1. Case-study No. & Title:
170. ‘Project for refurbishment of living conditions in Roma district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’’, Nis, Republic of Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (January 2000 – middle of 2001)

w	Installation of running water in this district
w	Installation of electricity in the district
w	Providing Roma families with phone-numbers

Keywords:

w	Social development
w	Community planning
w	Co-operation

2. Author information:
2.1 Author’s Name:
Marijana Filipovic

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Marijana Filipovic
Belgrade Centre for Women Studies
rpskih vladara 34/1
11000 Belgrade
Yugoslavia

Tel: +381 18 338 974 (private)
E-mail: marijanaf@bankerinter.net

2.3 Date recorded:
10 November 2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The project aims to improve living conditions in the Romany district ‘Jevrejska groblja’ (‘Jewish graveyards’) by installing running water, electricity and telecommunications.

The Roma community in the Nis region, according to the official sources (the last public census in 1991), consists of 30,000 people and thus constitutes 10 per cent of the total population of town Nis. The districts in which Roma people in Nis live are in very bad condition as far as basic needs are concerned. This is the reason why the project ‘Reclamation of living conditions in the Roma district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’’ has been started. The project is based on direct activities of Mr Balic and other representatives of local government and has the following aspects:

a) Formation of a team for dealing with Roma problems:
On the initiative of Mr Osman Balic and local Romany NGOs, a special team was formed as a part of local government. The main purpose of the team is to deal with problems facing the Roma community and it consists of directors of the key institutions in the town: the water authority, the town construction management, and the public works office. This team also includes a representative of local Roma community – for this mandate, Mr Osman Balic is the representative.

b) Installation of electricity in the district:
The first and the most important task for the newly-formed team is to install electricity in the district. The inhabitants of the district have lived in very disadvantaged conditions for a long time – this is why this aspect of the project met with substantial public support not only among the district’s inhabitants but also among other citizens of Nis.

c) Installation of running water:
The second task of the team is to install running water in the Roma district ‘Jevrejska groblja’, which has developed without any urban planning. The situation, as far as basic hygiene is concerned, is highly critical since most of the houses in this district do not have toilets or running water. In addition, here domestic animals and people live together, sometimes in one room.

d) Obtaining telephone lines and numbers:
Finally, the last phase of the project deals with providing the inhabitants of district ‘Jevrejska groblja’ with basic means of communication – that is telephone-lines and numbers. So far, 80 telephone-lines have been distributed among inhabitants. However, that is not enough since there are approximately 200 families living in this district.

The first results
Work on bringing electricity to the district has already started. Around 11 posts were installed in early September 2000 –streets lights were installed as well as domestic supplies. The local government negotiated with Italian humanitarian organization COOPI and United Nations in September 2000 and they agreed upon the ways these organisations would help in realising the project. Installation of running water, where COOPI would be responsible for the works on the site, was scheduled to begin in Decembe 2000. As it was mentioned above, 80 phone-lines have already distributed among inhabitants.

3.2 Location:
The project takes place in Nis, in Republic of Serbia (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Nis is the second largest city in Republic of Serbia and it has approximately 300,000 inhabitants. There are approximately 30,000 Romany people in Nis, which is 10 per cent of the whole population. However, according to data obtained from the Roma representative in local parliament, Mr Osman Balic, this figure is not valid any more – approximately 10,000 Roma people have left the region. Nevertheless, unknown number of Roma refugees from Kosovo have joined the local population. This is the reason why the number of Roma people in Nis is not certain. There are particular districts in the town where Roma people live, such as: ‘Beograd mala’, ‘Stocna pijaca’, and ‘Jevrejska groblja’. This project is directed at Roma people who live in the district ‘Jevrejska groblja’.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Roma
Target Groups: Roma community living in the Roma district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’ (approximately 200 Roma families), Nis, Republic of Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

w	Local Government
w	International NGO (United Nations)

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
Installation of electricity: Local government
Installation of running water: COOPI (Italian humanitarian organization): United Nations
Provision of telephone-lines and numbers: Local government

3.6 Timeframe:
The initiative was first proposed in January 2000, officially launched in August 2000 and put into practice in September 2000. It is expected to continue to the middle of 2001

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy:
It is difficult to say whether the project ‘Refurbishment of living and cultural conditions in the Roma district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’’ is a result of the application of national level policy. Namely, the Republic of Serbia does not recognise the Roma minority as a national minority, but (only) as an ethnic minority group. The consequence of this is that Roma minority does not have the rights that other national minorities have. However, the installation of electricity and running water belong to the group of social and economic rights, that by definition do not depend on the ethnic and national background, and that should be available to everyone. Nevertheless, examples from the real life show that this is true only ‘on paper’. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a signatory of UN Declaration of Human Rights, officially does have the obligation to provide all people with basic needs. So far, this has not been the case. This is the reason why I can claim that the project is not the result of applied national social policy but it is a result of theoretical national policy, which has not yet been implemented.

The project is a result of an initiative by the local authorities and their further co-operation with international organizations, such as the UN and the Italian humanitarian organization COOPI. As far as opposition to the project is concerned, the representatives of local government stressed a couple of times that there was no opposition, either from members of local government or from the general public. I also did not discover any opposition from national authorities.

4 . Good Practice Description
Background:
The reasons for conducting the project were more than obvious: very disadvantaged living conditions for Roma people who live in the district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’. Roma comprise the majority of the population in this district, which was founded and built without any urban planning (this is the reason why the district was given the name ‘wild colony’). Due to the lack of an urban plan and almost any official control over the construction of houses, buildings were erected that did not satisfy minimum requirements, such as the existence of electricity, running water, and other instances of elementary hygiene. Because of this, the number of children and elderly people from this district who are taken sick is increasing every year. There were optimal conditions for contagious illnesses to flourish. The fact that domestic animals were living in the same rooms where people were eating and sleeping further complicated the already difficult situation.

The living conditions of the Roma community in the district of ‘Jevrejska groblja’ were not identified as a problem until the end of the NATO air-campaign against Yugoslavia. During and after the air-campaign a number of Roma families left Kosovo and Metohija and relocated to Nis. Approximately 1300 of them found a place to stay in the district ‘Jevrejska groblja’. The majority of these Roma families were wealthy and in Kosovo, they used to live in houses made from solid materials with electricity, running water, and so on. On the other hand, the majority of the Roma community from the ‘Jevrejska groblja’ district used to live in unhygienic conditions and in houses made from cardboard, metal plates, etc. Unwilling to adjust themselves to living conditions which were so inferior to the conditions in which they used to live, Roma refugees raised the issue at a meeting with the representatives of the local government. It must be stressed that local Roma also tried a couple of times to attract the local authorities’ attention but without any success. They were promised help but practically nothing was done.

Involvement of the local authorities:
Neither the local Roma community nor Roma refugees from Kosovo had the necessary financial means to improve their living conditions. Thus, the representatives of Roma refugees contacted the local authorities and asked for help. After a couple of initial meetings with the mayor, Mr Zoran Zivkovic, and his deputy, Mr Branislav Jovanovic, local authorities formed a commission to investigate the problem. This commission visited the district and discussed the problem with inhabitants. On the basis of the report written by the commission and local government officials’ own insight, it was decided to implement the following plan of action:

w	To form a special team, which would work as a part of the local government, to work on the refurbishment and development of Roma districts;
w	To deploy local government resources to bring electricity to the district;
w	To contact United Nations, especially the representatives of the UNDPI – the UN’s special program which deals with similar problems; and
w	To contact COOPI, the Italian humanitarian organization, well known for helping supply solutions in similar situations.

The idea of supplying Roma houses with telephone-lines and numbers came later as a result of further talks between parties involved in the project.

The main aspects of the project:

w	The creation of a special team to deal with Romany questions: This team consists of directors of key institutions in the town: the water authority, the town construction management, and the public works office. This team further includes one representative of Roma community – Mr Osman Balic was elected to that position with a four-year mandate. The main purpose of the team is to further the refurbishment of living conditions in Roma districts and the promotion of the Romany way of life. In addition, this team is supposed to deal with everyday problems that occur. The existence of such a team is a unique phenomenon in the Nis region and in the majority of regions in Serbia.
w	The installation of electrical supplies in the ‘Jevrejska groblja’ district: One of the first tasks that the team faced was the problem of bringing electricity to the district. The decision of the local authorities to assign a part of the town’s budget to this task meant that the team were able to start their preparations . This part of the project was finished in September 2000. Eleven posts were installed, thus now there is now both street lighting and domestic electrical supplies.
w	Installation of running water: Since the local authorities did not have enough money to undertake this part of the project, they contacted the United Nations and the Italian humanitarian organization COOPI. The United Nations’ program UNDPI has already dealt with similar problems and this time they agreed to provide financial support for the part of the project that dealt with water system. In addition, COOPI and the local authorities signed a contract about investing in Roma districts. According to this contract, COOPI is responsible for the on-site work.
w	Obtaining telephone-lines and numbers: this is the last part of the project, although it was in fact realised before some other parts. It came out as a result of discussions between parties involved in the project, especially the local government and representatives of the Roma community from ‘Jevrejska groblja’ district. Nowadays, there are some problems in obtaining phone-lines and numbers for houses (because there are not enough of them). The local government assisted those Romany families who expressed an interest by allocating lines and numbers faster and also by granting certain discounts on payments. So far, 80 telephone-lines and numbers have been allocated to members of this community.
w	Making it possible for Romany refugees from Kosovo to stay in Nis: with this project a number of Romany families from Kosovo were encouraged to stay with their relatives in Nis and not to travel further north, looking for better living conditions. Of course, for them this is only a temporary solution.
w	Making it possible for members of local Roma community enjoy a more normal standard of living; and
w	Lowering the opportunities for epidemic and contagious illnesses to take hold

The financial support for the project:
Financial means, equipment, and other material needed to realise this project were to be found from different sources: the government of Nis, Italian humanitarian organisation COOPI, and United Nations. As it was mentioned earlier, the local government provided support for the installation of electricity and phone-lines and numbers, while COOPI and UN were/are responsible for building the water system.

Reactions of the local Roma community to the project:
The project has met with a very positive attitude. Enthusiastic support comes not only from the ‘target group’, that is Roma who live in the ‘Jevrejska groblja’ district, but also from the wider community. Thus, members of other ethnic and national groups who live near this district are very satisfied because they often pass through the district and in a way experience bad conditions themselves. They also feared from the spreading of possible diseases and now feel relief. On the other hand, people who live in other Roma districts, in which problems with living conditions also exist, although to a lesser extent, also showed very considerable interest in this project. These people expressed hope that their ‘cases’ will be next in line.

Problems that emerged during the project:
There were no major problems in conducting this project. Problems that occurred during the project were mostly of a practical nature and are connected with everyday situation on the construction.

Opposition to the project:
As it was mentioned earlier, the project ‘Reclamation of living conditions in Roma district called ‘Jevrejska groblja’ did not have any opposition, at least this was not the case according to representatives from the local authorities. As far as interethnic relations are concerned, this is perhaps the most important aspect of the current project. However, after investigating the attitudes of the Serbian majority towards this project, I faced opposition at a minor level. This opposition can be illustrated by the following statement, which was very common among members of Serbian majority: ‘It is OK that they (meaning local government) are helping Roma, but we (meaning Serbs) have enough our own problems to deal with. Who is going to help us?’

As far as attitudes of national officials, representatives of Romany NGOs, and members of local government are concerned I did not encounter any opposition to this project.