 
Member of
|
|
|
|
|
|
 ACTIVITIES
Income Generation Activities and Job Creation
Revolving loan disbursed to the Roma community in Marchevo for the purchase of horses
This Roma group is capable as a community to work according to the community development method. It proved to be the only Roma group, ready to manage such a fund, because trust has been built inside the community and there are asserted leaders. Thanks to the loan for the income generating activities, the people increased both their income as well as their self-esteem. They became independent on social allowance and have equal opportunities for work.
Organising of sewing qualification courses
There are many sewing factories in the region around the villages of Ognianovo and Dubnitsa. They are constantly expanding and their need from qualified workforce grows. These companies are an opportunity for the personal development of the Roma from the Gurmen municipality. The organising of sewing qualification courses was a priority for all communities in the county. The major goals of the sewing courses were the Roma:
- to become more competitive on the labour market by acquiring new profession and skills;
- to believe in their own capacity and capabilities and to become more self-confident;
- to increase their self-esteem;
- to get an equal access to the employment market.
This is the road to overcome the discriminative attitudes in finding a job.
Activities related to the infrastructure improvement in the Roma quarters and mahalas.
A playground in the Roma mahala in the village of Marchevo
The children playground has been a realised necessity for the Roma in the village of Marchevo. When this activity started, the whole Roma community got actively involved with volunteer labour in its construction. The building of this playground provided both a place where the Roma children to play as well as played a very important role for the community’s uniting and self-organising.
Water supply pipeline for 15 Roma families in the Roma quarter in the village of Ognianovo
This activity has been realised with the active involvement and participation of the people from Ognianovo. This activity has been started when the community came to the conclusion that they can not wait anymore somebody else to make decisions for them but that instead they have to start to take care for themselves. This is a core principle of the community development approach. Integro Foundation and the Gurmen Municipal administration committed with laying down of the water main, while the people did all auxiliary jobs and made the respective additional payments. This activity motivated the Roma in the village of Ognianovo to work for the improvement of their living conditions. It enabled to screen the more active community members and its potential leaders.
Preserving cultural identity
Children music group (zurna and drum)
The Children music group (zurna and drum) has been formed in relation to the development and preserving of the Roma cultural and spiritual values. The participating children are very enthusiastic. It became the basis for the self-organisation efforts of the youths. These youth’s idea is after acquiring the music skills to continue alone to sustain the music group, while the Foundation’s team will help them to organise performances before audience. This activity will become even more sustainable when the youths start to organise alone their concerts. Thus they will work both for popularising of their music and for supporting their activity.
Basket-weaving course
The basket-weaving course is connected with the revival and preservation of the traditions of the Roma community in the village of Marchevo. Children from the two Roma groups, “kalaydjii” (tinsmiths) and “koshnichari” (basket-weavers), Bulgarian Christians and Bulgarian Muslims are included in this group. Thus it is a successful model for overcoming of the inter-ethnic barriers and the establishment of a tolerant ethnic and cultural dialogue and cooperation between the various groups and communities in the region.
Activities in educational and health programmes
Literacy course: the strong willingness of the illiterate youths aged 10 to 18 years to learn how to read and write encouraged our team to organise an evening school for them. This course was a realised necessity for the children who have left school because of discriminative attitudes. The 36 children, who have successfully completed this course, acquired the self-esteem of literate people.
Computer skills training course: This activity is important for the future development of the Roma children as personalities with more knowledge and capacities. The parents wish their children to have greater self-confidence and self-esteem, and be more useful and contributing for themselves and for their community. Our purpose was to involve and organise the children, to make them more knowledgeable, not to waste their time, but to be able to plan their future and be more responsible for their lives. The realised strive of many youths to acquire new knowledge and skills brought these children to the Foundation’s office and made them our volunteer assistants.
Improvement of health care through the introduction of the position of a health mediator in the Roma quarters
Training workshops have been organised with the participation of representatives of the National Health Insurance Fund, municipal and local health care units, the social assistance office, etc., to train Roma mediators to work as intermediaries between the Roma communities on the one side and the administrative and health institutions on the other. The Roma-mediators assist the health care improvement process in the Gurmen Municipality. They work mainly for:
1. To ensure the Roma communities equal access to pre-hospital and hospital health services.
2. To overcome the cultural barriers in the communications between the local Roma communities and medical staff.
3. To eliminate the existing discrimination attitudes in the local provision of health services to Roma.
4. Health education for Roma and active social work in the communities.
5. To optimize the prevention programmes implementation among the Roma population.
The Roma-health mediators work in close cooperation with the General Practitioners, the social assistance offices, the Regional Health Insurance Funds, the municipal and regional institutions and rely on their support for the Roma rights protection. After the initiation of this project, a number of neglected health problems of the Roma population have been resolved.
|
|
|
|