Innovative Social and Economic Development Programme for Roma in Borsod (BRIDGE) – EQUAL

The BRIDGE project was implemented with the support of the EQUAL Community Initiative in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, in the Cserehát region. Its aim was to help long-term unemployed local residents, primarily of Roma origin, gain access to a trade, employment opportunities and a stable income, whilst also improving the housing conditions of needy families living in the region.

As part of the project, 50 people obtained National Qualifications Register (OKJ) qualifications (in the trades of stove-maker, woodworking machine operator, bricklayer, carpenter and blacksmith). As part of the practical training and later as employees, the participants took part in the renovation and modernisation of dilapidated buildings belonging to disadvantaged families with no earned income – a total of 90 homes belonging to disadvantaged families were renovated. A woodworking workshop was established in Méra and a blacksmith’s workshop in Perkupa, which operate as training and employment centres as well as production units.

The programme provided participants with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs through microloans.

As a result of the project, participants’ living conditions have improved and the maintenance costs of the renovated houses have been reduced. The workshops established, the training and employment model, and the community-based renovation method are practices that can continue to be used after the project’s completion and can also be applied in other regions.

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