Tvarditsa
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The municipality of Tvarditsa is located in the Western part of the Sliven region of Bulgaria. The municipality consists of 10 entities – two cities (Tvarditsa and Shivachevo) and eight villages, three of which are located in mountainous areas.
According to the last official census in 2011, the total population of the municipality is 13,804 inhabitants, with around 15% of that figure represented by the Roma population with unofficial estimates for the actual Roma community reaching as high as 30% of the total population.
The Roma community lives mainly in three settlements: Tvarditsa, Oborishte and Shivachevo. More than half of the Roma population in the municipality lives in Tvarditsa, concentrated in the "Istok" area of the city and also on the outskirts of the Kozareva neighbourhood . In Tvarditsa and Shivachevo, Roma live in legally built homes in fairly good conditions when compared to the living conditions in other villages under the administration of Tvarditsa. In these municipal villages the situation is worse, there are a high percentage of Roma who live in extremely poor environments with unacceptable sanitary conditions. In terms of infrastructure, one of the main issues is the lack of sewage systems in the Roma neighbourhoods with the resulting health hazards including many cases of Hepatitis A. There is also a need to improve the road infrastructure, illegal housing occupancy, and improving garbage collection services in the Roma neighborhoods in Tvarditsa.
Some Roma families with better socio-economic status have started moving out of the Roma neighbourhoods, taking advantage of the high availability of housing for sale in the city.
With regards to education, the most important issues to tackle is school segregation and increasing the number of places available to children in kindergartens.
Most Roma citizens in Tvarditsa are only able to find informal employment (e.g. woodcutters on a daily wage). As a consequence, many are not covered by health or retirement plans. There are also many Roma families that rely on social welfare to survive.
The ROMACT Process
The ROMACT process was initiated in Tvarditsa in November 2015 with the signature of the letter of commitment by the Mayor of the municipality. Shortly afterwards, the Community Action Group (CAG) was created and is composed of Roma citizens from the various Roma neighbourhoods in Tvarditsa.
The ROMACT process has been reinforced with the signature of the agreement letter in April 2023.
The CAG defined its needs based on a short-term and a long-term vision, as described in the tables below:
| Short-term priorities of the CAG | Objective 1 | Objective 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure | Increase the frequency of garbage collection | Increase the frequency of garbage collection |
| Education | Prevention of school drop-outs | Ensure all Roma children have access to kindergartens |
| Other | eation of a community centre in the Roma neighbourhood | Development of activities for the prevention of Hepatitis A |
| Long-term priorities of the CAG | Objective 1 | Objective 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Education | Increase the levels of literacy of Roma children | End segregation of Roma children in schools |
| Housing | Tackling the issue of illegal buildings | |
| Infrastructure | Improving infrastructures in the Roma neighbourhood |
The municipality has been very actively involved in efforts to improve the lives of the Roma community in Tvarditsa. As a result, the municipality developed projects that meet the needs put forward by the CAG and the Local Council adopted the Joint Action Plan (Municipal Action Plan for Roma Inclusion) in December 2016, date on which the creation of a Taskforce for Roma Inclusion was also voted.
Actions implemented include:
- A project to address school dropout rates and to tackle illiteracy levels in Roma pupils submitted to the programme "Science and education for smart growth" (OP SESG);
- the municipality has invested in additional containers for garbage disposal which will shortly be distributed in the Roma neighbourhoods;
- the development of a sewage system in the Roma neighbourhood;
- the creation of a cultural community centre in the neighbourhood (under the Programme for Rural Development);
- the repair and purchase equipment for the building of one of the kindergartens (under the Programme for Rural Development).
Besides, the Municipality benefited of ROMACT expertise for the following projects:
Strategy for community-led local development for the period 2017-2023 of non-profit organization Local Initiative Group - Tvarditsa - RDP
Status: approved
"Concept of municipality Tvarditsa for social inclusion of vulnerable groups", OPHRD-OPSESG
Beneficiaries: 635
Budget: 282 000 €
Status: approved
"Complex Measures for Socio-Economic Integration of vulnerable groups from the Municipality of Tvarditsa"- OPHRD-OPSESG
Beneficiaries: 500
Budget: 360 164 €
Status: approved
Making kindergarten a better place for our children - COIDUEM- Ministry of Education
Beneficiaries: 146
Budget : 9 000 €
Status: rejected
“Art makes the world a better place “- FM of EEA 2014-2020
Budget: 175 753 euros
Status: rejected
"Establishment of a STEM center for Technologies in Creative Industries in 'Neofit Rilski', National Program “Establishing school STEM environment” school" , Ministry of Education
Budget: 138 500 euros
Status: rejected
Patronage care for elderly and people with disabilities, OPHRD, Procedure BG05M9OP001-6.002 "Patronage care +"
Budget: 133 305 euros
Status: approved
Activities for transformation of the buildings of "Georgi Karavelov" High School, Shivachevo, Tvarditsa into buildings with close to zero energy consumption, Financial Mechanism of the EEA, Renewable energy, energy efficiency and security ; "Energy efficiency in buildings" BGENERGY-2.002-0027
Under evaluation
"Patronage care for elderly and people with disabilities in Tvarditsa", OPHRD, Procedure BG05M9OP001-6.002 "Patronage care +"
Approved- Budget 133 305 euros
ROMACT also provided training and coaching sessions to the main stakeholders:
- Community Action Group:
- Training on community establishment and management of the Roma community centre and of NGO
- Training on local self-government.
- Coaching for participating in a meeting of the Local Council
- Solving the issue of lack of address registers and ID cards of Roma people
- MAPRI monitoring
- Local Authorities
- Coaching on planning the implementation of short and medium term activities
- Training session on strategic planning
- Coaching for the elaboration of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of Joint Action Plan
- Training on "Approaches to work with and in the Roma community"
- Implementing a project under the integrated procedure
- Taskforce
- Coaching for to support the elaboration of local mechanisms for preventing school dropouts and early marriages in Roma community
ROMACT Small Grants Scheme
ROMACT offers small grants scheme to support the efforts of the municipalities and Community Action Groups to respond together to the needs of the most vulnerable and to multiply the good practices across ROMACT municipalities.
Under the scheme of small grants, the following project was supported by ROMACT during October 2020 – April 2021:
Together for a cleaner and greener neighbourhood – Municipality of Tvarditsa
ROMACT supported the municipality with 4699 € to improve the waste management in the Iztok neighbourhood of Tvarditsa where +1000 people reside. The project mainly covered placing 19 additional garbage containers in key locations, establishing two spots for collecting animal manure, improving the landscape of public areas, and creating a green area for public use. An information campaign was organized regarding the proper disposal of household waste and animal manure to maintain a clean and healthy environment.