Strengthening Roma women’s initiatives and organizations and enhancing the cooperation with the local government is essential for active participation of Roma women at the local and national level. The aim of research is to assess existing capacities and available resources of Roma women’s initiatives and organizations, conducted in 10 municipalities in South Serbia: Prokuplje, Leskovac, Lebane, Bujanovac, Vranje, Babušnica, Vlasotince, Bela Palanka, Aleksinac i Dimitrovgrad.
Interviews indicated that capacity levels vary depending on organization. They achieved excellent results but there is still scope for improvement. Therefore, resources assessment is a good starting point in further organizations activities, because it identifies potential weaknesses and sugests their strengthening.
On the other side, the major of initiatives (56%) is active just for few years (2012/2013). The functioning is based on voluntary engagement of the activists which aren’t formally included in NGO’s, so they dispose with diverse knowledge level. Additional knowledge gathering in lobbying, research and advocacy will empower their activism and it’s highly recommended.