Representatives of key Montenegrin institutions, local authorities, and civil society organisations gathered in Sutomore on 29–30 October 2025 for a two-day workshop dedicated to the development of the new Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians 2026–2030 and the Action Plan for 2026–2027.

The event was organised under the framework of the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Programme “Roma Integration Phase III”, in close cooperation with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro.

In her opening remarks, Mladenka Tešić, Programme Manager for Human Rights and Democratisation at the EU Delegation to Montenegro, underlined the EU’s continued support for inclusive policies ensuring equal access to rights and opportunities for Roma and Egyptians. Sokolj Beganaj, National Roma Contact Point at the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, emphasised the importance of a participatory approach in the preparation of the new Strategy and the need to ensure its coherence with national development priorities.

The workshop focused on key elements of strategic planning, including ensuring the alignment of the new Strategy with national policy frameworks, identifying data gaps and evidence needed for informed decision-making, conducting stakeholder mapping and SWOT analysis, and defining clear strategic and operational objectives with measurable indicators. Special attention was given to Roma-responsive budgeting, aimed at linking policy measures with adequate and transparent financial planning to ensure sustainable implementation of inclusion policies.

Participants jointly analysed priority areas that the new Strategy will cover, setting the groundwork for a results-oriented, inclusive, and data-driven policy framework that will guide the work of national and local authorities in the coming years.

The Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptians 2026–2030 aims to build on the progress achieved under the current strategy (2021–2025) and to further advance Roma and Egyptian inclusion in areas such as education, employment, housing, healthcare, and legal status. The strategy was also developed in line with the 2019 Poznan Declaration.