Dryanovo
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Dryanovo municipality is located at the border of Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo regions.
The town is located 16 km from Gabrovo and 20 km from Veliko Tarnovo. Dryanovo municipality covers an area of 272 km² and is part of the Gabrovo region. The population of Dryanovo Municipality numbers 9.685 people. The largest ethnic group in the municipality of Dryanovo is the Turkish minority, followed by the Roma minority. From the entire population, 75 families are at risk of poverty.
Roma communities from Izgrev neighborhood are split in two sub-groups:
- 1. about 300 are Romani-speaking, who identify themselves as Roma
- 2. about 630 are Turkish speaking, who prefer to be named Turkish or Millet.
The neighborhood is quite different from other Roma slums in Bulgaria – the streets are asphalted, there is sewerage, most of the children attend the school. However part of the students stop attending school at the age of 14-15, when they complete primary education.
The most marginalized group in the municipality is from Kotel municipality. They come to Dryanovo each springtime, to perform informal jobs in the forest industry; they usually stay by late fall – beginning of the wintertime. These families come with their children, who do not attend school during their stay in Dryanovo.
They speak Romani and identify themselves as Roma. Families live on the suburbs of the city or in the villages.
The main problem of the Roma in Dryanovo is the unemployment, only 20% work on legal labor contracts.
The ROMACT Process
Dryanovo municipality joined the ROMACT program in October 2017 with the signature of the letter of agreement. A Municipal Committee for Roma Inclusion was already existing since 2012 but following a Mayor Decision in 2018, the members list was updated to include Roma representatives .
The CAG was established in November and was trained to collect data and prepare a community needs assessment which served as a basis of the Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion- MAPRI that was adopted in May 2018.
In the framework of ROMACT, municipality staff members were coached on available funding opportunities to implement the activities planned in the MAPRI.
The Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following project :
* Together in difference- OPHRD&OPSESG
Budget: 316 661 €
Status : approved
Trainings provided by ROMACT experts :
Community Action Groups (CAG):
* Participation in the local/municipal budgeting process;
* Participation in local self-government;
* Necessary steps for a proper community needs assessment & data collection;
* School principals in Dryanovo received training on interculturalism with a focus on intercultural school environment;
* Data collection and preparation of the Community needs assessment.
Local Authorities (LA):
* Identifying practical steps for implementation of the measures from MAPRI. Planning of short-term and mid-term activities;
* Funding opportunities to implement the activities planned in MAPRI Dryanovo;
* MAPRI & LDS review : How to include measures from the MAPRI into the LDS.
The following measures to solve problems in Roma community were taken :
- Support for pre-school education and preparation of disadvantaged children on the territory of Dryanovo Municipality (OPSESG)