Nadezhda neighbourhood

Близо 90 деца са записани в детска градина „Надежда“ в квартал „Надежда“ в Сливен, която бе открита преди два месеца.

Градената вече се превърна в любимо място за децата. Мнозина от тях питат кога ще минат събота и неделя, за да дойдат отново в градината при новите си другарчета, любимите играчки и учителките. Работят четири градински групи и две яслени, като средната посещаемост е около 15 деца в група.

И само след няколкомесечни занимания вече виждаме първите резултати: децата, които за първи път в живота си посещават градина, вече са овладели първи умения – поздравяват, мият ръчичките си без подкана, знаят стихчета и песни. Чувстват се наистина като у дома си, разказват учителите.

Децата имаха и първо представление, на което се справиха блестящо: за ромския празник Банго Васил (ромската Нова година) те представиха традиционните за празника обичаи, стихчета, песнички и хорца. През деня майките приготвиха ромски ястия, характерни за празника им, които всички опитаха в края на тържеството. Страхотен празник и голямо преживяване за деца и родители! Както и за учителите, които вложиха много усилия в работата с децата. 8 учители и 8 помощник – възпитатели, както и 4  медицински сестри се грижат за децата в градината и яслата.

Първото съвместно мероприятие "деца-родители" беше коледното тържество, което бе изпълнено с много радостни емоции. Ще го помнят завинаги: това бе тяхното първо коледно тържество в градината!

Детска градина „Надежда“ бе официално открита в края на ноември 2018 година като част от първата по рода си в квартала многофункционален комплекс за образование, култура и здравеопазване, изградена по Програма ЗОВ (Здраве и Образование за Всички).

More than 130 children will have for the first time in their lives the opportunity to visit a nursery and a kindergarten in Nadezhda, the Roma neighborhood in Sliven after the official inauguration of a multifunctional complex built with support of the Swiss government.

On 22 November 2018 (Thursday), Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, Swiss Ambassador Mrs. Muriel Berset Kohen, Mayor of Sliven Stefan Radev, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Denitsa Sacheva and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Zornitsa Roussinova will attend the official ceremony in the Kindergarten “Nadezhda”.

Located near the Center for Administrative Services in Nedеzhda, the modern building will be closely accessible to the whole community. It is the first of its kind facility with integrated services for health, education and culture in Nadezhda for the mainly Roma community. The new building hosts a Health center with three medical offices, as well as a Centre for Culture and Education, so far lacking in the neighbourhood. Being one of its kind, this multi-purpose complex is crucially important for the ongoing integration and inclusion efforts of Sliven Municipality, local non-governmental organizations, schools and kindergartens, as well as health and educational mediators.

The multifunctional complex is constructed under the project of Sliven Municipality for social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups, which is implemented under the ZOV Programme (Health and Education for All) of the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme. The project’s budget amounts 2, 791, 985 leva, of which 85% is the Swiss contribution and the rest is national co-financing. The budget of the newly built complex amounts nearly 1,5 million leva, of which 10 % is the contrubution of Sliven Municipality.

Executed in the period 2015 - 2019, the focuses on education and health, while also supporting the cultural identity and empowerment of Roma. ZOV is implemented in 6 large municipal centers: Burgas, Montana, Ruse, Sliven, Plovdiv and Shumen, with the main ambition to improve access of Roma and other vulnerable groups to quality education in kindergarten and primary schools, as well as to primary healthcare, reproductive, maternal and child health services. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is the major partner from the Bulgarian side; the ministries of education and health are also contributing to ZOV. The total amount of the Programme is 13, 750, 450 leva, of which 11, 764, 000 leva is the Swiss support.

The achievements of the ZOV Programme so far are: Nearly 460 children are going to the newly built kindergartens, school annexes and community center (Montana, Sliven, Burgas and Shumen); more than 900 children attended Bulgarian and catch-up classes; nearly 1, 000 parents were involved in parental activities or have been consulted by the 17 educational mediators and the pedagogical staff; more than 8, 000 people were covered by health campaigns and individual consultations related to health insurance rights, primary health care and family planning.

An integrated approach, sustainability and working with and through central and local institutions are the main principles of the ZOV Programme. The ZOV activities are pragmatic and customized and responding to the needs of Roma and other vulnerable groups, with the understanding that education and health are the two major pillars of social inclusion. The Programme is closely working with the local and central institutions who will continue the best practices and multiply its model after ZOV will be completed in 2019.

About the ZOV Programme: http://zovprogramme.bg/en
About the results of the ZOV project in Sliven: https://bit.ly/2Q951Zd

More than 30 parents attended the meeting with the team of the Roma Academy of Culture and Education (RACO), which was recently organized in Sliven under the municipality's project within the ZOV Programme. The parents came to the meeting together with their children who are supposed to be soon enrolled in kindergarten.

Stela Kostova from RACO explained how the parents can enroll their children in the kindergarten and provided information about the kindergarten’s rules and daily routine. "After breakfast in the morning the children will have several educational activities, which will continue shortly after the afternoon snack”, explained she. "There will be pedagogues and nurses to take care of the children, as well as to organize several activities for them. Most importantly, they will build up school habits and be prepared for the first grade in school”.

The parents showed interest to enroll children in the nursery, which will open up time to get to work. At the end of the meeting, the children received coloured children's books from the RACO team and Tony helped them learn several some songs. Both, surprised and joyful parents and children soon sang together popular Bulgarian songs.

On 31 May, the local team of the ZOV Programme in Sliven organized a lecture "Early пarriages" in Nadezhda, the Roma neighbourhood. The early marriages are one of the serious problems of the community of Roma and other vulnerable people causing high school dropouts rates and hurdles for their social inclusion in the future and therefore, the ZOV Programme is actively working on its prevention with all possible means

The meeting aimed at raising awareness of the problem and prevention, as well as a discussion about the solutions with the active input of the participants. The lecturers put a special highlight on education as the tool to the improvement of the socioeconomic status of the Roma and other vulnerable groups. Graduating school and acquiring a professional qualification is the ultimate solution for the social inclusion of the people from this community.

The participants discussed also issues of the reproductive health with a highlight on the early sexual intercourse in the Roma community.

The meeting was organized by RACO, Roma Academy for Culture and Education – Sliven, one of the ZOV local partners in the Sliven region.

See more about the ZOV activities in Sliven

Записването на деца в общински ясли, детски градини и полудневни подготвителни групи към училищата бе основната тема на срещата на представители на Община Сливен, екипа на проекта по Програма ЗОВ (Здраве и образование за всички) и родители на деца от кв. ”Надежда”, която се състоя на 17 март .

Заместник-кметът и ръководител на проекта Стоян Марков разясни важността му за града и квартала заради възможността за предоставяне на няколко услуги на едно място - достъп до образование и здравеопазване, както запазване на културната идентичност. Той изрази надежда до края на годината детската градина в «Надежда», чието изграждане започна през септември 2016, да е готова и оборудвана. От 1 април родителите родителите могат да подадат заявления по електронен път за прием в в до шест други детски градини и ясли в Сливен, а когато когато градината в «Надежда» е готова, децата могат да бъдат преместени там, съобщи заместник-кметът Пепа Чиликова.

Ина Николова, старши експерт в Дирекция „Образование, култура и връзки с обществеността“ запозна родителите с основни аспекти от наредбата - електронно кандидатстване, критерии за прием, формиране на точките, класирането на децата, записването и таксите, които се заплащат. Йорданка Кондева, главен експерт в Дирекцията говори за  важността на предучилищното възпитание. «То дава възможност децата да се развият не само физически, и интелектуално, но и  увереност, че могат да се справят. Това че вие сте тук сега ни дава надежда, че вие осъзнавате колко е важна детската градина и детската ясла за вашите деца«, посочи тя.

Родителите задаваха редица въпроси, на които получиха разяснения. Един от въпросите бе дали за записването в градината ще има значение детето в коя част от кв. «Надежда» живее, както и към кой род се причислява, религиозните възгледи на родителите и др. Ръководителя на проекта Стоян Марков заяви, че детската градина е за всички деца и не може да бъде допускана дискриминация по какъвто и да било признак.

В края на тематичната среща родителите споделиха, че детска градина и ясла в района им ще бъде в удобство, тъй като децата са малки и ще им бъде лесно да ги водят пеша до там, а наличието на медицински специалисти в същата сграда ще им вдъхне сигурност за здравето на децата им.

Срещата бе организирана от Сдружение „Ромска академия за култура и образование“, местен партньор по проекта на ЗОВ.

Вижте повече за работата ни в Сливен

An information happening about the benefits of education was organized today in Nadezhda, the Roma neighbourhood in the town of Sliven.

Starting at the Center for administrative services, the procession went through several streets of the Roma neighborhood. Karandila band, artists dressed in costumes of popular cartoon characters and volunteers joined the event. Talks and lectures about the need of education for the little children were held at key locations of the district. Information materials were distributed to the inhabitants of Nadezhda.

"This is our part of the long way into integration of Roma we have to walk through the neighborhood”, said Stela Kostova from the Association "Roma Academy for Culture and Education" (RACO). The association organized the event with the support of the Municipality of Sliven.
„Let’s hope that this happening will achieve its goal the inhabitants of Nadezhda neighbourhood are better informed and aware about the benefits of education”, said Deputy Mayor Stoyan Markov, team leader of the project in Sliven under the ZOV Programme, Swiss support for the social inclusion of Roma and other vulnerable groups. “Furthermore, the parents will be motivated to enroll their children in kindergarten and school’.
“We are happy that project provides the opportunity to build a kindergarten and a Culture center in Nadezhda neighbourhood “, said Deputy Mayor Pepa Chilikova.

Mayor of Nadezhda neighbourhood  Diana Delcheva and representatives of RACO, “Medics of the World” Association – Sliven Branch and “Roma Health” Foundation – Sliven attended the event.

This is the second edition of the awareness happening in Nadezhda neighbourhood within the project of ZOV Programme. Over 1,000 inhabitants attended the first happening on 1 April 2016.

The team of Association “Roma Academy for Culture and Education” collects artefacts and works of art created by Roma artists and craftsmen. The collected items will be arranged in a small exhibition to be displayed in the future Educational Centre in the Roma neighbourhood Nadezhda in Sliven.

The first items have already been purchased from Roma craftsmen – tinsmiths, ironsmiths, carpet weavers and basket makers, as well as paintings from Roma artists and from artists developing the Roma theme.

Donations are accepted from everyone who wants to contribute to the collection. The first contributions have already been made.
 

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.

Срещи на младежкия медиатор с ромската общност в Сливен