The BFPE Foundation for a Responsible Society, together with the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, organized the Thematic Social Dialogue “Economic Empowerment of Roma and Sustainable Development Goals in Serbia”.

The event was held on September 22 at the Palace of Serbia and brought together representatives of relevant ministries, international organizations, the National Assembly and civil society organizations dealing with the topic of empowering the Roma national minority.

As the economic empowerment of Roma men and women is one of the important tasks to which Serbia should commit, the meeting focused on equal access to economic resources, better living conditions, poverty reduction, prevention of discrimination in employment and many other related topics affecting the very day life of the members of the Roma community.

Prof. Dr. Marija Babović, an expert in the field of sustainable development goals, and author of the publication “Leave no one Behind! Progress made in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals among the population of Roma settlements in Serbia” presented the main figures and finding from the document using the official SDG and other indicators. The publication is as a result of cooperation between the “Public Finance Reform – 2030 Agenda” project implemented by GIZ, and the National Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Through participation of Ms. Babovic at the event, an additional synergy was achieved between the “SDGs for ALL” Platform and other ongoing initiatives contributing to the implementation of sustainable development goals in Serbia.

The event was supported by the Balkan Fund for Democracy and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, within the Social Dialogues project. At the end of the meeting a set of binding actions was put together based on the inputs from the discussion, and uploaded here