Our missionTo build Roma political voice and power across Europe—and, in doing so, a European democracy that works for everyone.
These commitments govern RFD from within and keep it accountable under pressure.
Roma retain ownership, governance and final decision-making.
Strategy remains independent of parties, candidates and electoral interests.
Judgment begins with sustained presence where democracy is tested.
Political judgment rests on tested evidence and disciplined execution.
Methods, decisions and results remain documented and open to public scrutiny.
They define the conditions RFD works to change and the outcomes it measures.
Roma are voters, candidates and officeholders—not subjects of someone else’s policy. RFD builds plural political representation without prescribing political choice. Low party contact is an organising failure, not voter apathy.
Only 5% reported ever being contacted by a political party.RFD survey of 4,943 respondents, 2025
Participation is democratic only when choice is free and violations carry consequences. RFD protects the vote and documents obstruction so institutions must answer for how power is used.
10% reported being offered money for their vote.RFD survey of 4,943 respondents, 2025
Office is a means, not an outcome. Roma officeholders must be able to move budgets, build services and improve daily life. A seat without the capacity to act is recognition by another name.
The barrier is not Roma; it is how democracy operates where Roma live and vote. Electoral integrity, equal administration and institutional accountability must hold together or they do not hold at all.
Anti-democratic forces advance where protection is weakest and political absence is normalised. Roma political presence strengthens Europe’s capacity to withstand authoritarian pressure.
Six turning points show how fieldwork became an independently governed European foundation in 2023.
Recognition had not changed the system. Open Society’s Roma Initiatives Office tested a different approach: organise voters, scrutinise electoral conditions and prove participation rose where procedures were fair.
Euro-area austerity weakened public trust and pushed Roma down national agendas. The EU adopted a Roma framework, but implementation and protection from anti-Roma politics and police abuse remained weak.
The work that became RFD connected monitoring, independent information, organising and pre-election briefings into one method—protecting free choice while building Roma political agency between elections.
Migration politics and Brexit strengthened xenophobic nationalist and anti-democratic forces. Roma were increasingly securitised through policing and public-order narratives; disinformation turned hostility into political mobilisation.
The crisis exposed the limit of turnout alone. Power-building expanded across the full cycle: public dialogue, electoral protection and governing support—including €50,000 that helped Roma officeholders unlock €7.5M.
COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion turned overlapping emergencies into a polycrisis. Discriminatory enforcement affected Roma, while war, displacement, energy and living costs diverted political attention and resources away from Roma.
The answer was ownership. Open Society decentralised its Roma Initiatives Office to the Roma Foundation for Europe; RFD became its independently governed power pillar.
War moved security and enlargement to the centre of Europe’s agenda. Democratic backsliding and hate speech intensified; official commitments on Roma remained formal, peripheral and weakly resourced.
RFD converted ownership into a full-cycle system: Strengthen constituencies, Protect participation and Deliver through public office—tested nationally, then brought to European accountability and finance institutions.
The 2024 elections strengthened xenophobic nationalist and anti-democratic forces. Security, migration control and competitiveness dominated, while anti-Roma politics, racial profiling and pressure on Roma funding intensified.
Sixteen years of fieldwork built the knowledge and method that became RFD. With its European hub now established in Spain, RFD brings Roma political power into major national and European processes.
War, rearmament, democratic backsliding and economic pressure recast democracy as security. The polycrisis placed even limited EU and member-state funding for Roma under serious pressure.
RFD brings field, institutional, media and technical expertise into one accountable team.
One institutional standard across every role, with clear responsibility for each programme.
RFD carries the power mandate within the independently governed Roma Foundation for Europe ecosystem; partner institutions lead education, entrepreneurship, arts and culture.
Explore how RFD organises constituencies, protects participation and helps Roma officeholders and their administrations deliver public results across the full democratic cycle.
