News

Forty representatives of municipalities and NGOs participated in the training on developing projects for Roma integration within three procedures for competitive selection of projects supported by the OP "Human Resources Development" and OP "Science and education for smart growth." The training was held in Veliko Turnovo from 28th to 30th July It was organized by CIDT "Amalipe" within PLATFORM project.

During the first day of training Roberto Marinov, an expert in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, presented the scheme "Active", announced by the Managing Authority of HRD OP on June 16, 2015 with the deadline for applications until 31 August. Through detailed presentation he introduced the major focus of the operation, its objective, eligible activities, eligible and ineligible costs, features in the application. Mr. Marinov demonstrate how to submit applications electronically, as currently it is the only acceptable way of submitting a project proposal.

The main objective of the operation "Active" is activation and integration into employment of young people under 29 years of age including those who are neither in education or training nor in employment, and who are not registered as unemployed in the EA. The operation will focus on identifying and motivating for active behavior on the labor market of inactive young people from the target group, with follow-up activities for inclusion in continuous employment, training or return to education. The total scheme is 26 million leva and it will support projects from 200 000 leva to 391,000 leva to a wide range of beneficiaries, including municipalities and NGOs. See the presentation here.

Deyan Kolev presented two schemes that the Ministry of Education - Managing Authority of Operational Programme "Science and education for smart growth" plans to announce in September. The first is the "Educational integration of students from ethnic minorities ..." which will support educational integration at school age. The scheme will be for 25 million leva total, each of the supported projects will be worth between 100,000 Leva and 1 million leva. Possible beneficiaries are municipalities, schools and NGOs, a partnership between the three groups will be imposed. There will be two application deadlines, the first will be two months after the announcement. Approved projects can include a wide range of activities from first to 12th grade, incl. activities for progressive moving Roma children from segregated in ethnically mixed schools, introduction of intercultural education, activities to preserve the cultural identity of minority students, additional training in Bulgarian language, etc.

The initial plan approved by the Monitoring Committee of OPNOIR was "Educational integration ..." to be announced in July and the first deadline for applications to be at the end of September, but MA is delayed and probably the scheme will be announced at the end of September, said Kolev. The realistic deadline for applications is the end of November. This will coincide with the election period for municipalities. It is therefore important right now to identify partnerships and to conduct the necessary talks, said Deyan Kolev to the participants.

The second scheme is mirroring the first, but it aimed at preschoolers. Its name is "Support for pre-school education and preparation for disadvantaged children" and it  worth 10 million leva. In essence, this is the first scheme, entirely focused on the pre-school stage. The scheme will support projects worth between 50 000 leva and 500,000 leva. Possible beneficiaries are municipalities, nurseries / schools with a preparatory class as well as NGOs, a partnership between the three groups will be imposed. This procedure is expected to be launched in parallel with the "Educational integration," but there will be only one application deadline.

In the following discussions, participants agreed on the proposals to be sent to the MA to provide opportunity for at least 5-10% cost for construction work, application or the partnership by the municipality should not require a decision of the Municipal Council (at that time the new municipal councils would not be selected) and others.

 

On the second day the participants were acquainted with the main issues in the development of concrete project proposal to the schemes OPNOIR. Dragomir Draganov a lecturer with expertise and pedagogical skill presented subtleties and techniques for proper designing projects for educational integration. Divided into small groups, participants had the opportunity to start the developing of specific projects and get feedback on them.

 

Presentation of the 'Active' Scheme you can download here

Presentation of the scheme "Educational Integration" can be downloaded here

Presentation of the scheme "Support for pre-school education and preparation for disadvantaged children" can be downloaded here

Presentations of Dragomir Draganov techniques in the development of specific projects can be downloaded here

Presentation of proven successful models that can be set in concrete projects, you can download here

Training is realized within PLATFORM project of the Open Society Institute