Developing A Multi-Level Advocacy Framework for Roma Health at the Local Level

Abstract

Romani communities are Europe’s largest ethnic minoritized group. The specific racism towards Romani communities—known as antigypsyism—has permeated historical socio-political structures that have denied Romani their rightful recognition as political subjects. Today, antigypsyism is reflected in the EU and national health policies known as the National Roma Integration Strategies Health Component (NRIS-H). It has been widely recognized that the NRIS-H was developed “for Roma, without Roma”. The pre-established Eurocentric policy processes and traditional research methodologies have sustained Romani communities in marginalized conditions. The ramifications have been that Romani are blamed for their living conditions and deemed helpless, which has contributed to a negative stereotype that further excludes Romani from decision-making spaces. I propose that multilevel advocacy for Romani health justice can mediate a psycho-social-political empowerment journey with the objectives of: (1) building collaboration between multiple stakeholders at the local level, (2) building advocacy capacity among health professionals and organizational managers, (3) co-creating knowledge among a group of Romani neighbors, and (4) advocating for health justice of Romani communities. Inspired by community-based participatory action research tools, I address antigypsyism through (1) positionality and reflexivity, (2) interactive knowledge production, and (3) accountability to communities. The results are presented in a series of peer-reviewed publications. Finally, I present lessons learned to support the integration of multi-level advocacy phases as we move forward with new Romani social policies, for and with Romani communities