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        Nearly 100 participants - representatives of governments, municipalities, NGOs and community moderators from Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, and representatives of foreign embassies in Sofia took part in the International Conference Community Development - the Key to Roma Integration. It was organized by CIEDT Amalipe on December 11th in Sofia as a closing event of the project Promotion of Fieldwork in Traditional and Marginalized Roma Community. The project is a two-year program, which was implemented in Bulgaria, Greece and  Romania, funded by the European Commission under the Daphne program.

      Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Valentina Simeonova, Mattia Poretti Head of the Swiss Contribution Office at the Embassy of Switzerland in Bulgaria, First Press Secretary of the Greek Embassy - Joanna Katsigiani, Kristin Stolt and Evgeni Todorov from the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria Svetla Semerdzhieva from the Norwegian Embassy, ​​representatives of the National Roma Agency in Romania - Onesiya Babes and Marian Babes; Smaranda Enache - Co-chair of Liga pro Europa / Romania project partner /, representatives of ARSIS - Greece, Daniela Ushatova by the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria,  representatives of the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, the Social Assistance Agency and the Ministry of Education took part in the International conference. Representatives of the municipalities where Centers for Community Development were established (Etropole, Kameno, Byala Slatina, Pavlikeni, Novi Pazar and Peshtera) and community moderators, coordinating the activities of the local centers also participated in the conference.

    As through this project and through all his work Amalipe shows that the targeted and systematic approach of Roma community intervention provides the necessary results, said Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Simeonova. We are already convinced that the approach to community development should be one of the leading ones in the integration process - the community cannot be changed by external pressure only. Therefore, we support the Community Development Centers and perceive them not as a building but as a mobile service within the community. Deputy Prime Minister Simeonova also pointed out that the need of complex services that go beyond the standard social services also include improving access to education and health, is obvious.

  "Promoting the fieldwork ..." is one of those initiatives that will not end with the end of the project because the main activities, especially the Community Development Centers, proved beyond doubt its necessity. And it was a success not only of Amalipe but of you all - municipalities, local and regional authorities, partner organizations and community moderators who participated in the entire process, stated in hisspeech Deyan Kolev, president of CIEDT Amalipe. He noted that the project has proved three important things:

·         the need for community development approach as one of the leading approaches in the planning and implementation of Roma integration;

·          establishing Community Development Centers as a structure that activates the Roma community;

·          partnership between the municipal administration, local institutions and Community Development Centers towards specific local initiatives aimed at Roma.

  Today there is no issue that Community Development Centers are needed and how to establish them in dozens of other municipalities, said Kolev and shared the news that the European Commission has approved a new project that will ensure the operation of the existing six centers .

The results of the project "Promotion of fieldwork ..." in Bulgaria were presented during the first plenary session: results of the Centers for the time of their operation, and key findings from the application of this innovative service for Bulgaria. The presentation was made by Sylvia Boyanova (Center Amalipe), John Doe (municipal councilor in Kameno), Evgeni Angelov (principal of "Hr.Smirnenski" Elementary school, town of Byala Slatina), Maria Dimitrova (municipal administration – Novi Pazar Municipality) , Yuksel Yasharov (councilor in the Municipality of Peshtera), Ivan Todorov (Community moderator in Etropole) and Angelina Demirova (Community moderator in Peshtera). All of them, although representatives of various institutions, were unanimous about the effects that the activities of the community moderators and CDC have on local communities. The main steps to institutionalize the created within the project model were outlined: to create methodology and standard for Intersectoral Integration Intervention " Community Development Center" (CDC); to include CDC in municipal plans for implementing the National Strategy for Roma Integration; to set options for financing CDC in the Human Resources Development operative program and in Rural Development program for the new programming period 2014-2020.

      The Romania and Greece practices were presented during the second plenary session. Marianne Motta from ARSIS and the community moderators presented CDC Baraberi, established in Thessaloniki. In its activities the Centre has covered three Roma neighborhoods and has concentrated primarily on the activities of Roma women and young people, the most vulnerable groups within the community. Smaranda Enache and Katalin Szikzay  from Liga pro Europa presented the activities of the Community Development Center in Targu Mures, Romania. The center emphasized on the interaction with local institutions and activities to improve the educational level of the local community, said Ms. Enache. She said that they have received full support from the National Roma Agency, which has co-financed some activities.

     At the end of the meeting the experience of centers for their involvement in the development of local plans for implementing NSIR in Bulgaria was summarized. Julia Grigorova made a presentation about the ongoing nationwide process of making the municipal plans and regional strategies for Roma integration, which is coordinated by NCCEII. The pilot phase of this process was in October in Sofia region. All institutions have declared that the best municipal strategies were those of Etropole and Dolna Banya municipalities, where there are community development centers and moderators are actively involved, said Ms. Grigorova. She stressed that local plans should be based on an adequate analysis of the needs and characteristics of local communities. It is recommended for the local action plans to be as specific as possible and to indicate which of the activities and measures can be implemented with local financial resources and which can use another funding. Moderators of the centers are now actively involved in the preparation of municipal plans and dozens of municipalities set the establishment of CDC in their plans. This is the first step towards the institutionalization of the position of community moderator and CDC.

    At the end of the conference Deyan Kolev announced that the Interdepartmental group for Roma integration resource funding from the EU funds has approved the Intersectoral integration intervention "Community Center": This will allow the Human Resources Development operative program to fund the CDC establishment in dozens of municipalities, Kolev said. He presented a draft open letter " TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE POLICY FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AT GRASS-ROOT LEVEL", which was supported unanimously by all participants. The letter will be sent to the governments of Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, as well as the institutions of the European Union.

   International Conference ended with a conviction for even better results.