The Municipality of Vinica is located in North Macedonia. District 18 is inhabited mainly by people of Roma ethnicity — 1,230, according to the 2002 census, 1,700 according to more recent estimates (out of a population of almost twenty thousand people). The district covers an area of 27.46 hectares of which, however, only 9.2% was included in the current town master plan. This means that most houses are squatter homes that do not enjoy basic services: paved roads, electricity, waste collection, water system, toilets and sewers. This results in precarious living conditions for the residents.

Realised in collaboration with Rrc (Roma Resource Center) and the municipality of Vinica, the CELIM project has two fundamental objectives. The first is the reclamation of the neighbourhood through: 1) the inclusion of the area in the town’s master plan and the legalisation of squatter houses; 2) the reconstruction and refurbishment of homes. The second is the promotion of Roma’s human rights by improving their living conditions, fostering better relations with the local community and supporting young people’s job search. Involving all 1,700 inhabitants, the intervention will be carried out according to environmentally-friendly criteria.

• Approval and development of a variation on the master plan
  a) Setting up a group of urban planning experts
  b) Drafting the project variant
• Regularising housing in district 18
  a) Creating a group of legal experts
  b) Registering Roma properties in the land registry and distributing ownership certificates
• Refurbishment of 22 houses and development of infrastructures
  a) Refurbishment work on 22 Roma-owned homes
  b) Recovery of infrastructures in the areas registered in the land registry