Historically the number of Gypsies and Travellers registered to vote and engaged in the democratic process has been low. Our Community Engagement Officer, is working on a project to increase voter registration and Gypsy/Traveller involvement with citizenship activities, or to become a local Councillor.
We only know of one Gypsy/Traveller Councillor in the whole country – the wonderful Cllr Candy Sheridan from Norfolk and this out of a total of what must amount to many tens of thousands of Councillors. How can Gypsies and Travellers ever achieve true equality in our society if none of the people who make the decisions affecting their lives are themselves from the travelling communities? Local Councils should be proactive in seeking genuine engagement with all the communities in their area, including the travelling communities.
The project aims to encourage volunteers from the Gypsy and Traveller communities to become more involved with democratic mechanisms and decision making within their local community. Increased engagement from Gypsy/Traveller communities in civic life will result in reduced mistrust of authority and increased confidence in political processes.
The structure of the project involves contacting local councils for their support, then setting up focus group meetings involving Gypsy/Traveller volunteers to identify support or development needs for participation in wider democratic processes.
So far 60 additional voters have put themselves on the electoral register as a consequence of this project (Feb 2010).
