Social work and the Roma community: elements to improve current practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although the Roma community is the largest ethnic minority in Europe, it continues to experience inequality and exclusion in all social areas. In social work, the literature identifies limitations in providing effective responses to the problems faced by this community. The identification and analysis of practices that have demonstrated a positive impact in overcoming the inequalities of the Roma community become crucial for improving the design and implementation of interventions in social work. This article identifies and analyses three practices related to social work that contribute to the improvement of the Roma community situation and discusses the elements that characterise each practice: the need to implement evidence-based actions, the role of solidarity and respect, and the recognition of the Roma identity. The results show that these three elements contribute to the impact of interventions in improving the lives of Roma people, thus generating useful recommendations to guide the interventions of social work professionals working with this community.