This Roma Week 2025, PAL Network celebrates the grassroots leadership of Saska Jovanovic — Roma activist and founder of ROMNI and ROWNI — who joined the events in Brussels to spotlight her work empowering Roma women in Italy. Her powerful testimony emphasized what we believe at PAL: that sustainable change begins with those most affected by injustice.
Saska’s organizations ROMNI and ROWNI were born from the lived experiences of Roma women. They offer peer mentoring, cultural education, and feminist community building — reaching those often left behind by traditional institutions.
Her message was clear:
“Roma women are not a problem to be solved — we are an extraordinary resource for society.”
Roma-led groups, Saska highlighted, face deep underfunding and often work without institutional support. She called for structural changes:
- Long-term funding for grassroots work
- Scholarships and training for Roma girls
- Support for cultural and professional development
- Political recognition of Roma feminist spaces
We believe, like Saska, that change must be led by Roma communities themselves. At PAL Network, we commit to supporting community-driven leadership that challenges antigypsyism, empowers youth and women, and transforms systems from within.
Roma women are not waiting for permission — they are already leading. It’s time to listen, support, and invest.
Read the interview here:
