For remembering the rules for participations, please look at the attachment.

Zdraveite and hello to all. (Na bulgarski i posle na angliiski.)

На български език:

Българският център за развитие и обучение (организация-приемник от
мрежата на USAID) предлага едномесечен курс за подготовка на учители
по английски. Курсът се казва "Qualification in Language Teaching" и
е лицензиран продукт на World Learning SIT Graduate Institute (в
Съединените щати). За следващия курс имаме финансиране за пълни
стипендии за ромски кандидати, които покриват изискванията. Има
стипендии и за други български граждани.

Пълната информация и формулярите за кандидатстване са достъпни през
сайта ни -- www.bcdt.bg >> QuiLT Forms. Всякакви въпроси са добре
дошли: за целта търсете Мат Браун или Кремена Начева, по телефона --
(359 2) 987 2040 -- или по електронната поща: mbrown@... или
knatcheva@....

За да имат право на участие, кандидатите трябва да са завършили най-
малко средно образование и да владеят английски на ниво Б1
(напреднали) по европейската система (CERF). За да получат стипендия,
ромските кандидати трябва да ни покажат, че има формална или
неформална структура, в която могат преподават английски на възрастни
след края на курса. Очакваме и насърчаваме широка гама от творчески
партньорства за тази цел. Другите стипендии ще отпуснат за хора,
позиционирани да преподават, за да подкрепят развитието на общностите
си (предимствo щe имат тeзи, които щe преподават на роми).

Дaтите на следващия курс са 7 мaй – 3 юни. Формалният срок за
кандидатстване за следващия е 25 април, но още отсега започваме да
приемаме формулярите, които ще разглеждаме в реда им на пристигане
при нас.

**

The Bulgarian Center for Development and Training (a USAID "legacy"
organization) offers a one-month English teacher training course
called the Qualification in Language Teaching. The course is a
licensed product of the World Learning SIT Graduate Institute (in the
US). For our upcoming course we have funding for several full
scholarships for qualified Roma candidates. Some scholarships are
also available for other Bulgarian citizens.

Full information and application forms for the course and the
scholarships are available on our website -- www.bcdt.bg >> QuiLT
Forms. We encourage all types of questions and inquiries, which
should be directed to Matt Brown or Kremena Natcheva, by phone --
(359 2) 987 2040 -- or by e-mail: mbrown@... or knatcheva@....
Successful course candidates must have completed secondary education
(sredno obrazovanie in Bulgarian) and have an English level of at
least B1 (intermediate) in the European system. Their English must be
good enough to participate effectively in the course, which is very
intense and takes place entirely in English. For the scholarships,
Roma candidates must demonstrate that they have an informal or formal
situation in which they expect to teach English to Roma adults after
the course. We expect and encourage a wide variety of creative
partnerships for this purpose. The other scholarships will be awarded
to people who are positioned to teach English in ways that support
community development, with priority for people who plan to teach
Roma.

The dates of the next course are 7 May – 3 June. The formal
application deadline is 23 April, but we are accepting applications
immediately and will review and process them as we receive them.

Matt Brown
**

The first session for 2008 of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues (NCCEDI) took place on April 4. The new Council membership participated in the session: besides 16 deputy ministers and 7 directors of state agencies 47 representatives of non-governmental organizations (37 of them – Roma or working with Roma) are members of the NCCEDI during 2008. The session was chaired by Mrs. Emel Etem – Chair of NCCEDI and Deputy-Prime Minister.

Several topics were discused. The team of Ethnic and Demographic Issues Directorate presented its Report about the state of interethnic relations and intercultural dialogue. Roma NGOs representatives reacted to certain statements and conclusions. According to Deyan Kolev from Center “Amalipe” it is a mistake to perceive Roma question only as social one and to foresee the so-called “Roma policies” as “limited in their extend and supplementary to the horizontal social policy in their character.” Roma question is question of deep exclusion: Roma community does not participate in the political, social and economoc life that determines the social aspects of Roma issue – pointed Deyan Kolev. Concerning the “Roma policies”, they should be integral part from the horizontal social policy instead of its supplement.

Rumyan Sechkov (S.E.G.A.), Nikolay Kirilov (Roma – Lom) and Georgi Parushev raised similar criticisms. Nevertheless, the report would not be changed - its presentation appeared to be only “for information”.

Georgi Krastev (Head of Roma integration Branch of Ethnic and Demographic Issues Directorate) presented the state of the process of preparing new Framework Program for Roma Integration. He pointed that it should be ready until November when its approval by the Council of Ministers is expected. The Program will have higher normative status: Decree of the Council of Ministers or even Decision of the Parliament as well as financing from the state budget. In responce to the requirments of Roma NGOs from November 2007 Ethnic and Demographic Issues Directorate is ready to include a vast number of  NGO experts in the Program preparation. That is why Working group and Expert groups in the Program fields will be formed. Regional discussions will be organized. April 20 is the deadline for NGOs to send suggestions for the first Program draft. Summurizing the suggestions and public discussions will be the next step.

In the end of the session the representatives of 40 NGOs voted for Deputy Chair of the NCCEDI. Deyan Kolev was elected for this position after competition with Mladen Ivanov and Petar Georgiev.

http://www.amalipe.com/en/?nav=news&id=48

Sa so mangen tume Devlestar te del tumenge o Del tumare manushensa, dadensa, pralenca, shavorensa!

According to data from conducted surveys more than 12 million Roma live in Europe. Determining the real number of the Roma presents a real problem because in many countries they were not included in censuses. On the other hand, many Roma are hiding their true ethnicity because of political, economic, social and other reasons. The Roma ethnic community is based on the same principles as other ethnic communities in the world. The Roma have their language, their flag and culture just like ethnic majority communities, but unfortunately they do not have their own country. The origin of the Roma has been traced in ancient India for thousands of years. It is assumed that the reasons that made the Roma migrate from India to Europe and the world are constant discrimination, refusal to take part in wars and constant oppression and purges that have been a part of their lives for centuries.

The migration of the Roma had started from Central and Western India through Persia, Armenia, Turkey, and today the Roma are settled throughout the world.

On April 8 1971, the First World Roma Congress took place in London where the Roma flag, anthem and motto were established as recognizable symbols of the Roma. The Roma flag has got three colors, with the blue and the green dominant and divided in two equal halves, whereas in the center of the flag there is a brown cartwheel that symbolizes century-long migration of the Roma. The word Roma is also established at this congress as the term for addressing, and in Romany this word means man.

It is common for every ethnic community to be named after the name of its own country, but given that the Roma do not have their own country, they are identified by the word Roma. All other terms that had been used for addressing the Roma community are not accepted by the Roma. Five committees were assembled during the congress and were assigned to work on the following issues: welfare, education, war crimes, language and culture.

From that day forward the Roma movement has made significant progress that is not presented to the majority population for various reasons, but that does not mean that it meets the needs of this ethnicity.

In the worlds of literature, art, film, music, law and other fields of everyday life, there have been and there are Roma who are dedicated to their profession. In this world of multiculturality, expansion of life values and tendencies toward material and spiritual goods we speak to you all:

Do you know that the actor Yul Brynner has had Roma genes? The origin of this prominent person was not known for a long time. There is information that his mother's mother was Roma and his mother's father a Jew from Russia. But fact is that he was raised among Roma and there he has learned to play the guitar. The Pharaoh of Egypt (one of his successful roles) was also the president of the Roma movement in the USA, an office that functioned until the time of his death.

Renowned Academy Award winner Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in Rotherheed, London. It was a tradition in the Roma group that he belonged to, to name the first-born son Maurice.

Jean Baptiste Reinhard - Jango Reinhard is the most famous jazz musician in Europe who played the guitar, the violin and the banjo. One of the most common themes in his music was defined Roma jazz.

Ian Hancock is a famous Roma activist and professor. He graduated from the University of London. He represented the Roma in the United Nations as member of the Holocaust Memorial Council in the USA. He is a linguist, a founder and director of the Roma Archive as well as the Austin Texas Documentation Center, where he has taught as a professor of English, linguistics and Asian studies.

Jose Antonio Reyes Calderon - a football player of Athletico Madrid with an international career is also born in a Roma family in Utrera, near Sevilla. During the course of his career he has played for Arsenal and Real Madrid in matches of the Champions' League, the FA Cup and the Premier League.

Joaquin Cortez is a famous flamenco dancer born in a Roma family in Cordoba, Spain. He had begun his profession as dancer during his formal education and was admitted at the most renowned dancing academy in Madrid. He has succeeded in entering the movie world and a documentary dedicated to him was filmed and shown on European satellite channels. His most famous dance performance is called "My loneliness" and is produced in cooperation with many world famous stars. In 2007 he was named a Roma ambassador in the EU.

In the world of European politics there are two Roma women - members of the European Parliament.

Victoria Mohaczy is a journalist who has graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy. She was born in a Roma family in Budapest, Hungary and is a member of the European Parliament from the political option European Liberal and Democratic Alliance.

Livia Yaroca is a Roma woman from Hungary who has got her Ph. D. in Anthropology and Sociology from London College. She is a member of the European Parliament as a supporter of the Civil Union Party. Her doctoral thesis was "Politics and ethnic identity of the Roma in Hungary"

We will end the list of Roma intellectuals and celebrities with the names of Rudolph-Rudko Kavczinsky - President of the European Roma and Travelers' Forum seated in Strasbourg, and Nicolay George who was the first Roma councilor in the OSCE ODIHR office in Warsaw. They are known as long-time activists, leaders and initiators of the formation of the ERTF and are responsible for the development of the Roma movement in Europe and beyond.

At the moment there are in Macedonia more than 300 Roma students in state and private universities. There are Roma people who have graduated law, philology, pedagogy, philosophy, medicine and economy. There are Roma people with MA and Ph.D. degrees who are still waiting for their first job, but this number does not cover the true needs of the Roma. The Roma do not have enough teachers, doctors, sociologists, politicians, linguists etc. They are professionals who by working in their fields will contribute to the development of the Roma movement in Macedonia and to democratic active participation and inclusion of the Roma in the political and social process.

The first Roma grammar and spelling book is written by the Roma teacher Saip Jusuf from Macedonia. By the creation of grammar, it was acknowledged that the Roma have their language, history and culture.

According to the 2002 census the number of Roma in Macedonia is 53.879, while data from Roma NGO's speak of a number of over 100.000.

If history says that Roma movements from India started in the tenth century A.D. and that the Roma have been European citizens for eleven centuries, then it is a fact that their participation in the social processes is a crucial issue that should not be ignored by all Europeans regardless of their national and religious background. Tolerance and peace have always been traits of the Roma people and as citizens of Europe they deserve equal treatment. There are Roma who can be set as an example for their intellectual capacity, professionalism and contribution to the creation of democracy, tolerance and peace.

There are Roma names that have de facto deserved a place in books on history, language, politics, film, literature etc. Those are of Roma intellectuals whose success in life will be a positive example for motivating new generations to strengthen their identity and culture, but also to initiate a path towards their spiritual, educational and professional uplifting.

Let April 8 be marked in your calendars as The World Roma Day, and let this text initiate in you a vision of your future aims and accomplishments...

We wish you a happy April 8 celebration

The National Roma Center

Kumanovo

www.nationalromacentrum.org

tel. fax:+38931427758

Author: Sebihana Skenderovska

Deyan Kolev was elected a Deputy-Chair of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues

Deyan Kolev was elected a Deputy-Chair of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Demographic Issues from the quota of the non-governmental organizations. This happened at the regular meeting of the Council which took place on April 4^th and was preceded by a meeting of the Roma Integration Committee at the Council. In both meetings Deyan Kolev received the highest number of votes followed by Mladen Ivanov (Gypsy Europe), Peter Georgiev (Confederation of Roma “Europe”) and Nikolay Kirilov (Roma – Lom).

In his program Deyan Kolev appealed for significant changes in the work of the National Council that would guaranteethe real participation of the non-governmental organizations in the decision-making process, for improving the work of the Council and making it more operational and more active in participating in the policy making process concerning minorities. He insisted that the position of the NGO Deputy-Chair of the Council should be preserved non-political and should not be used for political, business or other ambitions.

“My election is a success for the non-governmental organizations who have defended the cause of the active andindependent civic participation during the last year. It is an indicator for a serious change among Roma NGOs and in thecivil society in general.” – Deyan Kolev shared. He thanked the other candidates for the inspiring competition anddeclared his will for mutual cooperation.

The Deputy-Chair from the quota of the non-governmental organizations is elected from the NGOs members of theCouncil. In 2007 this position was won by Emil Kalo (“Shalom” organization). The responsibilities of the Deputy-Chairare only mentioned in the regulations of the NCCEDI. They will be regulated in details in an order by the Chair of the Council Vice-Minister Emel Etem. According to the order the NGO Deputy-Chair will participate in the elaboration of thenew version of the Framework program for equal integration of Roma, in the elaboration of the new regulations of theCouncil and so on.

The Romani Life society April Newsletter is out now to download on the announcement page of the Romani Life society. http://geocities.com/romani_life_society/

Yvonne

Dear Colleagues,

please find attached the Amalipe newsletter 3/2008

In this issue you can find:

OBSERVER

Session of the Council for Roma integration in the MLSP

Center Amalipe will participate in the election of observer for the Monitoring Committee of NSRF

NDI in Bulgaria: Left marks

Courses in preparation for matriculation and candidate-students exams for youth from minorities

FOCUS:

The structural funds and the educational integration

KHERE (AT HOME)

The new rebellion of Batak

Center Amalipe project for intercultural education is approved under the Human Resources Operational Program

A meeting of Romani women in Veliko Tarnovo

Center Amalipe organized a youth seminar

SCHOOL

We present to you: ‘St. St. Cyril and Methodius’ Stralja secondary school

BRIGHT RUG

A bachelor’s wedding in Kamen

the newsletter is also available at www.amalipe.com

Zdraveyte kolegi!

Eto I noviat broj na buletina na Center Amalipe. V nego mojete da namerite informatsia za:

NABLIuDATEL

# Provede se pyrvoto zasedanie na Syveta za integraciia na romite kym MTSP

# Centyr Amalipe shte uchastva v izbora na nabliudatel v Komiteta za nabliudenie po NSRR

# NDI v Bylgariia: Ostaveni sledi

#Kursove za podgotovka za matura i kandidat-studentski izpiti za mladezhi ot etnicheskite malcinstva

AKCENT NA BROIa:

Strukturnite fondove i obrazovatelnata integraciia – Odobrenite obrazovatelni proekti kym OP RChR: fakti i komentar

KHERE ( U DOMA)

# Piianstvoto na edin narod ili novoto vystanie na Batak

# Proekt za interkulturno obrazovanie na Centyr Amalipe e odobren po OP RChR

# Sreshta na romski zheni vyv Velikotyrnovsko

# Mladezhki seminar na Centyr Amalipe

UChILIЩE

Predstaviame Vi: OU „Sv. sv. Kiril i Metodij”, Straldzha

ShARENA ChERGA– # Ergenska svatba

НАБЛЮДАТЕЛ

# Проведе се първото заседание на Съвета за интеграция на ромите към МТСП

# Център Амалипе ще участва в избора на наблюдател в Комитета за наблюдение по НСРР

# НДИ в България: Оставени следи

#Курсове за подготовка за матура и кандидат-студентски изпити за младежи от етническите малцинства

АКЦЕНТ НА БРОЯ:

Структурните фондове и образователната интеграция – Одобрените образователни проекти към ОП РЧР: факти и коментар

KHERE ( У ДОМА)

# Пиянството на един народ или новото въстание на Батак

# Проект за интеркултурно образование на Център Амалипе е одобрен по ОП РЧР

# Среща на ромски жени във Великотърновско

# Младежки семинар на Център Амалипе

УЧИЛИЩЕ

Представяме Ви: ОУ „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”, Стралджа

ШАРЕНА ЧЕРГА– # Ергенска сватба

14 April 2008 - Kosovaki konstitucija koja isine adoptirimi kotar e Kosovako Parlamenti ano kurko kay nakla, na lela ando peste o gendipa kova isine dendo kotar e koaliciya e Romane Birayikane Organizaciyengo, Romano Them phenela. Palo gendipa akale indipendentno interneteski paltforma, Romano Them, akava na shukar gendipa majbut panglo e gendoa pali politikuini participaciya thay chivdipe ko publikuno bukyaripe, thay majdur chibayake hakaya.