Inclusion of Roma and other marginalised groups

Project duration: February 2022 – February 2023

Call/Program/Scheme: Call of the German Cooperation for International Development (GIZ)

Client / Financier: German Cooperation for International Development (GIZ)

Participating institutions:

Principal investigator (PI): Dr Lara Lebedinski

The role of IEN in the project: IEN is a lead institution

IEN project team (manager/coordinator, team members):

Dr Lara Lebedinski (Principal Investigator)
Dr Marko Vladisavljević
dr Mihajlo Đukić
dr Dejana Pavlović
Marija Antonijević, MA
Đina Ivanović, MA

Description:

The program "Inclusion of Roma and other Marginalized Groups in Serbia" (InR), implemented by GIZ, supports the implementation of the National Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia 2016–2025, through five program components focused on employment, social support, reduction of discrimination, and infrastructure improvement. The aim of the project was to measure the improvement in the socio-economic position of program beneficiaries through a representative survey (Module Indicator 2), in order to quantify the effects of the implemented inclusion measures on a total of 8,633 beneficiaries. Four questionnaires were developed, tailored to different types of measures, and data were collected in three survey waves (April 2022, November 2022, February 2023) on a sample of 1,684 beneficiaries. The sample was stratified by measure group, gender, and returnee status, and regression analysis and subgroup analysis were applied. The research showed that 89.5% of respondents confirmed an improvement in their socio-economic position, with an average score of 7.3 on a scale of 1 to 10. For the group of employment measure beneficiaries, a gross increase in employment of approximately 40 percentage points was identified, while beneficiaries of the water supply access program expressed the highest level of satisfaction with the measures. The findings and recommendations from the research provide an empirical basis for improving the design of future social inclusion programs for marginalized groups in Serbia.

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