A project for the inclusion and empowerment of the Roma in Montana and Boychinovtsi – Montana Municipality is ending

Within two years, 2,000 people have gone through the various activities of the project “Integrated approaches for inclusion and empowerment of the Roma ethnic group in Montana and Boychinovtsi”. 120 of them received training on conflict resolution, communication skills and teamwork. They studied methods of working in a multicultural environment. In addition to education, the project is also aimed at healthcare. Free medical examinations were provided to 1,200 people in Montana municipality and 800 in Boychinovtsi municipality. 5 support desks have been created, located inside the Roma communities themselves. They will assist people in providing access to institutions’ systems, and useful information will be collected and disseminated.

Today was the final press conference of the project.

A delegation from the municipalities of Montana and Boychinovtsi visited a kindergarten in Reykjavik, Iceland. Representatives of local authorities, non-governmental organizations and mediators got acquainted with the experience and practices of inclusion of children of different ethnicities and their families in the far northern country.

“In our society, there are still many prejudices accumulated in all ethnic communities,” the mayor of Montana, Zlatko Zhivkov, said at the press conference. “Projects like this are not an end in themselves, and I am glad that we implemented it, because we are upgrading and improving the public environment in which Roma and Bulgarians meet,” Zhivkov also said

“Integrated approaches for inclusion and empowerment of the Roma ethnic group in Montana and Boychinovtsi” is financed under the program “Local development, poverty reduction and improved inclusion of vulnerable groups” of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The budget is EUR 735,970 (BGN 1,439,410.76) in grant-in-aid.

The beneficiary is the Municipality of Montana, and the partners are the Municipality of Boychinovtsi, the SAVORE Foundation, the “Development of Northwest Bulgaria” Foundation, the municipal kindergarten Bakkaborg – Reykjavik Iceland.