Botevgrad
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ROMACT Cycle Closed
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The Municipality of Botevgrad is a small municipality in the western part of Bulgaria, in Sofia administrative region. Botevgrad municipality includes 13 settlements – Botevgrad, Bojenitza, Elov Dol, Gurkovo, Kraevo, Lipnitza, Litakovo, Novachene, Radotina, Rashkovo, Skravena, Trudovetz and Vrachesh. The town of Botevgrad is the administrative center of the municipality.
The Roma population represents 9% of the entire population in the municipality, according to the official data. Unofficially, they are about 6.000 people, about 18% of the entire population. They live in separate neighborhoods and they are concentrated in 5 settlements - Botevgrad, Vrachesh, Skravena, Litakovo and Novachene.
Some of the main issues they face are:
- -Poor housing conditions
- -Lack of sewerage
- -Lack of water supply
- -Lack of electricity
- -Lack of infrastructure in the Roma neighborhoods or in a very bad condition (streets, sidewalks, streetlights etc.)
- -Segregated schools and high dropout rate
- -Early marriages & pregnancies
The ROMACT Process
Botevgrad municipality joined the ROMACT program in February 2017 with the signature of the letter of agreement.
The Community Action Group (CAG) identified some of the short/medium/long-term problems:
| Identified problems: |
|---|
| Lack of trained teachers to work in a multicultural environment |
| Tackle the segregation in kindergartens and schools |
| Prevent dropping out of school |
| Solve the lack of health services in the villages |
| Open an integrated health and social service |
| Hire more Health Mediators in the municipality |
| Legalize the status of the houses built illegally |
| Bring sewerage in all neighborhoods |
| Improve the capacity of the existing plumbing or build a new one |
| Pave and lighten the streets |
| Organize training for labor rights |
| Organize meetings with employers for lobbying to hire people with lower education |
| Organize literacy and vocational trainings |
| Establish Maternity Clubs and trainings provided to young mothers |
| Reduce the number of early marriages |
| Construct a sport and a children playground in Roma neighborhood |
| Honoring the 8th of April in the villages of the municipality |
| Lack of school mediators |
In December 2017, a Municipal Taskforce for Roma inclusion was created and in May 2018, the Local Council approved the updated version of the Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion.
Several trainings were also provided:
The Local Authorities were trained/coached on:
* Local Government and Administrative Services
* Approaches to work in and with Roma communities
* Social inclusion of marginalized groups at local level
* Legal support for legalize the situation of the houses built illegally
* Legal consultation on access to ID cards
* Organising and implementing a round table for strengthening the cooperation of stakeholders on addressing early marriages and pregnancy
* Consultation on the elaboration of the Local Development Strategy of LIG - Botevgrad under procedure Second admission under BG06RDNP001-19.001 - Sub-Measure 19.2 of Measure 19 Community-led Local Development: Selection of community-led local development strategies of local initiative groups
Activities involving the community action group:
* Regional training on Human, Social and Health Rights
* Understanding the municipal budget
* Defining the needs and priorities of the Roma community
* Project Planning,
* Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of MAPRI
* NGO establishment and registration (" CAG-Botevgrad)
The following measures to solve problems in Roma community were taken:
- Improvement of the energy efficiency
- Creation of a Roma community centre
- Building of a Playground in Roma neighborhood
- Purchase and installment of playground equipment
- Recruitement of two Roma guards in the Depertement for public security
- Recruitement of 6 educational and mediators of Roma origin
- Recruitement of 3 health mediators
- Repairement of street infrastructure in the Roma neighborhood
The Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following projects:
Strategy for community-led local development for the period 2017-2023 of non-profit organization Local Initiative Group Botevgrad- RDP
Beneficiaries: 33 175
Budget: 3 883 570 €
Status: approved but on reserved list
"Adaptation and Implementation of Social Innovations for Employment of Marginalised Groups through Public Procurement" - OPHRD Transnational cooperation
Beneficiaries: 19
Budget: 85 387 €
Status: approved
“Education and employment – for the future of the local community in Botevgrad“- OPHRD-OPSESG
Beneficiaries: 1 020
Budget: 455 145 €
Status: approved
“Colorful dreams” For a more inclusive Kindergarten – Botevgrad Kindergarten “Detelina”- COIDUEM - Ministry of Education
Beneficiaries: 50
Budget: 9 947 €
Status: approved
"Motivation of Young Roma to Participate in Public Policies of Botevgrad Municipality" - EEA
Beneficiaries: 15 young Roma
Budget: 9 978 euros
Status: Rejected