Chminianske Jakubovany

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The rural village of Chminianske Jakubovany is roughly 22km West of Presov, in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic. With a total population of over 2,200 inhabitants, 1,500 are Roma and live in the two settlements either side of a road about 800 meters away from the village. Housing in these settlements mainly consists of one-room units built out of wood and clay.  These one-room units have no connection to normal infrastructure; the settlement has no sewage system, no running water or gas connections. In addition to the infrastructure and housing issues, the Roma in Chminianske Jakubovany are affected by poor numeracy and literacy rates (with the majority of the community only completing primary school) and unemployment.
 
On the 20th February 2014 with the Mayor’s signature on the Letter of Commitment, Chminianske Jakubovany joined ROMACT. In mid-2014 the Roma Community Action Group (CAG) was formed with the help of the ROMACT facilitator, the group gathers members from the different area settlements.

By the end of June 2014, representatives of the municipality together with the CAG identified and agreed on priority development needs for the Roma community:
education with a focus on the parents’ role;
economic independence; as well as
infrastructure development and housing.
 
These needs are addressed in a Joint Action Plan which includes the following measures:
 
Creation of a Parents-Child Unit within the Community Centre to involve parents of preschool-aged children for regular activities focused on developing communication and social skills of children and activities on health;
Support the education of Roma children with the help of teaching assistants and training for parents;
Support the economic independence of Roma families through micro-credit for agriculture as well as through social entrepreneurship;
Construction of drinking water and sewage system;
Building 36 rental flats and land legalisation.
The Local Council did not adopt the Joint Action Plan, however, some initiatives mentioned in the Joint Action Plan were approved by the municipality and their implementation has involved the members of the CAG at different levels, notably by defining the needs and lobbying at the municipal services level. For example, the project “Creating new jobs: path to social and labour inclusion in the village Chminianske Jakubovany“, which was implemented with the support of the ESF on the 1st March 2015, had a real impact on village life.  The project recruited the community through this framework and they completed a number of tasks, including fixing and painting public buildings, road and public spaces maintenance, support for the kindergarten and school, as well as waste collection.