Slobozia Bradului

General Information
 
ROMACT Cycle: 
Closed
Mayor of the Municipality: 
Iulian Dumitru
Contact Person within the Municipality: 
Marcel Boboc– counselor of the mayor/ Sandica Socol– Secretary of the municipality/ Mihai Parcalab – Procurement office, inspector
Facilitators: 
Daniel Ganea
Total population: 
7 010
Source: 
Census 2011
Roma living in the Municipality: 
4 934
Description of the Municipality: 

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Last update: 12/01/2018
 
Slobozia Bradului is situated in Vrancea County and manages six villages: Cornetu, Corotenu, Liesti, Olareni, Slobozia Bradului and Valea Beciului. According to the 2011 Census, Slobozia Bradului has 4.934 Roma inhabitants. Also, the Roma community is the largest in the entire county Vrancea - and the poorest. Roma persons from this community lack jobs (the unemployment rate is 96%), they need access to water system, sewage and school infrastructure. They live out of their business, but nothing is registered fiscally, nothing is recorded. They sell fruit and vegetables, non-ferrous metals, leather purchases. 307 families are living from minimum guaranteed income and there are only 6 Roma ethnics who finished high school and only one promoted the baccalaureate exam. There is very low educational level from all points, they do not pay taxes and have large amounts of money in debts - 2 million Euro administrative fines.
 
Romani language is greatly valued here – it is perceived as a culture per se, they are afraid not to lose their identity. The language and the words must be maintained, for the children not to forget them. By teaching the language in schools, they are shown respect for their language, for the community, for their ethnical belonging and for their identity. There are 7 Romani teachers in this municipality, only one of them of Roma ethnicity.
 
School situation for the pupils from Slobozia Bradului village is as follows:
- high rate of school dropout among girls (because of the early marriages)
- 50% of them graduate secondary school (eight classes)
- children between 3 to 6 years old stands a school participation level of about 30% less in comparison with the compulsory school education.
 
Causes leading to this situation are linked to the precarious economic situation of families; lack of identity documents; language difficulties and insufficient knowledge of the national language;
lack of educational support at school and in the family.
 
Roma persons in this community used to belong to the traditional ursari group and they speak Romani. Roma community in Slobozia Bradului has the highest birth rate in the country, and also they currently hold the record on the number of traffic fines in Romania. The community is very traditional; there are many cases of early marriages (girls are married at 12-15 years, boys at 18).
 

The ROMACT Process

ROMACT process started on November 2015.  The Community Action Group (CAG) identified some of the short/medium/long-term needs and measures:

PrioritiesObjective 1Objective 2Objective 3
EducationOrganize awareness campaigns regarding the importance of educationOrganize literacy courses and Second chance programsOrganize intercultural courses for teachers
HealthImplement social assistance programs Organize awareness campaigns regarding the importance of health insurancesOrganize awareness campaigns regarding the negative effects of the early marriage and pregnancy
InfrastructureSolve ownership rights of lands and houses held by Roma inhabitantsConnect the houses to public utilitiesRehabilitate roads
HousingImplement programs focusing on housing Rehabilitate houses
Jobs/ labor marketJobs/ labor marketProvide professional trainings/qualifications Write projects to obtain EU funds for setting up social enterprises

The Taskforce for Roma Inclusion was created in May 2017.

The local action plan was adopted by the Local Council on 31 October 2017.

Trainings/expertise provided for the local administration:
 
Training course "Project Manager"
Training course "Public procurement expert"
Training course “Expert in accessing structural funding”
Training on realizing strategic documents in a participative manner
Coaching on POCU 6.3
Coaching for implementing POCU 4.1
Coaching on solving ID related special issues (late registration for procedures on court)
 
Activities involving the community action group:
 
Coaching for setting up an NGO
Abolishment of Roma Slavery Day celebration
Celebrate International Roma Day
Information campaign for 8th grade Roma pupils and the parents thereof in respect of high school / vocational school admission on the dedicated positions as assigned by the Ministry of Education
 
Results:
 
Several projects related to ROMACT purpose are implemented:
 
Celebrating Roma International Day on the 8th of April
Organizing Abolishment of Roma Slavery Day celebration

Organize ecological action (5 tons of garbage were collected)
Submitting a financial request for a social canteen
Asphalting roads in Roma community

Setting up the Second chance program
Identifying people without identity paper and civil state in order to be registered and documented

Construction of a Kindergarten
Funds (origin + amount): 500.000 euro, Ministry of Education in partnership with Vrancea County Council
Number of beneficiaries: 150 Roma children
Status: approved
 
Rehabilitation, extension, modernization and endowment of Cornetu School
Funds (origin + amount):  800.000 Euro, Ministry of Regional Development, Public Administration and European Funds - National Local Development Program
Status: approved
 
The Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following projects:

 Integrated service for reducing the number of marginalized persons
Funds (origin + amount):  5.500.000 euro, Operational Program Human Capital 4.1
Status: approved
 
Equal chance for education
Funds (origin + amount):  2.058.307 euro, Operational Program Human Capital 6.1
Status: approved
 

Timeline Points

12 Nov 2015
Step 1- Becoming Commited- Signature of the letter of commitment
31 Oct 2016
Step 3- Translating priorities into measures- Joint Action Plan for Roma inclusion adopted by City Council
26 Apr 2017
Joint Action Plan included in the Local Development Strategy
31 May 2017
Creation of Taskforce
29 Sep 2017
End of ROMACT process
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