The European Union has donated 300 aid packages for the socially vulnerable Roma population living in substandard settlements in Prokuplje. The assistance was delivered on May 28, 2020, and was provided within the Program "Support to EU Roma Inclusion - Strengthening Local Communities for Roma Inclusion", funded by the European Union and implemented by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM).
"I thank the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, which, thanks to the European Union, provided 300 packages with basic foodstuffs and hygiene products. These are very rich and meaningful packages, which will be distributed to the Roma population, the most endangered group of people in our city", said the Mayor of Prokuplje, Aleksandar Simonovic.
Simonovic added that the representatives of the Roma association will make sure that lists are made and that the aid is delivered to those who need it. He pointed out that the Red Cross with its volunteers, as many times before, is in charge of distributing and delivering packages to families at their home address, while the local self-government will provide vehicles and everything needed to deliver packages.
The Secretary General of the SCTM, Djordje Stanicic, emphasized that this assistance to the Roma in Prokuplje followed due to the pandemic of the corona virus.
"In this way, we want to show that through savings such a humanitarian action can be realized. The support and help we have from the local self-government is very important, but also the support that exists through well-organized two Roma organizations, as well as the Red Cross, which will carry out the distribution. The packages contain food products and household chemicals, and we are glad to be able to help", Stanicic pointed out.
He said that it is very important that such humanitarian actions find support from those to whom it is addressed. "The goal here is inclusion, inclusion of all layers of society in everyday life. We are working with the local self-government on other projects related to supporting the Roma population and community. One of them is a special project related to the construction and establishment of a Roma education center, which is underway", Stanicic underlined and stated that the goal of such projects is to strengthen the position of the Roma population in local communities, through the implementation of priority national and local strategic measures in the area of employment, anti-discrimination, and promotion of equality of the Roma population.