Advocacy, lobbying and campaign development,

Since its establishment in 2009, Zero Discrimination Association has carried out many lobbying and advocacy activities in order to contribute to the solution of the problems faced by Roma. The Association has been actively involved in the Roma Initiative and the Strategy and Action Plan process and has been a follower. In addition, many meetings have been held with public institutions to solve problems in the fields of education, housing, employment and health. In addition to lobbying, many activities have been carried out to make the problems faced by Roma communities visible in society. April 8 World Roma Day, August 2 Genocide Commemorations and October 5-6 Roma Solidarity Events were organized. In addition, we organize press releases and press briefings on discriminatory language against Roma in the media.

Civil monitoring activities:

The association also carries out various monitoring and reporting activities on discrimination faced by Roma in the areas of education, housing, employment and health. For example, as a result of these monitoring activities, Yonca Girl was removed from the list of the Ministry of National Education's 100 Basic Books. By preparing a report on discrimination and education, we emphasized that discriminatory attitudes are the biggest problem especially in access to education. We also offered a series of solutions to policy makers on this issue.

Policy development, Dialogue/collaboration with public institutions;

The Association played an active role as a consultant in the Roma Initiative process in 2010. With the projects carried out in 2010-2011, activities to ensure that Roma have access to citizenship rights are still ongoing.

In 2012, the "Public-NGO Dialogue Group for Roma" was established to develop permanent policies to address the problems faced by Roma and to improve dialogue between the public sector and civil society organizations. The group included representatives of 6 public institutions and 34 Roma NGOs. Public institutions cooperating in the project are the Ministry of Family and Social Policies, the Ministry for EU Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Turkish Employment Agency. Civil Society Organizations were represented by Roma, Dom, Lom and Abdal NGOs from 16 different provinces (Artvin, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, İstanbul, Manisa, İzmir, Çanakkale, Bursa, Aydın, Hatay, Edirne, Tekirdağ, Adana, Samsun, Bartın, Ankara).

In 2013, the project "Local Modeling of the Public-CSO Dialogue Group Project for Roma" was carried out. The project was a local modeling of the Public-CSO Dialogue Group established at the central level. With the project, an Advisory and Monitoring Board for Roma was established at the level of governorships to strengthen civil participation and at the same time to strengthen relations with public institutions and organizations and to find local solutions to local problems.

Communication and cooperation with some of the public institutions involved in the Public NGO Dialogue Group for Roma is ongoing.

COOPERATION/NETWORKING WITH OTHER NGOS, ETC.

The Public-CSO Dialogue Group for Roma was established in 2012 under the leadership of the Zero Discrimination Association and includes 34 Roma NGOs representing Rom, Lom, Dom and Abdal groups, as well as representatives of public institutions.

In this process, a network of CSOs, including 34 Roma CSOs and other CSOs working in different fields, was established and the institutionalization of this network emerged as a need.

In March 2015, these 34 Roma NGOs decided to continue with the name "RODA - Dialogue Network for Roma" and the first steps towards institutionalization were taken.

The RODA Network continues its work under the leadership of Zero Discrimination Association.

Zero Discrimination Association also provides organizing support to Roma communities. We offer mentoring support to Roma community leaders.

Advocating for gender equality;

Zero Discrimination Association has advocated for gender equality in all its activities, both its own and in collaboration with other Roma associations. The equal participation of women has been ensured in all activities. In addition, attention has been paid to maintaining this balance within the management and staff of the association. Efforts are also made to ensure that this sensitivity is shown within the Roma associations with which the association works.

Creating equal opportunities for disadvantaged groups, improving the rights of minorities and low-income groups;

International Cooperation and Solidarity: We aim to develop relations and cooperation with NGOs in the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Europe, which are close neighbors of Turkey, with common areas of work such as discrimination and human rights. The association also carries out international activities and events on human rights violations and the shrinking of civic space in partnership with Ergo Network, targeting member states of the European Commission, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We continue our partnerships with organizations that work close to civil society work areas in countries that have experienced similar discriminatory practices such as Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.