Samokov

General Information
 
ROMACT Cycle: 
Closed
Mayor of the Municipality: 
Vladimir Georgiev
Contact Person within the Municipality: 
Ralitsa Gerasimova – Chief Expert, Social Activities and Healthcare Department
Facilitators: 
Daniela Mihaylova
Total population: 
38 098
Source: 
Census 2011
Roma living in the Municipality: 
5 153
Description of the Municipality: 

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Samokov municipality is located in South-West Bulgaria and is part of Sofia administrative district. Samokov municipality includes 28 settlements – Samokov, Alino, Belchin, Belchinski bani, Beli Iskar, Dolni Okol, Dospey, Dragushinovo, Gorni Okol, Govedartsi, Gutsal, Klisura, Kovachevtsi, Lisets, Madjare, Mala tsarkva, Maritsa, Novo selo, Popovyane, Prodanovtsi, Raduil, Rayovo, Relyovo, Shipochane, Shiroki dol, Yarebkovitsa, Yarlovo, Zlokuchene. The town of Samokov is the administrative center of the municipality.
 
The Roma population numbers 14% of the entire population, according to the official data. They live in separate neighborhoods and they are concentrated in 4 settlements: Samokov, Kovachevtsi, Maritsa and Popovyane. Tree of the municipal councilors out of totally 29 people are Roma.
 
Some of the main issues they face are related to poor housing conditions/ illegal built homes, lack of health insurances, segregated schools, large number of drug addicts.
 

The ROMACT Process

Samokov municipality  joined the ROMACT program in February 2017 with the signature of the letter of agreement.
 
The problems identified by the Community Action Group, created in June 2017, are: 
 

Identified problems
Lack of financial resources to pay the kindergarten taxes
High level of illiteracy among the adults
Segregation in kindergartens and schools
Lack of teachers qualified to work in multicultural environment
Big number of Roma with no health insurance
High level of chronic diseases
Poor Infrastructure – street light, asphalt etc.
Lack of security/ job opportunities
Lack of resources for securing necessary school supplies

The Taskforce for Roma Inclusion was created in November 2017.
The Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion was adopted in September 2018.

Several trainings were provided:
 
The Local authorities were coached/trained on:
* Planning where to intervene
* Drafting project idea and establishing partnership under transnational cooperation  
* How to apply for funding to open calls for proposals to fund activities/priorities in Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion

The CAG was coached/trained on:
* Preparing needs assessment, setting up priority list and planning
* Participation in the process of municipal budget planning

The Taskforce was coached/trained on:
* Interdisciplinary and integrated approaches for tackling social exclusion
* Monitoring the Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion

 

The Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following projects:

* Balancing between care work and life- OPHRD Transnational cooperation- Rejected
* Parents club to learn and to create together that's wonderful - Ministry of education - COIDUEM- Rejected
 * Mosaic of friendship- implementing alternative forms of education and training for children from different backgrounds - Ministry of education - COIDUEM- Approved- Budget: 10 000 euros
* Out of the box - Youth exchange- ERASMUS+- Approved- Budget: 21 666 euros
* Intercultural mediation and social inclusion of youths from vulnerable minority groups- ERASMUS+- Rejected
*STEM center in Hristo Maximov School, Samokov- National Program  “Establishing school STEM environment”, Ministry of Education- Rejected

 

Timeline Points

28 Feb 2017
Step 1- Becoming Commited- Signature of the letter of commitment
10 Jun 2017
Creation of CAG
16 Nov 2017
Creation of Taskforce
18 Dec 2017
Step 2- Agreeing on needs and plans- Finalisation of Community Priorities List
30 Apr 2018
Step 4- Funding, implementing, monitoring- Submission of a project proposal under OPHRD- Transnational cooperation
20 Sep 2018
Step 3- Adoption of the Municipal Plan for Roma Inclusion by the Local Council
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