- create adequately funded education and development plans for Dalit women in local government mandatory; implement and monitor strictly government sanctions against proxy candidature as well as gender and caste discrimination; provide mandatory trainings to government officials on such issues of proxies and discrimination, and sanctions against those who allow both practices; monitor the election of Dalit women as well as their participation in local governments. Mr Simon Woolley, from Operation Black Vote, in England, gave a presentation on “Obstacles to effective political participation: the impact of racism and xenophobic political platforms” in which he first underlined the importance of keeping the historical context in mind. He indicated that many within minority communities are not able to fully engage in the politics of power or governance because they are involved in the politics of survival i.e. finding shelter, a job, and putting food on the table. Hence those minorities who can be active must be supremely active; they must be smart, acutely understand their political environment, and focus on empowering their community, engage in lobbying and find political allies. He further recommended to use the gender discourse to make the case for racial equality where necessary and above all for minorities to nurture their own representatives. Ms. Alice Ratyis from NDI-Romania presented the report issued by this organization on “Assessment of barriers to Roma political participation in Romania” addressing the five following subject areas: 1) the legal frameworks that protect and guarantee minority participation; 2) access to government and legislative structures; 3) the role of political parties in aggregating and promoting Roma interests; 4) civil society as a vehicle for advocacy and legislative activism; 5) public opinion among Roma and non-Roma, as well as social structures within the Roma community. She stressed that social attitudes towards Roma present the greatest barriers to civic engagement, party outreach and policy debate and that questions surrounding compliance, implementation and enforcement of existing norms do hinder Roma participation. Based on its findings, NDI developed recommendations that included: - Romania’s mainstream political parties need to address more publicly and meaningfully the dire situation facing Roma and develop effective outreach strategies with designated liaisons to the Roma communities and Romani NGOs; - There should be issue-based platforms and activities addressing Roma, and real outreach in between elections, trying to convince the Roma and poor population through different incentives to give the vote to their candidates; - Funding to civil society by the Romanian government as well as the international community should be increased for projects that boost political participation, enhance civic activism and education, and promote issue-based advocacy; - The Government and Parliament of Romania should strengthen the mandate, neutrality and resources of the National Agency for Roma to improve coordination among the various ministries and other governing bodies dealing with Roma issues. 6