News

On 5 and 6 June 2014 a meeting was held in Veliko Tarnovo for the Committee to support the “Step Forward - empowering young people and women from the local Roma community" project, implemented by the Amalipe Centre. During the meeting, representatives of local government, social, health and educational institutions from six municipalities in the country discussed and planned joint activities aimed at finding a solution to institutionalize the Community Development Center - an innovative service development working capacity the local Roma community. The meeting was realized within the project "Step Forward - empowering young people and women from the local Roma community", implemented by the Amalipe Centre in partnership with Sanstipen (Romania ) Roma Women Association "Drom Kotar” ( Spain ) and Association "Colored Pearls ", Pécs city (Hungary ) as partners.  The project is funded by the Directorate General "Justice," the European Commission under the Daphne III program. The meeting was attended by representatives of the municipal administration of Byala Slatina, Etropole, Novi Pazar, Camen, Pavlikeni and Peshtera, representatives of the Agency for Social Assistance and Employment Agency, representatives of NGOs supporting the project activities, and partners from Hungary and Spain.

During the workshop the achieved results and implemented activities for the period from the start of the project to date were presented. Participants were familiarized with the activities of the community moderators on the territory of Bulgaria and in the city of Pécs (Hungary) and Barcelona (Spain).  There was a discussion on the parameters of intervention and impact of Community Moderators working in Community Development Centers and their collaboration with local institutions (Health, Educational, and Social Services).  Representatives of the six municipalities where there are established Centers and Local clubs shared their impressions of the work of Community Moderators. The experience of the Centers and their involvement in the development of municipal plans for the implementation of the NSRI (National Strategy for Roma Integration) in Bulgaria was summarized.  Moderators of the Centers are now actively involved in the preparation of municipal plans. Mrs. Maria Ivanova - Representative of the Municipality of Kameno and Director of kindergarten "Slantse", Kameno said: Thanks to the Center, created by CIEDT Amalipe, local government, educational, health, social institutions, and even the structure of the Ministry of the Interior in our municipality learned to work together and seek joint solutions to problems such as traffic, school dropout, overcoming aggressive behavior among adolescents. Before the establishment of the Center, all institutions were working for themselves, but the Community Moderators managed to make us come together and work as a team. We do several joint meetings a month and that gives its best results. When discussing measures for integration of vulnerable groups in Kameno and in preparing municipal integration plan, there were representative from all local and state institutions, and of the local Roma community and representatives of Amalipe Center. So we work together for a better future for the local community of our municipality.

Mrs. Ivanova’s  opinion was also supported by the representatives of the rest municipalities - Novi Pazar, Byala Slatina,Peshtera, and Pavlikeni and Etropole.

The sustainability of the new service - Community Development Center - for the country was emphasized during the meeting -. The major steps t were outlined to institutionalize the created within the project model: a methodology and standard for cross-sectorial integration intervention - Community Development Center (CDC), inclusion of CDC in planning the implement of the National Strategy for Roma Integration. Financing opportunity to fund CDC from the OP "Human Resources Development” and the Programme for Rural Development for the new programming period 2014-2020.