRP mention Roma / ethnic minorities at all. This may result from two reasons. First, the number of ethnic sub-populations as well as the size of some of them (Roma including) is small, therefore their problems are not treated as a priority. Second, paradoxically the strength of the Programme for the Roma Community may easily lead to the opinion that at present, new

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approach is not needed and a simple prolongation (maybe modification) of the Roma Programme would work.

But one should notice that NSR 2008-2010 indicated some activities for Roma inclusion referring to the POKL 1.3.1 component (so called Roma component) as well as to the EQUAL Initiative.

2.4. Social inclusion and integration in light of the Roma Programme

The Programme for the Roma Community in Poland covers eight areas: . Education . Labour . Living conditions . Health . Civil society . Security and ethnic crimes . Culture and identity . Knowledge of the Roma community.

This list clearly shows that the Roma Programme concerns main social inclusion and social integration aspects. They look well balanced, with a certain “bias” towards integration. However, the Programme does not explicitly touch upon the poverty reduction issue.

Below, a short overview of the design and performance of the Programme by main areas is provided.

Education has been given a priority (see Table 3), each year absorbing about a half of the total amount spent by the Programme. As it may be seen from the annual Programme’s reports, it pays special attention to primary education although higher levels are not neglected either. Referring to the research results and recent experience, the Programme assumes a clear model of primary education which involves integration of Roma and Polish students in the same school classes, and opposes segregation through so called “Roma classes”, quite supported in the past. In fact, only seven “Roma classes” were active in 2007/2008. At present, they have completely disappeared.50

As regards education, the Programme envisages a remarkable number of measures. They include: supporting and financing assistant teachers for Roma children, supporting payments for kindergarten, co-financing textbooks and other school accessories, school commuting and summer camps, school meals, student insurance, tutoring, stipends, and many others. In 2010, for instance, the Programme employed 96 assistant teachers (92 in 2009), it granted 100 stipends (at the monthly rate of either PLN 500 or PLN 256, or paid as a lump-sum). Altogether, 120 agencies (various types) implemented almost 500 tasks.51 Results, however, are ambiguous. Over time, enrolment and attendance rates have stabilized, but they remain at the relatively low level. Participation in school events, such as excursions, summer camps has increased but students grades have not improved. Nevertheless, the Programme achievements should be acknowledged. But its capacity seems reaching certain limits and it would be difficult to expect better effects without modifications of the current measures.

50 Ministry of Education http://orka2.sejm.gov.pl/IZ6.nsf/main/15DBF83A and MSWiA officials. 51 MSWiA (2011).

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Table 3. Expenditure of the government Programme for the Roma Community 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total expenditure in million (current prices) PLN 5.204 7.766 9.275 13.623 14.125 12.507 12.470 EUR* 1.301 1.941 2.319 3.406 3.531 3.127 3.118 in percent of the total Education 46.0 57.0 56.8 42.9 45.8 51.6 53.7 Civil society 1.2 2.3 1.1 2.3 2.1 2.1 1.9 Work / Unemployment 1.7 8.1 1.7 1.9 2.4 2.7 1.6 Health 3.0 3.1 3.2 2.2 2.7 3.0 2.6 Standard of living 40.7 21.5 28.6 39.7 36.8 30.8 31.3 Security** - 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 - 0.0 Culture / Ethnic identity 5.6 7.2 7.6 7.6 8.0 6.8 6.4 Knowledge of Roma 1.8 0.5 0.6 3.1 2.0 3.0 2.5 Source: PSDB (2010), Table V.2 and MSWiA (2007-2011) Note: * Approximately, assuming 1 EUR = 4 PLN **Security and crimes committed against the ethnicity Improvement of the Roma living conditions is the second priority of the Programme (over 30% of the total spending in recent years – Table 3). Special attention is paid to housing. Tasks that are carried out include: supporting repairs and renovations, setting up utilities (sewage, electricity, water), help in maintenance, in reducing rent arrears, clarifying legal status of land and dwellings, accessing housing allowance and alike.52 Additional tasks include provision of in kind benefits (fuel, medicines, clothing), training of social assistance personnel and social activation of Roma. Focus on housing seems a good option. No other programme for the Roma community (in fact, set in the framework of POKL) considers this question, and universal housing policies remain beyond the reach of the Roma. Also, the role of regular social assistance is limited for it hardly copes with extreme cases of people excluded by ethnicity. Labour issues are not paid special attention by the Programme. This results from two reasons. One of the reasons, namely a possibility of applying regular labour policy measures for the Roma activation, is mentioned in the Programme. Another one is the abundance of labour market projects proposed elsewhere, including the Roma component of POKL. As a result, labour related issues absorb only 1.6% - 2.7% of the total expenditure of the Roma Programme (except of 2005) and cover only four tasks: trainings, counselling, subsidizing jobs, and segmentation of the unemployed Roma for their more effective labour inclusion. Altogether, labour inclusion is one of the weakest Programme components and should be strengthened. Health component is also very small, despite the identified needs and difficulties in using public health service faced by Roma. Health related tasks take only 2.0% to 3.0% of the Roma Programme funding although tasks envisaged are quite numerous: vaccination and other forms of health prevention, co-financing of medicines, help for women in visiting physicians, development of emergency medical assistance, financing work of community nurses and alike. In 2010, for instance, 2098 Roma were vaccinated, and the increase of the number of vaccinations is visible for years. 23 community nurses worked for the Roma (less than in the previous years) and free medical consultations of specialists were provided during so called “white days” although its number was not impressive (only 18 in 2010). This scale of activities (except of vaccination) seems too small to bring about significant improvement in the health status of Roma. On the other hand, support for preservation of the Roma culture and ethnic identity is quite a developed component of the Programme. It considers financing various artistic initiatives, such

52 Actual figures are reported in Section 1.3 of this report.

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as festivals or exhibitions, Roma music bands and dance performance, promoting events related to the Roma history, supporting research on culture and history and alike. In 2010, this part of the Programme took up over 6% of the overall expenditure, a bit less than in the previous years. Funding of the tasks related to the knowledge of the Roma and development of Roma civil society is not impressive, nevertheless it exceeds financing of labour activation or health component, giving evidence of their high ranking. The Programme supported establishment of Roma musical groups, co-financed seminars and workshops on Roma Culture (for instance, in Wrocław and Piotrków Trybunalski). Cultural events (festivals of Roma music, dance and alike) are quite visible, and in fact they produce the popular image of the Roma in Poland. This short overview of the Programme for the Roma Community design and its performance allows concluding that, despite some visible weaknesses, it has brought about a number of positive effects. They may be found in the area of primary education, housing, health prevention or preservation of culture and ethnic identity. There are also some positive effects which are hard to measure but are worth mentioning, too. They include increasing role of the non-government Roma organisations, empowerment of Roma activists and some changes of common attitudes towards the Roma community. After seven years of the implementation, overall assessment of the Programme for the Roma Community is positive. But the Programme should be modified and/or amended in order to make it more effective.

2.5. Good practice examples Good practice examples listed below include various projects and measures, regardless their scope, administrative framework or the source of financing. In other words, both government and non-government projects, large or small scale, nationwide and local measures are considered.

. Adoption of the Programme for the Roma Community in Poland may certainly be given as a good practice example53. In particular, its comprehensiveness, stability resulting from the long term design and financial arrangements, involvement of various partners (government at the central and regional level, self-governments, non-government organisations) at the preparatory and the implementation stage, strong involvement of Roma activists – all this may be seen as the Programme’s strengths. Although not always successful, it has a visible impact on the Roma integration with the rest of the society, on the Roma empowerment as well as on changing attitudes towards the Roma community.

. Establishment of the Team for Roma Affairs has strengthened the capacity of the Roma community and the role of Roma activists. This is only a consultative body operating at a central level, but its impact is important. It allows selecting specific tasks to be handled by the Roma programmes, turning attention of the government agencies to the critical issues of the Roma community, exchanging information between partners, etc. It operates regularly and steadily, clearly showing that this type of agency is really helpful.

. Implementation of the project “Roma work to pay off their debts” [Cyganie pracują za dług] is given as a good practice example by a number of experts.54 The project was implemented within the framework of the “Initiative for promoting economic activity of Roma Kxetanes –

53 See ASM (2008), Mikulska, Hall (2009), PSDB (2010) and UN CESCR (2009), Considerations of reports submitted by States parties under articles 16 and 17 of the Covenant http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/cescrs43.htm 54 See the best practice 1 http://www.kxetanes.cazr.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=65 and Mikulska, Hall (2009), p. 40-41. They mention also other participating municipalities, namely Legnica and Zębice.

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Together [Inicjatywa na rzecz rozwoju przedsiębiorczości Romów Kxetanes – Razem] established within the Community Initiative EQUAL and financed by ESF. It was implemented in 2005 in Głubczyce, a small town in the south-west of Poland (Opolskie voivodship) inhabited by 200 Roma families. The project assumed combining labour activation of Roma (job offer – mainly cleaning and maintenance of municipal buildings) with the possibility of repayment of their rent arrears. Such an arrangement was seen as reasonable given the shortage of jobs in the locality and a high level of Roma indebtedness.

. Activities of the Centre for Roma Labour Activation [Centrum Aktywizacji Zawodowej Romów, CAZR]55. The Centre was established in 2007 in the city of Tarnów with a significant Roma community, within the framework of the “Kxetanes – Together” project of the Community Initiative EQUAL, financed mainly by the European Social Fund. Its employees are mainly Roma. Unlike many other projects with short term financing, CAZR managed to continue its activities for a longer period. Initially it was designed for handling a few labour activation projects, mainly through training of uneducated Roma who were looking for job and through counselling on legal aspects of small business. But step by step it enlarged its profile towards education and culture, development of civil society and alike, implementing projects financed by the ESF within POKL, as well as tasks of the government Programme for Roma. Success of CAZR results from reasonable location, commitment of founders and employees, adequate level of flexibility, good profile of activity.

. Improving housing conditions through the Programme for the Roma Community has been given as a good practice example by experts and activists.56 Extremely poor and health threatening housing conditions of many Roma families (Bergitka and others) called for the immediate action. Since most Roma were unable to maintain their houses due to lack of resources and abilities, and regular housing policies couldn’t help them either, handling housing issues of Roma by the Programme was reasonable. From the local perspective, its implementation was described by one of the Roma activists in the following way: “Within the framework of the government Programme for Roma Community, financial support at the level of 8,000 – 10,000 PLN or approx. 2,100 – 2,900 EUR was given to the Roma families for the improvement of their housing conditions (repairs, water supplies, etc.). Participants had to apply for this type of support and provide some co-financing from their own side. In some cases, social flats were supplied as well. Until the end of 2008, 15 municipalities were covered by the housing support for Roma.”57

55 http://www.cazr.pl/ and http://www.kxetanes.cazr.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=69 56 See Mikulska, Hall (2009) and Harwas-Napierała (2008) 57 The opinion of the Secretary of the Polish Roma Association [Związek Romów Polskich] quoted from Harwas- Napierała (2008)

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3. Structural Funds

Aside from the government Programme for the Roma Community in Poland, Community Initiative EQUAL in 2005-2008 and Human Capital Operational Programme (POKL) since 2008 used resources of the European Social Fund to finance a number of projects targeted at the Roma community.58

Goals and areas covered

Goals of these programmes in part overlap but differences are noticeable.

General goal of the government Programme “is to lead the Roma into a full participation in the society’s public life and to level differences dividing this group from the rest of the society”. This goal is rather wide and it visibly focuses on the Roma integration in various dimensions. In order to reach this goal, eight areas of activity are considered: education, civil society, labour, health, living conditions, security and ethnic crimes, culture and identity, and knowledge of the Roma community

Goals of the programmes financed by ESF are narrower, visibly focusing on the labour market issues. EQUAL assumed supporting groups discriminated against in the labour market. For Poland, five areas of activities were selected overall. Projects for the Roma community were implemented within the framework of two of them, namely, facilitating labour inclusion of people with problems of integration and strengthening the non-government sector of the economy as well as improving quality of jobs.

POKL considers more than just the labour issues. It is intended to increase employment and social cohesion. POKL is divided into nine priorities, and then into specific measures and sub- measures. “Roma component” (sub-measure 1.3.1) is set within the priority “Employment and social integration”, measure “National programmes for vocational integration and activation”. Specific goals of the Roma component concerns six areas: education, labour market institutions, employment (combating unemployment), health, civil society and knowledge about the Roma. All of them are also covered by the government Programme which – as the only one – considers also improvement of the living conditions (in fact housing) and security.

Projects actually carried out by Roma projects of POKL cover mainly the labour market and education (child education including) and some of them relate to civil society building. Actual tasks of the Roma government programme concern education (mainly primary education), almost disregard labour issues in exchange of housing. Civil society issues are visible, too.

Administration and financing

Governance and financing of the government and ESF-funded programmes differ.

The government Programme is coordinated and supervised by the Ministry of Interior and Administration [MSWiA] thru one of its departments, and its tasks are implemented by regional

58 This chapter derives mainly from ASM (2008), MSWiA (2003), PSDB (2010) and MRR (2009), Detailed description of the priorities of Human Capital Operational Programme 2007-2013.

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and local authorities and other legal entities, be it government or non-government. Implementation of the Roma component of POKL goes by short-term projects selected thru competition. It is organized and supervised by Implementing Authority for European Programmes [Władza Wdrażająca Programy Europejskie, WWPE] - a specific unit of the MSWiA which deals with a number of other programmes as well. In fact, majority of POKL projects are carried out by the non-government organisations but government agencies are visible, too, often in PPP.

The annual levels of financing through the government Programme and POKL Roma component are similar. Since 2007, funding of the government Roma Programme amounts to over PLN 12 million or about EUR 3 million per year (less in 2004-2006). The total for the Roma component of POKL is equal to EUR 22 million, of which EUR 18.7 million come from ESF and the rest from the national sources. Since projects are effectively financed in 2009-2015, it would make an annual average equal to EUR 3.17 million or about PLN 12.5 million. Until March 2011, the total of signed contracts for Roma component of POKL has amounted to PLN 26.4 million (approx. EUR 6.8 million). This amount covers 38 projects “spread over” the whole country and carried out mainly but not exclusively at the local level.59

EQUAL total spending on the Roma projects (three large projects in total) amounted to PLN 16.8 million (75% from ESF) over the period 2005-2008,giving the average financing per year lower than in the case of the government Programme or Roma component of POKL.

One may add that neither EQUAL nor POKL require co-financing by participants. Own contribution may be expected for the participants of the Programme for the Roma Community.

4. Role of civil society and international organisations

In 2001-2003, only 19 non-government organisations of Roma were active in Poland.60 Most of them took the form of associations, quite often operating only locally although NGOs operating nationwide were present, too. All these NGOs were active, with a visible role in the preparation and then in the introduction of the Programme for the Roma Community.

Over the last decade, the number of Roma organisations increased significantly, as well as their role and visibility. This may be seen as the result of programmes for the Roma community (government and ESF-funded programmes) which supported development of civil society of Roma. But this increase might have also been the effect of policies and activities promoting tolerance and fighting ethnic discrimination. Often, these activities were initiated by international organisations (UN, EU) but also by private agencies (Batory Foundation, for instance61).

In 2008, according to the information collected by the Central Statistical Office, 31 Roma associations gathering almost 20,000 members were active in Poland.62 Many associations are small (less than 50 members) but there are as large as Stowarzyszenie Romów Polskich

59 http://www.efs.gov.pl/Strony/lista_beneficjentow_POKL.aspx 60 MSWiA (2003), Annex 2. 61 Recently, Batory Foundation finances two projects within its programme Demokracja w działaniu [Democracy in action]. The former concerns educational questions and resulted in a report Stowarzyszenie Romów w Polsce (2011), the latter is aimed at preventing racist and discriminative behavior and is currently run by Klamra foundation in Żywiec (see Section 1.4, footnote). 62 GUS (2010), Wyznania religijne. Stowarzyszenia narodowościowe i etniczne w Polsce www.stat.gov.pl 176, 287- 305.

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[Association of the Polish Roma] with more than 3,000 members. They are found mainly in the south regions (Figure 2), reflecting somehow geographical distribution of the Roma population in Poland. Quite surprisingly, there are regions where Roma associations do not operate at all.63

Figure 2. Geographical distribution of the Roma associations in Poland, 2009 (Based on the information collected by GUS)

Source: GUS (2010), Wyznania religijne. Stowarzyszenia narodowościowe i etniczne w Polsce, p. 281. Experts on the Roma issues provide much higher figure, namely 51 NGOs active in 2009 or 83 in total (2011)64. As expected, the highest number of Roma organisations operate in the south but they may be found all over the country (except of Pomorskie voivodship in the north which does not report any Roma NGO). The fields of their activity include mainly education (almost 35% of NGOs), culture (18%) and labor activation (18%). Improvement of the standard of living (15%) and health (14%) go next65.

Also, since years, Roma activists are represented in advisory government bodies (such as Team for Roma Affairs – see Sections 2.1 and 2.5), occssionally in regional government agencies, but they are rather not represented in regional or local / municipal councils.

5. Recommendations

There are several issues that should necessarily be considered by the Polish strategy for social inclusion and integration of Roma.

Education

Primary education of Roma has been strongly supported by the government Programme for the Roma Community scheduled for 2004-2013 and by its predecessor, and to some extent by ESF- funded projects. Their results are positive but – given enrolment and attendance rates at the level of 75% to 85% – there is still room for improvements. While current activities should continue, some of them should be strengthened. First, more attention should be paid to increasing tolerance and openness of the Polish students and pupils towards Roma (and other ethnic minorities), specifically at schools attended by Roma. Special classes, curricula, extracurricular

63 This may indicate some problems in the data collection rather than the real facts. 64 Lower figure: Mazur (2010), Chapter IV and Annex 2; Higher figure – MSWiA . 65 Mazur (2010), p.85

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activities should be developed. Second, more attention should be paid to pre-school education, specifically to the enrolment and training in public kindergartens. This issue is not neglected but should be given a priority. Third, school enrolment of the Roma girls should be enhanced. This problem is well recognized but it does not seem being prioritised. Finally, as some experts suggest, competence of using the Polish language by the Roma children should be addressed. Improving language skills may help Roma pupils in getting better grades and integrating with school community.

There is an obvious need for encouraging Roma to attend secondary and higher level schools. Currently this is done through the material support (stipends, financing textbooks, commuting etc). This should be strengthened, and additional incentives might be considered, too (in the form of participation in camps, cultural events, awards), designed in particular for females.

Finally, the procedures of referral the Roma to schools for handicapped children should be evaluated and possibly revised. The current ones lead to unexpectedly high number of Roma pupils in these special schools.

Employment

Contrary to education, employment issues are not sufficiently treated by the current government Programme for Roma. This is left to ESF-funded projects and to regular ALMP. This arrangement should be changed. Government programme should cover labour inclusion issues as well, even at the expense of culture / knowledge of Roma / civil society. Inclusion measures should be carefully selected: subsidized jobs, assistance for work, activation centres (see good practice examples) should widely be used. Also, relevant trainings for staff of labour offices located in selected municipalities should be frequently organized.

Healthcare

As the research results and current experience show, the most important task is to change, both, ethnic prejudice and discriminative behaviour of medical personnel (often noticed) and Roma adverse attitudes towards medical treatment (resulting from customs, lack of knowledge etc). In this respect, education projects may be developed. They should be targeted at Roma (males, females and children) as well as at medical personnel. Participation of the NGO sector would be useful. Material incentives for Roma (both adults and children) might be considered. Also, Medical Code of Ethics and – if needed, other relevant legal acts – should possibly be amended in order to regulate clearly behaviour towards Roma and other minorities. Housing Government Programme for the Roma Community has covered housing issues for years, mainly supporting repairs and current maintenance, setting up sewage, water or electricity and alike. These activities should continue, with more attention paid to involvement of the Roma in upgrading their shelters, encouraging them to taking care of their dwellings by themselves and to the empowerment of the Roma families in looking for support, if needed. Another aspect that should be considered concerns the legal issue. It has been noticed that many problems arise from the unclear legal status of Roma houses, as well as from inadequate knowledge of rights and legal rules. These legal aspects are mentioned in the current Programme but they require adequate treatment. Relevant tasks should be strengthened and/or developed.

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Other aspects

There are some other issues that should be paid more attention. They regard discrimination against Roma and other minorities, and related questions of security and crime. At present, prejudice and reluctant attitudes towards Roma are common, and discrimination based on ethnicity happens as well in Poland. Sometimes, discrimination takes forms of physical assaults, destructing property and other criminal offenses. Therefore, discrimination, security and crime issues should necessarily be covered by the programme/strategy for the Roma community. Current government programme mentions these areas, but they are neglected during the task implementation stage.

Monitoring

At present, monitoring of the government Programme for the Roma Community is not fully adequate. Although monitoring reports are produced regularly and provide good information on financing (source of incomes, amount spent etc) and some statistics on the tasks performed (all nicely split by region), they do not allow for the comprehensive assessment of the programme effectiveness. In other words, they do not allow answering the question whether the general goal (in general – leading the Roma into a full participation in the society’s public life and […] level differences dividing this group from the rest of the society) or specific goals have been achieved. Exceptions include education which is with quite well covered by statistics showing the project outcomes (school enrolment rates, grades, etc).

The following steps should be undertaken in order to improve monitoring and evaluation of the programme (or a new strategy). First, good-quality statistical information on the Roma community should be provided on a regular basis. There are still many information gaps regarding statistics. Also, methodological problems of data collection remain an issue. All this should necessarily be solved. Second, quantitative targets should be set and proper monitoring indicators selected. At present, they are lacking (some exceptions). Third, monitoring reports should be more comprehensive. They should include information not only on inputs (currently: expenditure, number of housing repairs provided, number of vaccinations etc) but also on outcomes revealed in indicators. They should say something about beneficiaries (providing also their characteristics, such as age and gender) not only about the tasks performed.

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Acronyms and abbreviations

ECRI European Commission against Racism and Intolerance ESF European Social Fund [Europejski Fundusz Socjalny, EFS] EU-MIDIS European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey FRA EU Agency for Fundamental Rights GUS Główny Urząd Statystyczny [Central Statistical Office, CSO] HFHR The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights [Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka] MSWiA Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji [Ministry of the Interior and Administration, MIA] POKL Program Operacyjny Kapitał Ludzki [Human Capital Operational Programme, HCOP] UN CESCR United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights WWPE Władza Wdrażająca Programy Europejskie [Authority Implementing European Programmes]

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References

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