ЗОВ е краткото име на Българо-швейцарската програма за социално включване на роми и други уязвими групи

The Minister of Labour and Social Policy Zornitsa Rusinova, the Manager of Swiss Office for Cooperation Roland Python and Mayor Dimitar Nikolov inaugurated the building for preschool and elementary-school education at Primary School “Hristo Botev” in Pobeda neighbourhood, built with Swiss funding.

The value of the building and installation works is 928 973.28 BGN. The funds have been provided by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme with 10% co-funding by the local government of Burgas within the frame of “Integrated project for the inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups” implemented as part of ZOV Programme. The local government of Burgas successfully finished the project before the deadline and the building is already in operation.

“We are satisfied because of the very good cooperation between the stakeholders, the local government, the local community, the partners and the Ministry. The most important thing for us is not the building itself but the fact that more residents have been given opportunity for access to education. This being said, today’s event is a very important step in the project; now we have more children who will receive preschool education, which, in turn, will help them stay in the educational system,” said Roland Python.

"We are grateful to the local government and to the Swiss Programme because our children have been given the chance to study,” said Hristo Yardanov, resident of Pobeda neighbourhood. “Our children will receive education and will become equal citizens. As parents we’ll do what we can to persist with their education. We want our children to go to school.”

The Minister of Labour and Social Policy Zornitsa Rusinova did not hide her satisfaction with the inauguration of the building. “Three years ago, when I was manager of the Bulgarian-Swiss Programme, we started this initiative with the Deputy-mayor for Culture and Education Yordanka Ananieva. Today I see a completely finished project. I appreciate the success achieved by the local government of Burgas and its partners in the project. Today we witness the fact that 200 children have been given a chance to regularly attend preschool classes and be helped by speech therapist and psychologist, and to be provided with healthcare. Such approach is of key importance for the successful inclusion of the most marginalized groups in our society,” said Zornitsa Rusinova.

 “Be active, be regular in school, and don’t miss classes. Dear parents, be persistent that your children attend classes regularly. This is important for the future success of your children in life,” said the Mayor of Burgas Dimitar Nikolov.

700 children are being educated in Primary School “Hristo Botev,” which is the single school in the neighbourhood. 75% of these children are Roma, the majority are bilingual and they need full-day organization of educational process in order to learn Bulgarian well. There is no kindergarten in the region and the school has no capacity to cover the larger number of elementary-level children in the full-day format of studies. Primary School “Hristo Botev” did not have a gym until recently; it did not have a room for parents’ meetings and festive events either. Many of the children (about 20%) do not attend school regularly; 8-10% drop out from school after the elementary school level. It was the parents who pointed out the need for more educational facilities in Pobeda neighbourhood.

The newly inaugurated building will host three preschool groups and two groups of children covered in the full-day format of studies. The first floor contains the classrooms and the gym. The second floor hosts the classrooms for the preparatory-school groups, the medical office and a teaching-consultancy room, speech-therapist and psychologist offices, and a room for parent consultancies.

The local government of Sliven started the construction of a building facility in Roma neighbourhood Nadezhda in Sliven, intended to host a comprehensive childcare institution, healthcare and consulting centre and a centre for culture and education. The construction is in the frame of “Integrated project for social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups in Sliven” under ZOV Programme funded by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme.

“We are very serious about this project. This building will definitely contribute for the opening of equal opportunities for the children. A very important aspect of the project is to properly use the building when it’s finished and I am certain that we’ll make all efforts to gain positive results from this initiative,” said Mayor of Sliven Stefan Radev on the groundbreaking ceremony. He added that early work with children will contribute to the benefits expected from the project.

Roland Python, Manager of the Swiss Office for Cooperation at the Embassy of Switzerland highlighted the importance of this project for Sliven and expressed his satisfaction that the groundbreaking has become a fact. “The important thing for us is the education that the children will receive. This building will allow us to achieve our goal. The children should attend preschool classes and this building will help,” said Roland Python. He pointed at the importance of the work with the local governments because they stand as guarantors for the efficacy of activities and achievement of results.

The building is of total area 2326 sq.m. and stands in immediate proximity to the Administrative Service Centre in Nadezhda. The construction works are implemented by Stroi Grup and will cost 1 249 564,08 BGN. The contractor has been selected through a bid of tenders organized under the Public Procurement Act.

The Comprehensive Childcare Facility will encompass 32 children organized in two nursery groups; another 120 children will be organized in four kindergarten groups. The facility will have classrooms, a music room and a gym. The Health Consultancy Unit will have three medical rooms: gynaecological, paediatric and GP’s. This facility will provide healthcare for the neighbourhood residents. The Centre for Culture and Education will be organized in two rooms: information centre for work with the Roma community in Nadezhda and a multi-purpose room intended for group events.  
The kindergarten, medical unit and the centre for culture and education are intended to meet urgent needs of Nadezhda neighbourhood which has over 10 000 Roma residents according to official data (one ninth of the population of Sliven overall) but their number is probably larger.  The community is faced by grave issues: lack of homes and infrastructure, high unemployment rate, limited job opportunities, lack of sufficient access to quality healthcare, education and social services, early dropping out from school.

The overall project of Sliven Municipality is of total value of 2 791 985 BGN, of which 150 000 BGN are contributed by the local government. Partners to the local government in this project are the Roma Academy for Culture and Education, Medics of the World Association – Sliven Branch, and the Roma Health Foundation. The project is implemented under the Programme for social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups (ZOV Programme) funded by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme.

In April 2016, a series of  trainings "Work with the Roma community and other vulnerable groups" was organized for the staff of the Emergency Care Centers in Ruse, Vetovo and Dve Mogili. The centres cover the municipalities of Ruse, Vetovo, Ivanovo and Borovo.

The training was organized on location and the participants  - doctors, paramedics, nurses and drivers - were avialable for urgent cases.

The training was executed by two experts of  Association "Bulgarian-Romanian Trans-border Mediation Institute" (BRTMI), a local partner of the ZOV Programme. Its aims to build capacity for tolerance to various ethnic groups and particularly Roma and other vulnerable communities; prevention of discrimination and conflict situations; coordination between institutions, NGOs and civil society to improve the health awareness of Roma.

The training will be upgraded in two modules in the autumn of 2016 and in 2017.