The Decade of Roma Inclusion: A Unifying Framework of Progress Measurement and Options for Data Collection, IZA Research Report No. 21

In February 2005 governments of Central and Southeastern Europe committed themselves to an unprecedented political movement – Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015 – to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma. The initiative aims to address the integration barriers that Roma, the largest European ethnic minority, face in all spheres of life by bringing together not only governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, but the Romani civil society as well. Core areas in which special focus is applied are: education, employment, health and housing.

The objective of this report is to propose a mechanism which will enable the Decade countries to track and report on the results of the Roma inclusion policies in 2015 using a unified methodology across countries and time. This objective includes an analysis of the good practice in monitoring the integration of ethnic minorities and proposing measures to strengthen outcome monitoring for the Decade of Roma Inclusion – either at a national level or across the Decade countries. Specifically, this report (i) identifies suitable indicators for tracking the integration of Roma in the Decade countries in the four focus areas: education, employment, health and housing; (ii) discusses adequate first and second best mechanisms of the collection of data on Roma integration; and (iii) sets concrete proposals for strengthening the results framework for the Decade, including guidelines for how the suggested indicators should be applied with regards to the available data.

Download the report