Around 1 000 children in Stolipinovo, Plovdiv Municipality will have extracurricular lessons, arts workshops and sports in the first Education Center and thus improving their chances for a better future. Newly built and equipped Health Center will respond to healthcare needs in this largest Roma neighbourhood in Bulgaria and Europe. Both centers are built with Swiss support under the ZOV (Health and Education for All) Programme, one of the largest in the Swiss contribution to Bulgaria.
The Ambassador of Switzerland, Muriel Berset Kohen, and the Mayor of Plovdiv, Ivan Totev, will officially open the new Education and Health Centers on 26 March 2019 (Tuesday). Representatives of the three ministries-ZOV partners – Labour and Social Policy, Education and Science, and Health – will attend the symbolic cutting of the ribbon ceremony.
With a budget of nearly 1,1 million leva, the ZOV project of Plovdiv Municipality works with children and young women in Stolipinovo and the adjacent town of Kuklen creating new opportunities for them through better access to education and healthcare. Several hundreds of children improved their knowledge of Bulgarian and other subjects in new after school programmes. Most of these Roma visited for the first time in their lives, theatre performances, museums and art exhibitions. Many of the locals, the project accessed in nearly 40 health campaigns, had their first medical checks.
The ZOV Programme of the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme has been working in five other large regional centers - Montana, Sliven, Ruse, Shumen and Burgas, where municipalities are partnering with schools, kindergartens, medical centers and NGOs. The total budget amounts to 8, 1 million Swiss francs, of which 85% is the Swiss co-financing. The ZOV Programme uses simultaneous healthcare and education measures to improve the lives of most marginalized Roma children, young women and families, responding to their concrete needs. ZOV combines the infrastructure – building and renovating kindergartens, schools, community centers and health facilities – with the permanent commitment of teachers and doctors, health and educational mediators working with Roma.
The results are encouraging: nearly 5,000 children involved in extracurricular classes and more than 370 new children enrolled in schools and kindergartens; nearly 20, 000 people reached by health campaigns, individual consultations and medical checkups. Although the numbers are impressive, more important are Roma improved life conditions, as well as the investment in their better future. Next to the concrete results, the ZOV Programme developed a successful pilot model of social inclusion, which can be followed in other regions and communities of vulnerable people.
The four-year Programme works closely with local and central institutions to continue the best practices and multiply its working integrated approach after its completion in June 2019.
For more information: www.zovprogramme.bg
About the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme:
The Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme aims at reducing economic and social disparities in the enlarged European Union, as well as in weak periphery regions in Bulgaria. As agreed in the Bilateral Framework Agreement, 76 million Swiss francs have been committed for Bulgaria in the period 2010 – 2019.
Switzerland is providing support in areas where Bulgaria has claimed great needs for catching up in its development, and in which Switzerland can offer know-how and expertise. The areas cover topics such as security and justice; support to the civil society; social inclusion of minorities and vulnerable groups; environment and infrastructure; promotion of the private sector; research and education (including dual education), as well as support for bilateral partnerships.
More information: http://www.swiss-contribution.bg/en