Partners - Heraklion Municipality
The Heraklion Municipality is located on the island of Crete, at the southern part of Greece. It is the largest urban centre on the island and one of the biggest Greek cities. Its population is about 163,000 people and it is the main part of a wider urban area, together with Gazi and Nea Alikarnassos.
Heraklion has a rich cultural heritage and it presents serious background and progress in commerce, tourism, education, science, technology as well as in administrative and financing activities. From 2011, due to a union of municipalities in Greece, the Heraklion Municipality includes Nea Alikarnassos, Paliani, Temenos, Gorgolaini.
In the wider urban area there are at least 1,500 Roma people, both including Greek and immigrant Roma people.
THE ROMA POPULATION IN OUR CITY
Roma people live in houses all over the area but there is also a camp at the district of Nea Alikarnassos where a Greek Roma population of approximately 550 people live for more than 25 years.
For many of the local Roma people, especially at the camp, there are urgent needs concerning
housing, employment, health insurance and communication with the wider community.
The Municipality is particularly interested in information sharing and exchange of expertise and good practices concerning Roma related issues. The challenge is to make future progress regarding social integration issues, starting from actions that will facilitate the communication between Roma, organisations, authorities and the wider community, so that their cooperation and communication can be placed on a new basis.