This publication addresses the controversial issue of the evaluation of public policies and programmes aiming at improving the situation of the Roma in Europe. In the past decade, the amount of reports on the situation of Roma in Europe has increased dramatically. Nevertheless, policies or programmes aiming at the Roma remain only marginally monitored and evaluated, although in recent years monitoring and evaluation have become an integral and crucial part of the set of instruments used in the field of “Roma integration” policies in Europe. Which are the methodologies and methods underlying these reports? What is their impact on the relevant political decision-makers? How do they influence the drafting and implementation of public policies targeting the Roma?

In its commitment to promoting effective participation of Roma in social, economic and cultural life and in public affairs while aiming to bridge the gap between research and policy, TLI gathered various actors from the academia, civil society, international organisations, European institutions and the Hungarian administration at an international workshop in Budapest in order to discuss the issue of evaluation of public policies targeting the Roma in Europe.

This publication comprises two parts. The first part is an attempt to reproduce the main questions formulated during the discussions in order to identify the most pressing challenges in the field of monitoring and evaluation. The second part includes the written contributions of three of the invited speakers. They address the monitoring system of Roma integration policies in Hungary, the evaluation of public policies targeting the Roma in Spain, and the evaluation of programmes targeting Roma communities from the point of view of gender equality.

This publication also aims at providing a set of recommendations to all actors involved in monitoring and evaluation of public policies targeting the Roma.