213. Co-operation between a local Roma working-group and the local authorities in reconstructing flats in a Roma settlement, Snina, East-Slovakia
Authors: Mulder, Peter peter.mulder@post.cz
Abstract: Since the end of 1998 an active group of Roma have collaborated with the local authorities on a number of projects, including the refurbishment of some derelict flats.
Region/Country: /Slovakia
Minorities: Roma
Problems: socio-economic empowering, Participation
Keywords: Participation, Negotiation, Economic development, Social development, Community planning, Cooperation, Partnership
Practices: addressing socio-economic disadvantage
Actors: Local government, public institution, national NGOs, informal, local group
Target Groups: Roma
Roma
Summary:
LOCAL LEVEL GOOD PRACTICE:
Since the end of 1998 there has been an active group of Roma people in a small Roma-district in the East-Slovak town Snina. The launch and building-up of this group was initiated by Zdruzenie Spolu, a Slovak NGO working on local community development. After having carried out a number of local activities, in which they convinced the local authorities of their usefulness, the local authorities started to co-operate with this group in planning the reconstruction of a small number of derelict flats in the Roma "settlement". In this project, most of the work is to be done by Roma themselves (voluntarily, or as public-interest jobs), while the city will provide specialist support. Financial support will come partly from the city, partly from other sources. The Roma group will have a crucial position in the project as a whole.
LOCATION:
Snina is a town in East-Slovakia, approximately 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. It has 20,000 inhabitants of which 2000 are Roma. The major part of the town consists of blocks of flats built between 1975 and 1990. The project takes place in what is called the Roma-settlement - although it has nothing in common with traditional Roma settlements elsewhere in the countryside: It is a small district of the town in which only Roma live in small blocks of flats and (a few) detached houses. A proportion of these flats are in a very bad state. There is no connection to gas, and there is no sewerage.
MINORITY/TARGET GROUPS:
Minority: Roma. Target group: 6 Roma-families who live in a small block of flats in the "Roma-settlement" in Snina, East Slovakia.
MAJOR ACTORS INVOLVED:
An important role was also played by an informal, local of Roma, representing the inhabitants of the "settlement" and co-operating with the local authorities
BUDGET ALLOCATED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES AND/OR BY OTHER ACTORS:
Zdruzenie Spolu: 100,000 SK (2,000 USD) paid for the first reconstruction which was due to be finished before the onset of winter (the end of 2000). 400,000 SK (8,000 USD) is expected from Spolu Slovakia during 2001
Municipality: The municipality is employing 1-2 people on the basis of a public interest job, providing specialist assistance during the reconstruction.
Other funds: At the time of writing, it is not yet clear where funding for sewerage and drainage will come from. The city is planning to build more flats in that area, which will only be possible when there is the proper infrastructure. There is a discussion between the municipality, the local Roma group and Zdruzenie Spolu about who is responsible for finding financial means for building this infrastructure. The costs for building canalisation are estimated at approximately 2,000,000 SK (40,000 USD).
TIMEFRAME:
The local Roma-group exists since 1996. During 1998 more attention was directed towards those people who lived in the poorest part of the Roma "settlement". Since the beginning of 1999, people from this poor area are also involved in this local group.
The plan to reconstruct the flats which were in the worst condition came into existence during 1999-2000, in co-operation with the municipality. During the second half of 2000, the first work on these flats has started. It is expected to continue during 2001.
It is hard to say when the reconstruction will be finished. This also depends on the question of whether the city wants to do more than reconstructing these 6 flats. That, in turn, is dependent on finding the necessary financial means to build the infrastructure for this area.
LOCAL LEVEL GOOD PRACTICE RELATION TO NATIONAL LEVEL ETHNIC POLICY:
It is a local initiative, supported by the local authorities. The project is based on co-operation between the local authorities of Snina, the local Roma-group and a national NGO (Zdruzenie Spolu). There does not seem to be opposition against the project from the side of the national authorities or from other NGOs.
Laws and regulations concerning the employment of long-term unemployed individuals on a temporary basis in so-called “public interest jobs" make it possible for the municipality to involve long-term unemployed Roma in the reconstruction work.
Since the project concerns housing, the project must take place within the framework of local and national legislation. The above-mentioned discussion about building the infrastructure is related to this: even though the city is willing to do more than just reconstruct these flats, laws on building and hygiene do not allow the city to take any further steps until the infrastructure has been built.
GOOD PRACTICE DESCRIPTION:
Snina is a town in East-Slovakia, approximately 30 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. It has 20,000 inhabitants. The major part of the town's housing consists of blocks of flats, built between 1975 and 1990. This relatively high proportion of blocks of flats (compared to other Slovak towns) has two causes. First there was the rapid industrialisation of the town during the Communist era, when a large workforce was needed. The second cause has been the creation of an artificial lake close to Snina, because of which the inhabitants of seven villages or settlements (including a Roma-settlement) had to be moved to Snina's housing-estates.
The Roma who were moved from their settlement outside of Snina into blocks of flats, live in few old buildings in Snina. The other Roma (most of them have already lived in Snina for several generations), live in what is now called the Roma-settlement - although it has nothing in common with traditional Roma settlements elsewhere in the country-side. It is a small district of the town in which Roma live in small blocks of flats and (a few) detached houses.
The settlement consists of two parts: One street with flats and family-houses which are in a good state and where there are no serious problems regarding housing. The main problem in this part is the fact that not all flats have gas-heating. The wood is expensive to buy, and the fact that there is only ice-cold water in the morning keeps some families from sending their children to school early in the morning. The other part of the settlement consists of some small blocks of flats (1-4 floors) in which Romany families live in bad circumstances. Many of the flats have no running water, there is no connection to gas, often too many people live in one flat, there are no bathrooms and toilets and there is no sewerage. The buildings are approximately 30 years old.
In the whole area, drainage is a problem, since the area is one of the low-lying parts of the town, close to the river
- During 1996, with help of the NGO Zdruzenie Spolu, a local working-group of Roma-people was established. At the beginning, the members of this group came from the better situated part of the settlement. From 1996 until 1999 there was money available to buy equipment for activities, organised and carried out by this Roma-group. Some examples were equipment for a music-group, materials to equip a wood-workshop and games for children.
- The local group really started to work as a collective in the second half of 1998. They created a club-room in which different kind of activities could take place in the cellar of one of the small flats in which the majority of the working-group-members live. At the beginning of 2000, these spaces were ready to be used. Only the fact that there was no heating at the beginning, explained why the space was not used that frequently at the start. In spite of that, a music-group started to use the space for their rehearsals, there is space for a small workshop, and several activities for small children began to be organised. Since 1999, also inhabitants of the poor flats got involved in the activities of the local group.
- From the spring of 2000 onwards, the municipality also became more involved. Before this, Zdruzenie Spolu had held discussions with the local Roma about their problems, priorities, plans, et cetera. The vice-mayor of Snina became an important person in the co-operation. When during the winter of 1999-2000 the settlement was flooded because of melting snow, the Roma-group in co-operation with the local authorities worked on building a dam between the river and the settlement. And in co-operation with Snina's communal service, the Roma community cleaned up the area around the settlement. In turn, the municipality provided materials, with which the Roma-group could repair the cesspools in the settlement. These activities created a solid base for further co-operation. For the municipality it was a positive experience, that this local Roma-group and Zdruzenie Spolu not only organised cultural activities for or with Roma, but also decided to go some steps further and work on more complicated problems.(1)
During 2000, a plan has been drawn up to renovate 6 flats in the Roma-settlement. These were the flats which were in worst condition. Some of the flats did not even have drinking water, because some flats have been divided in two units, to enable two families to live there.
The plan consisted of the following important aspects:
"Nobody gets anything for free" - This principle applied to the city, as well as to the Roma-group and Zdruzenie Spolu. As described above, co-operation and showing willingness to be active has convinced the local authorities that the Roma themselves are offering to contribute towards solving certain problems, and are not passively waiting until something will be done for them. This motivated the local authorities to also put energy, time and money into supporting the Roma in improving their living-conditions
Active involvement of the Roma themselves
This is partly a result of what has been mentioned above. It obliged both sides to look at how people could be actively involved in reconstructing/repairing the flats. Several ways have been found to do this:
- When money was available for the first time, the Roma-group itself was responsible for planning what to do with this money (100,000 SK; 2,000 USD). They decided to use it to prepare the flats for the coming winter: Isolation of walls and repairing or replacing doors and windows
- The city made it possible for one or two people to work in Public Interest Jobs in the reconstruction. (Public Interest Jobs are meant for long-term unemployed people, to become re-acquainted with regular work, or to gain experience in certain jobs). This would guarantee continuity in the building-activities.
Active involvement of the city
Since the flats are the property of the city, the active involvement of the city was necessary. But there was also another reason: Only in co-operation with the city would a project like this be sustainable and have a long-term perspective. In co-operation with the city, it would also be possible to address other problems.
Some practical problems appeared, which needed to be solved:
Ownership of the flats
The flats are owned by the city. Many tenants are in debt to the city for rent and services. This keeps the city from selling the flats to the tenants during, or after, reconstruction. Recently, however, the City Representatives agreed on making an exception to this rule, and made it possible that, after reconstruction, the flats will become property of the tenants. One reason for the Representatives to make this exception was that Roma themselves were to take part in the reconstruction of the flats.
Too many families per flat
Some of the flats have been divided in two units, to enable two families to live in one flat. After reconstruction, this will not be possible, because the flats are far too small for two families to live in. The city will look for housing for those families, who cannot stay in the reconstructed flats.
Money needed for infrastructure
To really improve the living-conditions in these flats, sewerage has to be built. And if the city wants to do more than just reconstruct these few flats (there are plans for building more flats in this area, the construction of sewerage and other infrastructure (gas, electricity) will be necessary. Also the drainage of the area has to be improved, since the flats have been built in a low-lying area, close to the river.
- Bt the end of 2000, Zdruzenie Spolu had invested 100,000 SK (2,000 USD) in the first reconstruction. Another 400,000 SK (8,000 USD) would be available in 2001. The municipality would like to use part of this money for creating the infrastructure. According to Zdruzenie Spolu, financing infrastructure should be the responsibility of the municipality, not of an NGO. The municipality claims that there is no money to be found in the city-budget for this infrastructure. This question has not yet been resolved. In the meantime, the city is also trying to get money from other sources to finance the infrastructure in the area.
Note (1): Roma from the other part of Snina (those who originally came from the settlement outside of Snina) have also started to co-operate with the local authorities in solving concrete problems in their area. This co-operation is also seen as positive by the municipality.