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The municipality of Sliven with a population of 125.300 is located 300 km away from Sofia in the South-Eastern region of Bulgaria. The majority of the population live it its two major cities where the majority of people in the municipality live, Sliven also has an additional 43 surrounding villages.
The manufacturing industry continues to be dominant for the regional economy of the municipality and this industry employs 34.7% of the local workforce (according to 2010 figures). The Roma community represent about 20 % of the population and largely live in two city of Sliven neighbourhoods, Nadezhda and Nikola Kotchev. Roma can also be found in 21 of the surrounding villages, where they account for anywhere between 1-% to 60% of the village population.
Located in an industrial zone, Nadezhda is in the most disadvantaged area, this area comprises of up to 90% illegal dwellings. A high unemployment rate prevails in the area. Additional challenges for Nadezhda Roma include a low level of education (which includes a lack of preschool education), a high number of early marriages, and a lack of access to adequate health services. Last but not least, Roma in Sliven are also faced with widespread discrimination.
With the signature of the Mayor on the 28 October 2013, Sliven joined ROMACT.
The representatives of the municipality together with members of the CAGs identified and agreed on a variety of priorities which are addressed in a Joint Action Plan that includes the following measures:
*Raising the educational level of ethnic minority children and students;
The Joint Action Plan was adopted by the Local Council on 10 December 2014.
Additionally to what was selected for implementation through the Joint Action Plan, some initiatives were already approved by the municipality and their implementation involved the members of the CAG at different levels, the actions taken were:
In November 2015, a new municipal team was elected in Sliven and the decision was taken to continue to implement ROMACT. The programme was officially closed in December 2016
The Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following project:
"Concept of municipality Sliven for social inclusion of vulnerable groups" - OPHRD- OSESG
Budget: 282 000 euros
Status: approved
In 2018, Sliven requested ROMACT expertise for the drafting of the project proposal "Social and Economic Integration of vulnerable groups in Sliven Municipality"- OPHRD- OPSESG. The project was approved for a budget of 407 540€.