On April 30, the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (BFPA), as part of the NMHM-BFPA-FZPM Consortium, together with the National Network of Health Mediators and the Minority Health Problems Foundation, started to work on the project “Raising Awareness of Local Communities in areas with a significant Roma population on asylum and migration issues ”. The project is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism - 2014-2021 under the Ministry of Interior with the International Organization of Migration (IOM) as a predefined partner. Its aim is to contribute to raising the awareness of the Roma population in the field of legislation governing asylum and migration, as well as to the risk of abuse and exploitation in Bulgaria, the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) through:
- Development of a comprehensive analysis / assessment of the situation of Roma communities in relation to migration issues, in order to better target the topics that will be covered in the project activities;
- Organizing information campaigns on the basis of communication strategy to raise awareness among Roma communities on the legal aspects related to the rights of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in Bulgaria, including human trafficking and smuggling;
- Organizing information sessions, discussions, workshops, seminars and other events to raise awareness of issues related to work in the EU / EEA, risk and protection from exploitation, including risk of trafficking for labor exploitation and smuggling, access to social services. and health services, etc.
Target groups of the project are the Roma communities in Bulgaria, and the field research activities will be carried out in the following locations - Filipovtsi district in Sofia, the Roma neighborhood in Breznik, the Roma neighborhood in Trun, the Roma neighborhood in Provadia, the Roma neighborhoods in the town of Harmanli, which are characterized by a lower level of education, lower legal culture, higher unemployment, lack of funds or low incomes compared to the national average. These are all factors that together create segregated and marginalized neighborhoods, exposed to extreme poverty, discrimination, limited access to services, insecurity and high crime, stimulating the undertaking of high-risk ventures and violations of the law. The implementation of information campaigns aimed at raising awareness of the rights and obligations of asylum seekers in Bulgaria and the risks associated with supporting smuggling and human trafficking will cover Roma communities in areas close to the country's border areas or such that are located along the routes of domestic trafficking of migrants from the southern to the western and northern borders of Bulgaria. The tasks of the consortium include:
- Conducting field interviews in Roma communities to provide data and develop a comprehensive analysis / assessment of the situation of the Roma population regarding migration issues
- Development of a Communication Strategy
- Support for conducting information campaigns in Roma communities
- Design and production of information materials
- Creating a video
The duration of the project is until April 30, 2024.
