330 likes | 419 Views
At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe Andrey Ivanov, Human Development Adviser, UNDP Lead author Launch of the UNDP Report “At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe: Dimensions of Vulnerability” 26 th June 2006, Brussels. Outline. Why this report?
E N D
At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast EuropeAndrey Ivanov, Human Development Adviser, UNDPLead authorLaunch of the UNDP Report “At Risk: Roma and the Displaced in Southeast Europe: Dimensions of Vulnerability”26th June 2006, Brussels
Outline • Why this report? • The survey and spin-off effects • Determinants of vulnerability for Roma • Determinants of vulnerability for the displaced • Major recommendations
Why this report? • Logical continuation of UNDP work on vulnerability and Roma in particular • To make MDGs appealing in most countries of the region, disaggregation at sub-national level is important • Relevant profiles of vulnerability in the region necessary for adequate programmatic responses
The process • The overall philosophy • Going beyond national averages • Address acute issues within their specific context complementing international benchmarks with national poverty lines • The survey and the report as a new challenge • Methodological challenge • “Avoiding repetitions” challenge • Complementarity between regional and national level analysis • Partnerships with the World Bank, Decade of Roma Inclusion, national statistics
The survey • Covers all countries in SEE and CEE with sizeable Roma minorities • Representative for Roma population with “close proximity” majority boosters • Follows the logic of HBS and LFS • Sample size – 500-600 households per country plus boosters (total for country between 800 and 1000 households) • “Status registration” and not “attitudes” survey • Where relevant, has IDPs and refugees samples
The direct outcomes • Regional report on vulnerable groups providing overall analytical and data framework complementing the national sample analysis • Summary published as a separate brochure and translated into few national languages • A set of national vulnerability reports (Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia) • Data base available on-line and on CD with all the data and additional resources
Spin-off effects • Baseline profiles for the Decade of Roma Inclusion • Contribution to national-level work on ethnically sensitive data • Cross-border HDR for Hungary and Slovakia focusing on vulnerable groups in the new EU context • Expanding the approach to People living with HIV/AIDS (pilot in Estonia and Kaliningrad) • Roma survey in Moldova (the first in the country)
Novelty of the report • Develops in-depth the concept of vulnerability detaching it from ethnic affiliation • Provides rich and in-depth analysis of determinants of vulnerability and their major correlates • Addresses two vulnerable groups in two parallel parts of the analysis
Roma poverty • Status • Half of all Roma live in poverty with more than one in 5 live in extreme poverty • Roma poverty is four times higher than poverty among majority neighbors (44% vs. 11%) • Inequality among Roma is higher than for majority households (0.44 vs. 0.40) • Outstanding debts is vicious circle (outstanding household bills reaching 1230% of household monthly expenditures of poor Roma households) • In Roma 50% of children face nutrition risk more than twice monthly compared to 0nly 6% of children in non-Roma households. • Correlates of poverty • Education: Roma and majority heads with no formal education have respectively 40% and 69% chance of living out of poverty • Location: poverty lowest in capitals and highest in rural areas – but in rural areas the difference between Roma and majority declines • Employment: correlate between “being in skilled employment” and “living in non-poor household” is stronger for majority than for Roma • The predicted expenditures of hypothetical household with similar characteristics are 254 PPP$ for Roma and 431 PPP$ for majority.
Roma education • Status • 2 out of 3 Roma do not complete primary education compared to 1 in 7 of non-Roma • 2 out of 5 do not attend primary school compared to 1 in 20 of majority • Declining enrolments among Roma begin in elementary and primary school (43% among 15 year-olds) • Literacy rates among Roma are far below those of majority (73% versus 96%) • Correlates of education • Gender: Roma women are particularly vulnerable with three quarters of Roma women do not complete primary education compared with 1 in 5 women from majority communities and almost a third are illiterate • Positive role models: Strong correlation between the education status of the household head and other members of the household • Segregation: high presence of ‘Roma-only’ and substandard ‘mixed’ schools reinforces low education status and limits the quality of education
Roma employment • Status • Unemployment rates more than twice as high as similarly placed colleagues from majority communities in Bulgaria and Croatia • Low-skilled work predominates dominated by manual labor • Roma involvement in informal sector is on average four times more common than for majority • Correlates of employment • Gender: Employment rates of Roma women in some countries are as low as 20% (60% for majority women) • Age: differences between youth and adult unemployment rates are much smaller for Roma than for majority • Location: unemployment in urban is higher for both Roma women and men (opposite for majority); unemployment rates lower in mixed, well-integrated neighborhoods • Education: Returns on education lower for Roma than majority – and particularly lower for Roma women
Poverty of the displaced • Status • Poverty rates higher than majority but gap smaller than in the case of Roma • Poverty rates almost double in capital areas • 27% of displaced children live in households facing nutrition risk (compared to 7% of majority children) • Correlates of poverty • Skills: poverty rates for displaced household with skilled head is 5% compared to 21 with non-skilled head (for majority respectively 2 and 7%) • Location: poverty highest in capitals – unlike the majority pattern • Education: displaced and majority heads with no formal education have respectively 40% and 19% chance of living in poverty • The predicted expenditures of hypothetical household with similar characteristics are 134% higher for the majority than a household with similar characteristics from the displaced sample
Education and employment of the displaced • Status • Clear impact of conflicts on education • Increasing gap in secondary and tertiary levels between displaced and majority • Unemployment rates higher for the displaced with differences in subjective unemployment rates particularly pronounced • Overrepresented in sectors dominated by manual labor and unskilled work; underrepresented in public sector employment • Correlates of education • Gender: Displaced women are much less likely to continue education after secondary school (51% vs. 70% of the majority women) • Location: unemployment rates marginally higher in rural areas for both majority and displaced • Education: the impact of education on employment is only felt for workers with secondary and tertiary education
The major messages • The Decade of Roma Inclusion needs “area based development focus” • An initiative similar to the Decade of Roma Inclusion is necessary for the Displaced to focus governments efforts in an international framework • Area-based development should be promoted as the desirable framework for vulnerability intervention in diverse and mixed environment as SEE • This framework makes possible recognition of joint interest, which is a necessary precondition for majorities’ endorsement • Reliable local level partners from the vulnerable communities are necessary for that purpose
The major messages – cont. • Development opportunities for vulnerable groups should have clear welfare-to-work focus • Major reform of social assistance and labor offices in countries of the region is necessary – and should be supported by donors • Self-employment and micro-business are important – but still underutilized - instruments for poverty alleviation • Microfinance initiatives can dramatically increase the scope and impact of self-employment
Thank you! Bratislava Regional Center 35 Grosslingova 81109 Bratislava, Slovak Republic http://www.undp.org/europeandcis/vulnerability