One democratic cycleConstituencies build a mandate. Protected participation keeps it free and institutions answerable. Governing authority turns it into public results.publicresults.
Strengthen
StrengthenStrengthen
Organisation builds a mandate.
Year-round organising turns shared priorities into public leadership and democratic demands that outlast an election.
Constituencies
261,943signatures supporting Roma-led European civic mandates
A European civic mandate
Across two European election cycles, Roma constituencies turned shared priorities into public democratic demands.
Organising infrastructure520+Roma grassroots constituencies engaged across eight countries, 2019–2025
Voices and leaders
4,120+documented participant engagements across organising and leadership programmes in nine countries, 2019–2025
Public leadership at scale
Programmes equipped organisers, public voices and prospective leaders to carry Roma priorities into democratic institutions.
Initiatives for change
100places in Serbia’s approved Barvalipe pathway
Pathways into public institutions
In 2021, Serbia approved RFD’s Barvalipe proposal, designed for up to 100 Roma university graduates pursuing multiple pathways towards state-administration roles and employment. Implementation remains underway.
Administrative integration1,375+officially appointed Roma census enumerators across five countries
Protect
ProtectProtect
Participation remains free.
Free political choice requires unobstructed voting, trustworthy information and accountability when institutions fail.
Protecting the vote
>20% → 7%invalid-ballot rate recorded across monitored Bulgarian precincts
The vote counts
Independent Roma observation exposed procedural failures and strengthened protection where political participation was at risk.
Cross-country capacity2,274Roma election observers trained and deployed across Bulgaria, Romania and North Macedonia, 2019–2025
Holding institutions to account
15.89%ratio of runoff votes recorded across 144 analysed constituencies to the national victory margin
A mandate institutions must answer
Roma mobilisation followed a public commitment to No Mandate Without Us, not party alignment. The mandate now anchors post-election accountability, including democratic-security engagement with President Nicușor Dan.
Second-round change+5.71 ptsweighted turnout increase between the presidential rounds
Defending the information environment
150,000+combined follower count across Roma-led RFD-associated digital platforms, August 2026
Information capacity
Roma-led channels distribute verified electoral information and support real-time responses to verifiable disinformation.
Deliver
DeliverDeliver
Authority produces results.
Roma officeholders need administrative capability, development access and trusted peer infrastructure to turn a mandate into public results.
Governance capacity
150+Roma councillors and mayors trained through governance programmes in Bulgaria and Slovakia, 2019–2025
Capability to govern
Roma councillors and mayors strengthened the administrative, financial and planning capability required to govern.
Access to development opportunities
€42M+documented public allocations and formal budget commitments across five countries, 2019–2025
Public resources secured
Planning and development support helped move housing, education and municipal infrastructure priorities into public allocations decided by the responsible authorities.
Public leverage1:153programme investment to public allocations for concrete delivery across Slovakia and Bulgaria
Peer exchange across borders
17national peer-network engagements documented across Bulgaria, Slovakia, Serbia and Romania
Peer networks in practice
RFD sustained national peer networks in four countries and supported direct cross-border learning between Roma mayors.
What endures
Change must outlast election day.outlastelectionday.
Change endures when constituencies organise, participation remains free and public authority delivers.
A selected public record.
Figures draw on aggregated RFD programme records, official public data and documented institutional decisions. Programme records cover 2019–2025 unless a later snapshot is stated; digital reach is dated August 2026. Country records, methods and references are published as verification is completed.
Documented outcomes record verified change; documented decisions record formal institutional action; established records aggregate programme delivery; qualified claims state attribution or measurement limits.
Power is proved by what changes.bywhatchanges.
Continue to the Roma for Democracy Index, where the democratic conditions behind representation, participation and delivery are measured against one public standard.
