Tihomir Bezlov presents the research on the project
Information day within Project “Specialized services for children from Roma communities in conflict or contact with the law”was held at the end of last week in Plovdiv.The aim of the informational event was to present results of Activities 1 and 2 of the project:Research in the three Roma communities and Analysis of the potential and conducting a consultative process in the three regions.
The analysis was mainly aimed at identifying the specific potential in the three cities for piloting thethe specialized service”Center for counseling and legal assistance for children”. The study answered several key questions: Who are the institutions in the three regions that the pilot service could successfully partner with and what would be their role in the project? What is the potential and capacity of the Roma communities in the three regions to support the process of piloting the service? How many will be the cases (children and their families) who can use the services of the center? What profile do these cases have? What are the needs of children and their parents? It can describe what services they need – social, psychological, legal, mediation, etc.
Within the framework of the forum, the sociologist-analyst Tihomir Bezlov and other experts on the project presented the studies carried out, and the participants in it, representatives of OSIN, social services and Roma leaders actively participated in the discussion.
A strong impression was made by the data from Tihomir Bezlov’s analysis regarding the depopulation of neighborhoods with a compact Roma population in the country. Representatives of the local community argued these negative processes are due to emigration to Western Europe in search of better wages. A lively discussion also took place when discussing the problem with the most marginalized representatives of the target group, regarding which there are many problems, incl. health, mental, social, etc., and the risks to children in these communities.
After Pazardzhik and Plovdiv, an information day will be held in Lom on November 11.
Project “Specialized services for children from Roma communities in conflict or contact with the law” is funded by the Justice Program of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021, and partners in its implementation are the IGA Crime Prevention Fund, the Roma-Lom Foundation , Regional Development Foundation “Roma”, Plovdiv and Save a child – Norway.
