Cumpana (County Constanta)

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Cumpăna is a rural administrative area in Constanta County in the South-Eastern region of Romania, close to the Black Sea. Cumpăna’s is predominantly rural but has the benefit of being in close proximity to Constanta. 
 
Roma citizens represent only 2% of the total population. However, various EU funded projects in the village estimate the actual percentage is higher than 2% and estimate that there are approximately 2,500 Roma citizens living in Cumpăna. The difference in population figures may be due to the fact that Roma in Cumpăna identify themselves as Turks rather than Roma when completing the national census. The official, lower population figure, is a challenge to local authorities when attempting to access specific funds to assist with the Roma. The Roma community is composed of Ursari and Xoraxane (boht Turkish speaking and Muslim) groups. Most Roma have not benefited in any way from Cumpăna’s economic success over recent years.

These groups and particularly the Xoraxane Roma, are acutely affected by the lack of education and lack of job opportunities in the region. Their occupations are usually temporary, with most of the work taking place during the summer season at the Black Sea. Most Roma women are involved in domestic activities, while the men tend to be involved in temporary jobs, or informal agricultural activities in agriculture. This community also experiences extremely poor living conditions.
 
Cumpăna is a local administration with a real interest in supporting its vulnerable groups.  The Mayor demonstrated the local authority’s commitment to supporting Roma communities through a Letter of Commitment on 7 February 2014. The municipality helped to establish the Community Action Group (CAG) so that it could be a functioning entity that was tasked with prioritising community needs (improvement of housing conditions for families who did not benefit from PHARE funds, support for the creation of small businesses to generate employment opportunities for Roma, access to Second Chance Educational Program for young adults, support for access to IDs and property documents, support for access to primary health care services, and a Day-Care Centre in the Roma community)
The CAG and Local Authorities cooperation led to the adoption of the Joint Action Plan in December 2014. In November 2015, this Action Plan was updated and included in the 2015-2020 Local Action for Roma Inclusion .  The financial allocations for the development projects were sought from external sources, mainly EU funds and not from the local budget.