Twinning activities for Roma integration
Twinnings are developed with local and regional authorities in order to lead concrete measures in Roma integration locally and encouraging the development of a EU wider network.
Roma in Aitos
The municipality of Aitos is situated in the Burgas province of Bulgaria about 30 kilometers from the Black Sea. The town has a population of 26,008, 3,000 of whom are thought to be Roma.
Main challenges
The majority of the Roma population in this municipality have poor Bulgarian language skills and therefore the level of education and employment is low. There is a trend of early school-leaving and early marriages within the community.
The Roma people in Aitos have limited access to healthcare, and the municipality are working to improve the most vulnerable citizens' access to healthcare through Roma health mediators.
Aitos wants to use the twinning partnership within the for Roma, with Roma programme to focus on innovative ways to improve Bulgarian language skills and to increase the level of education of the Roma population.