From 4 to 6 September, Oviedo hosted the 44th National Conference of Enseñantes con Gitanos, bringing together professionals, organisations, young people and institutional representatives to share experiences and reflect on ways to advance the rights and participation of the Roma people.
As part of the conference, the first in-person meeting of Chave-Rom – Roma Youth Participation also took place. The project is led by Enseñantes con Gitanos within the ROVA 2026 call, with the support and guidance of FAGiC as ROVA’s reference organisation in Spain.
During these days, 19 young Roma participants took part in their first face-to-face meeting as part of this youth group, created to provide a space for participation, dialogue and collective action. The meeting marked the beginning of their work on one of the priority topics selected by the young participants themselves: inclusive education and training.
The experience reflects one of ROVA’s core principles: strengthening Roma and pro-Roma organisations so that they can create meaningful spaces for participation and bring their proposals and voices into wider social and institutional spaces. In this case, the focus is on Roma youth, who are not only participating in activities but also deciding which issues they want to address, how they want to work on them and what messages they want to communicate.
Throughout the project, in-person meetings and online sessions will address different issues affecting young people, including autonomy and decent employment, housing and life projects, health and quality of life, and young Roma women and equality. The conclusions from these discussions will also be transformed into documents, materials and communication content aimed at making the proposals and perspectives of Roma youth more visible.
The participation of Chave-Rom in the Oviedo conference also provided an opportunity to connect the voices of young people with a wider network of professionals and organisations, creating new relationships and opportunities for collaboration. These connections are precisely one of the values that ROVA seeks to promote: organisations sharing experiences, building alliances and strengthening their capacity to participate and influence the spaces where decisions are made.
ROVA celebrates this first step for Chave-Rom and the opportunity to support initiatives that place Roma youth at the centre of shaping their own present and future. Because strengthening participation also means creating the conditions for new voices to be heard, recognised and taken into account.
