Active Municipal Engagement & Roma Participation in Solving Roma Living Problems: Lessons from Veliko Turnovo

1. DEYAN KOLEVCENTER AMALIPE, BULGARIA Is there any chance for active municipal engagement and Roma participation in solving the living problems of Roma: Lessons from Veliko Turnovo -----------------------------------------------------------------------------Improving Access to Housing for Roma Prague, February 3-4, 2011

2. Roma ghettos in Veliko Turnovo - Close to the center of Veliko Turnovo there were two small Roma ghettos – on Aleko Konstantinov Str. and Peyo Yavorov Str. - Roma lived in barracks built 40 years ago by Veliko Turnovo Municipality as “temporary houses” for people who had lived in the destroyed “Gipsy mahala” Frenkhisar and for people who came to work in the city;- the property of the barracks and the land was municipal- both places had the characteristics of small ghettos: disastering living conditions, high unemployment, almost all of the kids attended the special school for mentally disabled

3. Community Activation and Employment • Center Amalipe initiated activities for solving the problem since December 2004: • - activities for community activation: general meetings of people who lived in both ghettos, electing activists who would represent the people before municipal authorities, data collection for all people who lived in the barracks, • - working meetings and negotiations with the mayor of Veliko Turnovo Municipality: strong cooperation was established; • - in the field of employment: Amalipe team, the authorities from both ghettos and the Mayor of Veliko Turnovo organized employers’ forum for advertising the skills of unemployed Roma. Contracts for 10 of them were negotiated. After some months the same employers engaged new people. Thus at least one per family has income;

4. Education • - in the field of education: since 2006 Amalipe initiated removal of Roma kids from the school for mentally disabled to the mainstream schools in Veliko Turnovo. For 3 years step by step all Roma kids were enrolled in ethnically mixed mainstream school and no Roma kid was enrolled in the special school • - for facilitating the school desegregation Amalipe organized weekly out-of-school activities for the kids, training of teachers from the mainstream schools, introducing forms of intercultural education

5. Housing • in the field of housing: the Mayor of Veliko Turnovo, activists from the ghettos and Amalipe team agreed on efficient way for solving the housing problem: the terrain of the barracks (municipal property, close to the center of Veliko Turnovo) to be soled for new flats • the deal was approved by the Municipal Council in 2007 • in 2008 the ghetto in Peyo Yavorov Str. was demolished and the inhabitants were settled in new municipal flats. The ethnic composition in the new blocks of flats is mixed: Bulgarians and Roma • at the end of 2008 the same happen with parts of the Aleko Konstantinov Str. ghetto • certain problems appeared: some of Roma in the barracks appeared to be illegally settled and they did not receive new flats!

6. Conclusions • municipal authorities should be active part in solving the living problems of Roma: especially in the urban areas • the successful model should include interventions not only for housing but also for employment and better education • measures for community mobilization are crucial: Roma should be active part in the entire process

7. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! Deyan Kolev Center Amalipe, Bulgaria Deyan_kolev@yahoo.com, www.amalipe.com