ECMI advances majority-minority relations in the wider Europe through action, research and documentation. It supports the stabilization of areas of ethnopolitical tension and conflict, contributes to the strengthening of relevant legislation and best practices in minority governance, and enhances the capacity of civil society actors and governments to engage with one another in a constructive and sustainable way.

The European Centre for Minority Issues, a German-Danish action-oriented centre of expertise in the field of conflict resolution, seeks to improve minority-majority relations by enhancing the dialogue between the relevant stakeholders in a given state or region. ECMI is therefore involved both in building capacities amongst minority organisations and in the enhancement of governments' institutional capacities, with a view to promoting minority-majority interaction according to international standards and best practices.

ECMI combines a strong research base with an action-oriented approach. All the Centre's projects are derived from detailed needs assessments, drawing both on the Centre's academic competence and its unique knowledge of, and access to, stakeholder communities in the regions of operation. While ECMI is mainly governmentally funded, it is fully independent in the choice of its projects and their execution. Given this unique status, ECMI can become active where intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) not enjoying this benefit find it difficult to operate. ECMI is also able to move very rapidly when the situation so demands.

• Conducting global needs assessments and designing follow-on measures based on the findings of the needs assessments;
  
• Exploring the possibilities for increasing Romani political participation at both popular and elite levels; and
  
• Supporting implementation of government strategies for the integration of Roms.

Activities under all three headings are aimed at increasing Roms’ level of integration into the societies in which they live by equipping them with the resources needed for playing an effective role in a democratic society based on the rule of law and for participating successfully in a competitive labour market.

The first global assessment of the needs of Macedonia’s Romani population was conducted by ECMI from September to November 2003. The research results indicated the necessity of mobilizing Roma experts to work on the integration of Roms in Macedonia. In mid 2004, the ECMI launched the project Romani Expert Groups for Romani integration in Macedonia. The four Expert Groups organized around the core areas of education, health, civil rights, and employment will develop and implement projects for the purpose of generating and compiling in usable reports the data necessary to provide a basis for the design of policy designed not only for Roms, but also by Roms.

The integrated analysis of the needs of the Romani population in Serbia and Montenegro was designed on the basis of a needs assessment methodology already employed successfully in the first global assessment of the needs of the Romani population in Macedonia. The analysis in Serbia and Montenegro was designed with the intention that the report resulting from it could serve in turn as the basis for Sida’s work with Roms in Serbia and Montenegro. Drawing on the 2004 integrated analysis in Serbia and Montenegro, in December 2005 ECMI commenced implementation of the project “Supporting Local Romani Coordinators in the Republic of Serbia”.