Roma Income Generation and Integration Project – Closing Conference, November 21, 2017

The closing conference of the Roma Income Generation and Integration Project was held on November 21, 2017 at the Ramada Plovdiv Trimontium Hotel. The event was organized by the project owner – Land Source of Income Foundation; the project was funded by the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation.

The meeting was opened by Prof. Dr. Ivan Penov – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Land Source of Income Foundation.

A greeting to the conference participants was delivered by His Excellency Eric Rubin, US Ambassador to Bulgaria. Ambassador Rubin expressed satisfaction with the achievements of the program saying: “Thank you for changing your lives and those of people around you for the better!”

The regional governor Zdravko Dimitrov sent a congratulatory address in which he thanked the Land Source of Income Foundation for its support and development of small business and rural development in the course of the last 15 years and wished the Foundation team “fruitful work for the benefit of society and implementation of all of its good ideas.”

The official guests at the event were: Prof. Dr. Hristina Yancheva, Rector of the Agricultural University of Plovdiv; Mr. Petar Petrov, Deputy District Governor of Plovdiv region; Ms. Adelina Stoyanova, State Expert at the Direct Payments Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry; Mr. Stefan Dimitrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EuroFert AD; Mrs. Nadia Zaharieva and Mrs. Zlatina Baleva from the America for Bulgaria Foundation; heads of faculties and departments of universities in Plovdiv; representatives of non-governmental and educational organizations working for sustainable rural development and supporting small business and entrepreneurship, as well as journalists.

Prof. Penov presented the project results achieved in Plovdiv region, then project partner organizations shared their own experience – success achieved and challenges faced – in the course of implementation of the Integrated model for small business support, developed by LSoI Foundation. The presenters were: Future Foundation from the town of Rakitovo, LARGO Association from the town of Kyustendil, World without borders from Stara Zagora city, Bolni ot astma Foundation from Yambol city, New road Association from the village of Hairedin..

Over 250 Roma families have been assisted to start independent agricultural or non-agricultural businesses in the regions of operation of Land Source of Income Foundation and its partner organizations, thus providing employment and income to almost 1,000 people.

The model was created by Land Source of Income Foundation in the process of working with landless Roma families from several villages in the Plovdiv region who wanted to possess land and to become independent farmers. Through the partner organizations the LSoI Foundation’s model has also been successfully implemented in urban environment. It can be adapted and applied to different disadvantaged communities. The key condition for its successful implementation is the use of an integrated approach for the sustainable development of small businesses. This approach combines two components that are directly interdependent – access to material resources and development of human potential. The access to material resources provides long-term and short-term assets necessary for the business, while the development of human potential increases the efficiency of their use. Thus, the model combines the rules of micro-crediting with the social support through free provision of expert help and consultancy services. This guarantees the financial stability of the model and provides more opportunities for families who do not have enough entrepreneurial skills and experience