Оpening conference on project "Creation of Mother centers for improved inclusion of vulnerable groups in Botevgrad Municipality and Mezdra Municipality"

14-07-2022 15:11

On 12th of July 2022 an opening conference was held in the village of Litakovo, at which the project was presented. Тhe conference was attended by the mayors of the villages of Litakovo and Skravena and representatives of the Municipality of Botevgrad, the Municipality of Mezdra and NGO "MAG" - Botevgrad, local media and citizens.

The project is worth 977,868.94 lv. as it is envisages the establishment of Mother Centers in the village of Skravena, the village of Litakovo, Botevgrad municipality and in the town of Mezdra, Mezdra municipality. The need to establish such centers was identified in both municipalities as a result of extensive surveys among the Roma community carried out by the joint program of the Council of Europe and the European Commission ROMACT. All services in the Mother Centers will be based on the family - oriented approach in the child care. In all services parents will be informed and empowered in order to increase their parental capacity. Parents will be involved as partners in working with the child and this will give much greater effectiveness to the work of professionals. The planning of the services will be done together, and the activities will be tailored to the needs of family support. Parents will receive comprehensive information about everything that concerns their child and each activity will be discussed and agreed with them in advance. This will expand their parenting skills and beliefs about what caring for their child's development should look like. Another very important aspect of the family-oriented approach will be the building of parental networks for mutual assistance. In these groups they will be able to share their worries, difficulties, fears and dreams. Interinstitutional relations and cooperation will be key to the mutual reinforcement of the measures taken by different actors in each specific area. Interaction with nurseries and kindergartens, with schools, with medical services, with hospitals, with other social services is the condition that builds the overall institutional support environment. Working together will provide an opportunity for mutual learning and complementarity of competencies. At least 300 children aged 0 to 6 and their parents from Roma origin will be covered by the activities of the Mother Centers during the project implementation period.