On November 29 - December 2, 2007, in Sofia, in the framework of the Regional Roma Political Participation Program, NDI organized the Fourth Roma Regional Leadership Academy. Over thirty participants from Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia gathered together for advanced training in Acquiring and Retaining Positions of Influence.The Academy was opened with the addresses to the participants by NDI Country Director for Bulgaria, Ms. Sevdalina Voynova, USAID Mission Director for Bulgaria, Mr. Michael Fritz, Ms Maya Cholakova, Director of the Directorate for Ethnic and Demographic Issues with the Council of Ministers, and the Deputy Director of the Directorate, Mr. Miroslav Popov. The opening was also attended by representatives of the Romanian and the Slovak missions to Bulgaria, NGOs, and media.
The training included two general topics: 1. Attaining elected or appointed office, and 2. Retaining elected or appointed office. Nikolaj Kirilov, Chair of the municipal Council in Lom, and Teodora Krumova, Executive Director of the Roma NGO Center for Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and Tolerance Amalipe spoke about how to get noticed. They shared their rich experience in working for NGOs and their involvement with politics, and gave advice to the participants about how to become more visible and how to build leverage with the organizations they work for.
The next session was about the specific challenges to working with mainstream parties and Roma parties. Mr. Tsvetelin Kanchev, leader of the Roma party EVROROMA, spoke about the history of EVROROMA, which is one of the biggest Roma parties in Bulgaria, and particularly about the election experience of the party in the last two years.
Ms Lucia Klapacova, International Secretary of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union spoke about the challenges to working with a mainstream party.
Prof. Cristian Pirvulescu, president of Asociatia Pro Democratia, delivered a presentation about the different electoral systems and their effect on the political strategies for Roma.
Like always, the most fascinating part of the Academy was the exercises: the first day finished with two of them. The first one was developing a strategy for political positioning: the participants were divided into teams, they had to produce advice to a doctor who was about to enter politics. The second exercise was on negotiations: half of the participants acted as Roma politicians, the other half - as representatives of the authorities. They appeared in teams of two and held negotiations.The second subtopic, Retaining Office, started with the joint presentation of three politicians - Alexander Filipov, Deputy Minister of Disaster Management Policy, Ivan Sotirov, MP from the Union of the Democratic Forces, and Gruia Bumbu, head of the National Agency for Roma in Romania. They shared their views - from three different perspectives - about the ways to stay in touch with the priorities of the grassroots community.
How to help democracy deliver through building partnerships on policy ideas was the topic of the next presenter, Ms Nigyar Sahlim, Bulgarian MP from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. During the same session, Mr. Stanislav Daniel from the Roma Public Policy Institute in Slovakia focused on the topic of fostering development and jobs on the local level.
The session the participants liked the most was the training on communications with he media provided by Mr. Boyko Vassilev, a popular Bulgarian TV anchor. The participants were introduced to a set of tips concerning the communication of public figures with the media, followed by practical exercises.
The final session of the Academy was another exercise called Political Scruples. The participants, divided into groups, had to offer their solutions of crisis situations, bordering on law: corruption, conflict of interest, etc.
The Academy was supported by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Council of Europe.
First Roma Debate on Policies of the Integration of Roma in Sofia with District Mayoral Candidates in Sofia
On October 23, NDI, in cooperation with OSI-Sofia, supported by several Roma organizations, organized the first of its kind debate on the Policies of the Integration of Roma in Sofia among candidates for mayors of the Sofia districts Slatina, Krasna Polyana, Vazrazhdane, and Lyulin. Eight candidates for mayors of the four districts in Sofia with sizable Roma population, nominated by mainstream political parties with the highest chance of getting elected, took part in the debate. Agop Ovagimyan, Alliance for Sofia; Bozhidar Iskrenov, MRF; Emil Voynov, BSP; Lyubomir Teoharov, Union BG;
Nikolay Spasov, Alliance for Sofia; Stoyan Georgiev, NMS; Valentin Vutov, BSP, and Zhivko Zhelev, BSP debated on the challenges of Roma integration and their visions for the development of their districts concerning the Roma issues. This happened in the presence of NGO representatives, citizens from the four districts, the candidates' election HQ staff members, and media.
The Roma amount to almost 10 percent of Sofia population; 25 percent of the houses in the Roma neighborhoods are illegal, and over 6,000 of them have to be torn down; unemployment in the segregated neighborhoods exceeds 70%; 6 of the schools in Sofia are 100% attended by Roma children, and almost 70% of them drop out after 7th grade. Roma health has deteriorated and the average life expectancy is 10 years lower than the average for the country. These, together with very specific community issues like the lack of public transport or lack of subsidy for Roma community centers, were addressed by both candidates and the audience. The questions from the hall were supplemented by videotaped questions in the Roma communities. The issue of vote-buying was also raised. The candidates accompanied their statements with more or less generous "once-I-am-in-charge…" promises.
For some of the candidates this debate was the first and only event in their campaigns. The event was well covered by the media.
Roma Regional Training on Advocacy Tools and Techniques,Bucharest, 21-23 June
On 21-23 June, NDI organized a regional training for NDI Roma graduates from Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia focused on advanced advocacy tools and techniques.
The idea of the seminar was to provide the participants with the opportunity to learn from the experiences of their colleagues in neighboring countries. The discussions focused on the best advocacy practices when working with political parties and the government, as well as various effective techniques to use in building public support, managing crises, and communicating with the media.
The introductory session was moderated by Scott Andersen, NDI-Romania Director, and included presentations from guest speakers Mr. Gruia Bumbu, President of the National Agency for Roma in Romania, and Mr. Costel Bercu?, the President of the Roma Civic Alliance of Romania.
Slovak participants Peter Pollak and Stefan Sarkozy, from New Roma Generation, presented their campaign focused on the inclusion of Roma issues in party platforms as an example of successful advocacy to political parties. Sevdalina Voynova moderated the session on political party advocacy. The discussion focused on the advatages of advocating to political parties in order to assert particular interests.
Dimitar Dimitrov, NDI-Bulgaria graduate, presented the Bulgarian Roma campaign to shape the government's Human Resources Development Operational Program (HRDOP). The case study highlighted the activists' success in shaping the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) in view of the future EU Structural Funds that Bulgaria will receive from the European Commission. Among the results of the campaign, implemented by approximately 50 Roma NGOs, were: the inclusion of a chapter in HRDOP dedicated to Roma; and the appointment of Roma representatives to the working group on the NSRF and HRDOP, and the nomination of Roma representatives to the monitoring committees.
The first day ended with problem solving simulations, moderated by Megan Unangst. The participants worked in four teams, with the aim of creating a strategic advocacy plan corresponding to four chosen topics.
The second day of the seminar started with a presentation by Serbian participant Sanja Lazarevic from the Roma Media Center, who spoke about her organization's activities including the publication of a Romani-language newspaper in Vojvodina, and advocacy efforts to create an action plan for Roma in the province. The Roma Media Center has also been working for the establishment of an Executive Office for Roma Issues within the Executive Council of Vojvodina.
Pro Democracy Association Public Relations Officer Laura Radulescu moderated a session on media communication. The participants developed strategies for not only ensuring front page publicity, but also maintaining the cover page presence and the media attention.
Florin Manole, NDI-Romania graduate, lecturer at the Faculty of History at the University of Bucharest, shared his experience in crowd-building. He had developed a series of advocacy initiatives, including his successful campaign to the Romanian government which won 100,000 EUR for the purpose of studying Roma slavery in Romania, and organizing tprotests against the Office of the Presidency in response to racist statements by President Basescu.
The regional advocacy seminar concluded with Sevdalina Voynova's session on crisis management.
Successful Completion of the Mandate
Training for Roma Municipal CouncilorsSofia, 11-12 May
In preparation for the local elections, expected in the fall this year, NDI organized two-day training for Roma municipal councilors. The objective of the seminar was to help the councilors complete their mandate successfully, and thus help build leverage in their respective parties and as a result earn re-nomination in the forthcoming local elections in a few months' time.
Twenty Roma municipal councilors from different regions in the country took part in the training. They come from the following political parties: Party Roma, Evroroma, Party Free Bulgaria, BSP, the Green Party, and Central Unifying Movement Spasenie. Five of the participants had participated in the training series of NDI's Roma Political Skills Building Program.
The main topics of the training were what are the steps to complete successfully the councilors' mandate; how to give an account of the mandate before the citizens and the councilors' political parties; how to monitor the activities of the municipal administration, as well as the municipal council until the end of the mandate; how to work with the media.
Sevdalina Voynova, Director of NDI-Bulgaria, opened the seminar with a presentation - overview of the functions of the municipal councilor and some practical advice how to communicate with the citizens.
Villi Lilkov, second mandate municipal councilor at Sofia Municipality and chairman of the group of DSB councilors, delivered a presentation on how to monitor the activities of the municipal administration and the municipal councils until the end of the mandate, and how to avoid the "tight places" and prevent from the tricks, the administration is usually up to towards the end of a mandate.
Margarita Petkova, BSP, Mayor of Ihtiman, a town with a sizeable Roma population told about her experience from the communication with the Roma community, and her good practices of dealing with Roma issues, and problem solving. She also gave advice on how to give an account of the councilor's mandate before the political party which had nominated him or her.
Maria Kumanova, media expert at the National Association of Municipalities, gave advice about how to communicate with the media and how to attract their attention.
Antoaneta Tsoneva, former ombudsperson of Sofia Municipality outlined the next steps the councilors are advised to take until the end of the mandate.
Young Roma People Meet with the President of Bulgaria
A boost for Roma education advancement was given after the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov met on March 28, 2007 with 22 young Roma people to discuss the issues and the recent developments in the sphere of education and their impact on the Roma community."My meetings with young Roma people have already turned into a good tradition of relationship. I remember very well the previous meetings and the results they have brought about. These meetings contribute significantly to the affirmation of Roma integration as a priority", said President Parvanov. The meeting was one in a series of meetings, joint events and activities of the Bulgarian head of state and the participants in NDI Roma Political Skills Building Program focusing on the issues of Roma education.
The young Roma people brought to the President's attention the disturbing school drop-outs statistics: of the 25 thousand schoolchildren who left school prematurely last year, two-thirds identified themselves as Roma. "Though the problem of integration is greater than the problem of dropping out from school, this is a worrisome tendency which needs to be reversed without delay", said Kadrin Hasanov, one of the meeting participants. The three main reasons for school drop out: socio-economic, educational and ethno-cultural, the public authorities partly address the first providing support for children from 1st to 4th grade. Intercultural education, relevant changes in the school curricula, efficient parents' involvement are some of the avenues for positive change proposed by the Roma, together with increased economic support to include children in elementary school as well.
"You as current and future leaders of the Roma community need to participate and cooperate in finding solutions for these serious issues without any compromise with the quality of education for all children in Bulgaria", said President Parvanov. He and the Roma participants agreed on a broad spectrum of follow-up activities, including a national forum under his patronage on the issue of Roma education, database development of Roma NGOs to assist their involvement in policy development, meeting with the owners and managing directors of leading media outlets to engage them in featuring young and successfully integrated Roma. "The fact that you are highly valued in your organizations, your communities, your parties is good. It would be even better if your stories and example become known to all Bulgarians through the media thus combat still existing stereotypes in the public attitudes", suggested Georgi Parvanov.
The President and the young Roma agreed to meet more often and to discuss a broader range of issues. "To discuss openly issues that concern our community and hear the direct response of the Head of State: meeting the President of Bulgaria was an exceptional opportunity for us", said Atanas Stoyanov, a participant.
