Currently promoting a documentary across the country about the repressive laws that have affected the Roma community over the centuries, the president of the Sílaba Dinâmica Association from Elvas stated that there is a lack of funding to continue promoting the project.
“We would like to continue the project, but the problem is related to funding. We are a group of people traveling across the country, but when there is no money for fuel, and when there are no funds to pay the people who work with us,” it becomes difficult to proceed, outlined Luís Romão, speaking on the sidelines of the documentary presentation “500 Years of Repressive Laws” in Torres Vedras.
Explaining that Roma associations “live on crumbs,” unlike “non-Roma associations that work for Roma communities and have funding 10 to 20 times greater,” Luís Romão mentioned that the association he presides over is limited “to small projects competing for AIMA funding [the Integration Migration and Asylum Agency], but AIMA funding is very small, allowing for projects lasting a year or a year and a half at most.”
“It can never be a project that allows us to travel the country over three or four years,” he stated, illustrating with the example of the documentary that was produced in 2024 and is being shown this year.
According to him, “associations are blocked due to the absence of the National Strategy for Roma Communities. Without this strategy, there are no funding lines to support these types of projects. There are only two programs, but they are related to scholarships,” he continued.
The vice-president of the Sendas e Pontes Association from Torres Vedras, Lindo Cambão, also stated that funding ended for the projects in progress: one developed in a social neighborhood (where the community took care of the neighborhood in exchange for food vouchers) and another involved tutoring children.
“At the moment, there are no ongoing projects because the money is blocked due to the lack of a strategic plan. What we do is help people from the community, if necessary, to fill out documents,” for example.
Noting that there are over 400 Roma people in Torres Vedras, he mentioned that “housing is a problem.”
“We are overcrowded; although there are no shacks here, there are housing problems especially in the Roma community, because finding employment is difficult. To work in Torres Vedras, it’s either someone the municipality employs, or two or three who already had jobs in a factory; otherwise, finding work for the Roma community is tough. They often have to hide their identity; if they don’t, it is difficult,” he said.
The National Strategy for the Integration of Roma Communities has been awaiting public consultation for nearly a year, after the previous one ended in 2023.
