Donors: EU (IPA II) 2019 Action Programme – Inclusion.
Partners: Municipality of Stip – leader, Municipality of Berovo, Green Institute.
Implementation time: 01/2021-12/2023
Total budget: 895.400 EUR
Green Institute budget: 320.600 EUR/3 years
Overall objective: To advance housing, education and economic opportunities for Roma and people living in deep poverty through improving their housing conditions and access to community-based social services in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Specific objective 1: Improvement of urban regeneration, reconstruction and elimination of unsafe housing conditions in the Roma informal settlements of Stip and Berovo.
Specific objective 2: Improvement of socio-economic inclusion for Roma people living in the informal settlements of Stip and Berovo in terms of social services and health care services at community level.
Brief description: The proposed intervention will take as a priority improvement of housing and living conditions, legalization of Roma settlements and housing, preparation and implementation of plans for development of the social infrastructure including specific community services for Roma. The increase of the employment rate among Roma population has been set as a goal as well.
The actions will address:
1. The need to improve the living conditions of the houses and to improve the access to public utilities and the infrastructure for housing in compliance with the national legal requirements for an integrated urban regeneration/ reconstruction and elimination of harmful living condition by identification of houses with the most precarious and unhealthy conditions and Reparation, rehabilitation and construction of houses of the poorest Roma households and identification of most urgent public infrastructure improvement works regeneration and removal of the most harmful conditions from Roma settlements legalized by DUPs.
2. The need to assess and update the GUP of the Municipality of Stip and Berovo and to elaborate a DUP for the areas of Sveta Nedela an Berovo settlement which have not been reached by any urban planning until now by elaboration or updating of GUPs and DUPs related to Roma settlements.
3. The need to legalize houses of the informal Roma settlements at the Real Estate Cadastre by Legalization of the Roma informal settlements in terms of GUP, DUP and houses’ habitability.
4. The necessity to develop and implement social services, health care and employment programs, culturally sensitive, aiming at social inclusion of Roma persons. Increased awareness of Roma living in poor and informal settlements and general public on equal rights in accessing and use of the socio-educational and health care services at communities' level by implementation of awareness campaigns about the access of municipality’s social and health care services at community level.
5. Census of Roma settlement and survey on social-economic-educational and health situation inside the settlements also to the aim of registering the unregistered persons and by the elaboration of a programme for the Municipality of Stip and Berovo, to improve municipality based socio-economic initiatives for Roma communities.
6. Improvement of urban regeneration, reconstruction and elimination of unsafe housing conditions in the Roma informal settlements of Stip and Berovo.
Outcomes:
- Assessment and updating of Berovo’s 2002 GUP and 1992 DUP including Roma settlement.
- Completion and updating of 2012 DUP including Sveta Nedela settlement of the Municipality of Stip.
- Finalization of legalization procedures of 1157 Roma households in Stip and 40 in Berovo.
- Final urban planning document reporting recommendations and technical specifications for future intervention aimed to improve Roma’s living conditions in Stip and Berovo settlements.
- Updated survey on houses and infrastructure conditions.
- House reparation of 15 poorest households in Berovo and new construction works for 47 households in Stip for families that will be dislocated to a new plot from the Hospital of neurology where they live.
- Feasibility study of infrastructures interventions.
- Improvement of small-scale infrastructures in Berovo and in Stip.