A ceremony to mark the beginning of construction of housing units for Roma families under the EU-financed project ‘Roma Action’ was held in Bihac on 9th October.
The ceremony was attended by Head of EUD Office in Banja Luka, Mr. Giulio Zanni, Mayor of Bihac Municipality, Mr. Emdžad Galijašević, Prime Minister of USK, Mr. Hamdija Lipovača, Country Director for BiH Hilfswerk Austria International, Mrs. Suzana Jasarevic, ASB Director for SEE, Mr. Elmir Bojadzic, and President of the Association Kali Sara, Mr. Dervo Sejdic.
The ‘Roma Action’ project that supports socio-economic inclusion of Roma people in BiH through housing, socio-economic measures with proactive participation of local authorities and other stakeholders is financed by the European Union through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA 2011) in the amount of 2.5 million Euro and co-funded by local authorities in the amount of 545,037 Euro. In total 152 housing units will be (re)constructed for the Roma families within the project. The Project is implemented by Hilfswerk Austria International, in partnership with Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland e.V (ASB) and Kali Sara – Crna Sara Association.
Bihac Municipality is one of fourteen municipalities in the project that strongly support social inclusion of Roma people through housing. The municipality has provided all preconditions for the start of construction of a building with 12 flats for Roma families who are homeless, on the social housing principle. The municipality is participating in the project with 91,000 BAM. Una Sana Canton is allocating 80,000 BAM for two project municipalities form the Canton, and Federal Ministry of DPs and Refugees 100,000 BAM for eleven project municipalities in the Federation BiH.
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