Looking at the history of Gypsies (Gitanos) in Spanish culture, the Marbella Town Hall through the municipal delegation of Social Welfare has taken an initiation to reach out the gypsy community by monitoring their development in the municipality.
The new Gypsy Development Plan (Desarrollo Gitano del Municipio) was announced with a meeting held at the Centro Cultural Cortijo Miraflores. Included in the Marbella Social Year 2010 (in Spanish Marbella 2010 Ano Social), the activity falls within the Roma Development Plan with a primary objective for the overall growth of the particular population.
Unlike some other European countries, the gypsy population in Spain is more settled and integrated into the foreign culture, marked with their contribution to Spanish culture. However, their standard of living has been always under debate by human rights activists.
Within the Roma community there is a high-level of illiteracy ranging from children, to adult and elders. The municipal government unit is purposed to work for the same: to raise the educational level, socio-cultural promotion, social inclusion through training and employment, and promote social participation, associations and Gypsy culture.
The entire development plan will be a joint work by the Marbella City Council, through the delegation of Social Welfare, with the Association Socio-cultural Marbella “Undebel Villela” and the Roma Association of San Pedro “Adonay”- the social institution that works for the promotion of Roma culture and against intolerance and all forms of discrimination.
Initially, the local administration will review all activities and measures to take, while setting out appropriate studies and monitoring of projects to be executed on such important issues such as: housing, education, training, and employment among others.
Besides education in the primary and secondary level, the local authority will also provide job oriented training to reduce the high rate of youth unemployment. Presently, due to job insecurity, most adults are engaged in street trading. Hence, the sole objective is to increase educational attainment and promote social inclusion through various welfare measures.
Read more about Spanish Gypsies (Gitanos)
