Better life for Roma in Tuzla Canton

Establishment of strategic and action framework for the improvement of life conditions of Roma citizens in 6 municipalities of Tuzla Canton will be available thanks to the project “Development of Local action plans for effective social inclusion of Roma”, implemented by the IRIS Network member – Association “Euro Rom”. Efforts of the Association to involve the Roma population in Tuzla Canton in decision making processes, by overcoming weaknesses of the National Action Plan for Roma in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are supported by local authorities and relevant institutions in social and minority protection sector. The policies and practices in the area of social inclusion of Roma in Tuzla Canton are to be improved by the end of 2016.

City of Tuzla and five surrounding municipalities –- Zivinice, Lukavac, Srebrenik, Celic and Kalesija, are home to approximately 15000 Roma (app 20% of total Roma population in B&H). The process of their inclusion in society is not complete yet. Up until today, stepping stone was missing – defining of a strategy and local action plan for inclusion. Within the process, Roma people will be provided with high quality social services, understanding the importance of the inclusion in the community and decision makers. These are the main goals of “Development of Local action plans for effective social inclusion of Roma” project.

The latest round table event organized by “Euro Rom” brought together 52 participants, among them representatives of the Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees B&H, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Tuzla Canton, Ministry of Interior TC, City Council of Tuzla and Commission for National Minority Rights Protection. They were involved in meaningful discussion on challenges of Roma community within the inclusion process and expressed the support to the project activities.

The project “Development of Local action plans for effective social inclusion of Roma” is one of 12 projects financially supported by IRIS Network through small grants programme.