HEALTH AND SOCIAL CENTER FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT : ONE APPROACH MANY SOLUTIONS
The content reflects the views only of the author, and the e-RR project partner consortium cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Country/partner countries
The model for integrated development (MIR) is created by HESED on the basis of 15 years of experience in providing services for the segregated Roma communities in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Project lead partner/organization and contact person (e-mail, links) project website
Health and Social Development Foundation http://www.hesed.bg/
Project information – start and end date (if available)
HESED is providing services aiming at integrated community development the last 15 years. Based on this practical experience is created the Model for integrated development (MIR).
Summary (goals and purposes of the project)
The goal of the model is to break the vicious circle of poverty in the segregated Roma communities, by providing high quality services within the community, aiming at:
improvement of parenting skills, support of the early child development, providing life skills training and improvement of the prospects of young Roma for successful employment.
Results of the project
The main results from the services are:
- improvement of the quality of life of the children trough improvement of the quality of the parental care;
- prevention of the early drop out from school trough support of the early childhood development- improvement of the cognitive and social skills of the children and improvement of their school readiness;
- improving the social integration of the young Roma and successful job perspectives, including the early marriages delay .
Who will benefit from this project (target group)
The main target groups of MIR are:
1. pregnant women and parents of children 0-3 years;
2. children 4-6 years who do not attend kindergartens;
3. adolescents (12-15 years);
4. the whole community in the neighbourhoods.
Sources of funding
Trough the years the services included in the Model were supported by:
Sofia municipality- delegated budget, different donors such as Velux Foundations, EEA Grants, Norway Grants, OAK, Bulgarian-Swiss cooperation program, European Social Found and Human Resources Operational Programme under the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Bulgaria, French Institute (Bulgaria), Lale etc.
Link
http://www.hesed.bg/centres/