Final Evaluation: Support for Roma Women and Girls on Combating Gender Based Violence (North Macedonia)

Summary

Roma Women and Youth Association “LULUDI” implemented an initiative between August 2022 to July 2025 with the objective to decrease violence against young Roma women and girls in North Macedonia. Strategies to achieve these included developing capacities of service providers of specialized and informative services to be more appropriate to the needs of Roma women and girls and to mobilize and enhance advocacy efforts of local civil societies organizations (CSOs) and women human rights defenders. The initiative provided psychological and social counselling, referrals and legal support through the establishment of the NANA Center.

Key findings

• The proportion of Roma women and girls able to recognize violence against women and girls increased from 71% to 96% from baseline to endline reporting, while reported cases to the NANA center tripled from 8 to 25 during the period of the initiative.
• Cases of violence reported to the CSOs increased with 24%, from 37 cases reported in 2022 to 46 in 2024.
• Formation of a 12-member activist group and contributions to the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of
• Discrimination Against Women and Istanbul Convention monitoring reports elevated Roma women’s issues in national policy discourse, strengthened the advocacy capacity of coordinated networks and strategic reporting.
• 33 educational workshops organized across Roma communities, schools, and the NANA Center and the service delivery model at the NANA Center was adopted to meet urgent and unanticipated needs.

The evaluation concluded that the initiative was highly effective in achieving its planned results and reaching a broad range of women and stakeholders, with Roma and pro Roma CSOs demonstrating strong ownership over services, advocacy products, and coordination efforts; however, the sustainability of these outcomes depends on stronger and more consistent engagement from institutional actors.

“The support provided by NANA center staff improved my life. They offered me different options for help, information and advice for employment. I am now more encouraged; I can continue in my life alone without him” – Roma Woman from Skopje, primary beneficiary of the NANA Center