11.04.2022
President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović met with Help’s Roma-Egyptian (RE) mediators and Klaus Mock, Regional coordinator of Help, as a part of marking Roma Day.
On this occasion, the Montenegrin President was introduced to the project aimed at social inclusion of the Roma and Egyptian population in Montenegro, “Social inclusion of Roma men and women and Egyptians with the mediation of associates for inclusion.” The project is implemented within the Program of the European Union and Montenegro for employment, education and social protection in 11 municipalities. Help partners on the project are the Capital Podgorica and the municipalities of Berane and Ulcinj.
The ultimate aim of the project is to recognize importance and accept the model of RE mediators and to systematize it as a job in institutions at the local level.
President Đukanović said he was glad with the meeting on the occasion of the recent World Roma Day, which is an opportunity to draw public attention and continue with affirmation the community of Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro.
Đukanović thanked Help “for the important mission they have been carrying out in Montenegro for more than two decades, both in the humanitarian field and in the emancipation of the entire society when it comes to the inclusion of Roma and Egyptians in social processes.”
In that sense, it is especially important to strengthen inclusion in the field of education, said the President, emphasizing that in the past few decades attention has been drawn to these issues and the results are seen, as well as the needs to have a much more responsible society.
Regional coordinator of Help, Klaus Mock, with gratitude for the reception, which is seen as a sign of support to the organization, mediators and the entire Roma community, presented the results of the activities of Help in Montenegro to the President, as well as the current program for mediators in order to involve them in the work of institutions at the local level in the field of employment, social protection and health.
Mediators Šejla Pepić, Denisona Beriša, Minira Delija, Nardi Ahmetović, Dejvid Sejdović and Enis Eminović expressed gratitude on behalf of the community for the support so far and said that such programs should be a priority of state policy in this area.
The President expressed readiness for full affirmation of actions aimed at overcoming the backwardness of the community in relation to social movements and strengthening the civic and multiethnic identity of Montenegro, which will be concretized through his address to the competent executive institutions.
Project coordinator Dijana Anđelic presented the project “Social Inclusion of Roma Men and Egyptians with the Mediation of associates for inclusion” to President Đukanović, emphasizing that the work of Help Mediators in the field, both through the project and through the years of model testing by Help, in the areas of education, health, social protection and employment, showed that local RE communities, in 11 municipalities where the project is implemented, have easier access to basic rights in local services, but also the institutions themselves for better and more efficient communication with Roma-Egyptian population.
A total of 34 mediators, who went through professional training and received certificates, were deployed in 11 municipalities. Anđelić expressed hope that a competent state services would recognize the importance of the project, and through the introduction of mediators for social inclusion in the systematization of jobs on the local level, solve this issue for the benefit of the RE population in Montenegro and their more efficient inclusion in society.
