There are around 30,000 Gypsies and Travellers in London. Their culture and traditions have developed through a nomadic way of life over centuries. However, across the country the community face an uncertain future. With some of the poorest social outcomes of any group in Britain the burgeoning cuts to public services will have a disproportionate effect on the community.
The lack of robust data is a key challenge to achieving race equality and there are a number of areas where gaps in evidence on Gypsy and Traveller communities negatively affect the formulation of inclusive policies to adequately meet their needs. The first step towards transformative social change is for all stakeholders in decision making processes to have comprehensive evidence, to expose inequalities and injustices, to inform policy making and to enable civil society groups to hold authorities accountable on their decisions.
Our Role
We aim to address the current gaps in data by providing an authoritative evidence-base on London Gypsy and Traveller communities, their presence, history and the inequalities and social exclusion they face. By supporting participation in the gathering of data, Gypsies and Travellers will gain greater knowledge and increased skills and confidence to campaign for a better, more equal future
With the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), and in collaboration with the London Gypsies and Travellers charity, Mapping for Change hopes to contribute to this venture by initiating and delivering a participatory process for the co-creation of a series of innovative online interactive maps to collect, visualise and analyse valuable information on London’s Gypsy and Traveller Communities.
Related Projects
Eco21.PL
Funded under the Swiss Block Grant, Mapping for Change in collaboration with the Centre for Training and Personal Development MERITUM, the Cultural Authority City of Gardens and Highways 4 Elements carried out a two year training programme in the Silesia region of Poland.
Active CiTizenship and Social Housing (ACtS)
As part of the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme, Mapping for Change were chosen to represent the UK in a learning exchange project with the University of Udine (Italy) and the University of Oulu (Finland).
D-NOSES - Tackling Odour Pollution Across Europe
D-NOSES is a three-year EU funded research project which aims to provide a solution to the largely neglected issue of odour pollution, changing the traditional top-down approach for a bottom-up one. The lack of regulation from authorities around odour pollution is mainly due to it being difficult to reliably measure and the potential solutions being costly to implement.