News

At its meeting on 12 May 2010 the Council of Ministers adopted the Framework Programme for Integration of Roma into Bulgarian Society (2010-2020). It updates the existing from 1999 to 2009 Framework program for equal integration of Roma into Bulgarian society. The process of preparing new Framework program started in 2008. Initially it was guided by the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues. Center “Amalipe” and dozens of Roma organizations were actively involved in this process. In the beginning of 2009 the chair of the NCCEDI sent the process in „impasse”  eliminating the participation of Roma organizations that led to failure. Following the structural changes in the Council of Ministers since September 2009 the preparation of the new Framework program was delegated to the National coordinator of the Decade of Roma inclusion (situated in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy) and to the Council for integration of Roma within the MLSP who finished successfully the process.

Certain facts: The approved version contains many of the proposals made by a wide range of Roma organizations and independent experts. These suggestions have been submitted to the previous government several times in 2008 and 2009 and were approved during the National meeting of Roma NGOs organized by Center Amalipe on December 9, 2009 in Sofia. Later they were included in the program of GERB party for Roma integration.

Key strategic objective of the Framework Program is to create conditions for equal integration of Roma in public and political life by achieving equal opportunities and equal access to rights, benefits, goods and services, participation in all public areas and improving quality of life while respecting the principles of equality and non discrimination. The Programme continues and further develops the spirit of the previous Framework program (1999 – 2009) setting new actions and tasks with respect to the new conditions after Bulgaria joint European Union. The document sets out priority areas and lines of action - education, health, housing, employment, culture, anti-discrimination and equal opportunities. Special attention is paid to the optimization model for allocation of management responsibilities between the executive bodies, improving mechanisms for coordination with the civil society, including municipalities in the implementation of policies for Roma integration, providing financial back-up of integration policies and programs with funds from the state budget, EU funds and others. Special chapter is dedicated to the mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.

Short analysis:

It is recognized by many Roma activists that the previous Framework program was good but was not implemented (at least – not at significant degree). Four main reasons defined this not-implementation: low normative status (Decision of the Council of Ministers, i.e. the lowest possible status), lack of state funds for the Program implementation, lack of proper administrative structure/s for implementing the Program, lack of mechanisms for engaging municipalities, civil society and Roma community.

The present Program is also a good document. There are certain problems with it, of course. For example, serious problem is that the final preparations were done only by administrators, without NGO participation. Although the Program is based on suggestions proposed by many Roma and non-Roma organizations, the final “edition” was done without the civil society, Another problem is that most of its thematic fields contain too many “Priority axes”: 19 axes for the field of education, 21 for health care, etc. If fact these are not “priority axes” but rather possible activities; the real directions for action are missing or at least are not clear. The Program envisages too many things as priorities that dissolve the real priorities. May be priorities do exist but they are not clear or the real prioritization is left for the Action plan. Certain other problems also exist. Nevertheless, in its essence and in most of its parts the document is good. It is even richer and better than the previous one because it reflects a richer and better picture of Roma NGO movement and of institutions scope of activity: for ten years many new streams were developed. (For example, if the Education chapter in 1999 was centered only on desegregation, the present chapter continues the commitment for desegregation and enriches it with intercultural education, early school education, etc.).

The main question is: whether this good document will be implemented? The first basic precondition is missing: the Program was approved with the same low normative status. It is again “Decision of the Council of Ministers” and not Decision of the Parliament (that was the desire of Roma NGOs) or at least Decree of the Council of Ministers. This low status could not require financial engagement or engagement of the other institutions (of municipalities, for example). Something should be done for raising the status! – and could be done.

Regarding the other basic preconditions: the Program provides certain promises and engagements. In fact, this is the strongest asset. In its final parts, the new Framework program contains paragraphs that were missing in the previous one: “Mechanisms for implementation of the integration policy” and “Mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation”. Certain important engagements are included in them: for combining mainstreaming and targeting approaches in integration policy; optimizing the administrative infrastructure of Roma integration; improving the mechanisms for coordination with the civil society; engaging the municipalities; financial back up for the integration policy (through the state budget and the structural funds); preparing communication plan.

In fact, the final parts of the document bring together the Framework Program and the Action Plan for the Decade of Roma Inclusion: the Decade Action Plan will be the operative document for implementing the Framework program. That is why the National Coordinator of the Decade and the Ministry of Labour (in which the National coordinator is situated) will play rather important role. The Program envisages “building mechanism for inter-institutional coordination” in preparing and implementing integration policy and Ministry of Labour will play the leading role in this mechanism. In this way, the new Program does not change completely the existing administrative model (until now it relied also on the efforts of different ministries and on “coordinating role” of Ethnic and Demographic Issues Directorate) and does not envisage stronger administrative structure with executive competences – state agency or ministry. Nevertheless, the attempt to go further to a stronger coordinating structure is clear. It is disputable whether this “soft” attempt will work and whether the approach to make a particular ministry responsible for the horizontal integration policy is efficient; most probably the model will be changed if serious process of integration begins – the reality will require executive structure at national level or full decentralization of the integration policy.

The Program provides good engagements for financial back up. It tries to engage the state budget: through defining special money for implementing the integration policy in the budget of every key ministry, through establishing special “Multi-sectoral national program for implementing the Decade Action Plan”, and through dedicating financing for implementation of Municipal strategies for integration. In addition the Program requires further binding the Roma integration and Structural funds absorption: something that exists now owing to the advocacy efforts of Roma NGOs.

If all of these engagements are implemented, the Program would provoke a difference! Certain steps should be undertaken and they are drafted in the final parts of the Program. The question is how to guarantee that they will be implemented. Obviously strong advocacy efforts by the side of Roma NGOs and the civil society are necessary and they are the best possible guarantee at present. Civil society could and should cooperate with the responsible state institutions for implementing the Program: there are good preconditions and concrete actions should follow.

The text of the new Framework Program could be downloaded (in Bulgarian) here