English
About the Project
Solidarity Project is a long-term initiative of CVS-Bulgaria which aims to provide volunteer support to asylum seekers, refugees, holders of temporary protection and migrants. Our objective is to engage local and international volunteers to collaborate with different stakeholders (local and international non-profit organisations, State agency for refugees staff, businesses and others) towards the integration of the target group in Bulgarian society and to facilitate the welcoming process and acceptance of the new-comers in the local community. The activities we organise are educational, recreational and sport activities and outings for children, unaccompanied minors and adults, as well as psychological support within individual and group sessions. Since we believe that integration is a double-sided process we also work with the local communities organizing different awareness raising events and community.
The Solidarity project had the following thematic focuses: Peace, intercultural dialogue and Inclusion (Building Bridges). Within the project we have been working towards reaching the following specific objectives:
– Strengthened capacity to protect and promote EU rights and values;
– More supportive environment for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and rights defenders such as national human rights institutions;
– Increased citizen awareness of EU rights and values.
The project involved 540 participants: children, women and man, asylum seekers from Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Activities
Аctivities in the centers for refugees
20 Long term volunteers June – December 2023, working with 100 beneficiaries(60 female and 40 male)
Within the project we trained 15 volunteers who worked with asylum seekers in the accommodation and reception centers of the State agency for refugees and Ukrainian refugees in Sofia and along with other 5 local volunteers who were helping additionally we had a total of 20 volunteers involved in the activities of the project. The classes we have been delivering were Bulgarian, English, Maths and Science, Arts, Cultural and Social orientation. Along with these activities we have organised Outings which are described below. The volunteer group is committed to continue the work in 2024, after the funding is finished, and already are looking together towards future funding possibilities so that The Solidarity project can continue its existence beyond the current project. We have been partnering with the State agency for refugees, Caritas Sofia, Bulgarian Red Cross, Za Dobroto Foundation and Ukrainian Aid Foundation etc.
Psychological support
During the project and in partnership with the.Ukrainian Aid Foundation we managed to provide psychological support to more than 132 Ukrainian children and 67 adults. There were two psychologists working: Irina Medvedeva and Elena Pirogova., both conducting individual and group sessions.Individual sessions addressed various issues: anxiety from being in a new country, PTSD, lack of motivation, working through depression, and much more. Many showed progress, a desire to live, adults found jobs and the strength to move forward, and children successfully socialized in society. Group sessions focused on emotions, socialization, and communication within the group. These sessions allowed children and adults to make friends and expand their social circle.
Training for volunteers: 15 volunteers, 15-16.12.2023
Training of volunteers was an essential part of our project. We have been training individually each volunteer who has started to contribute to the project, covering the following topics: Basic terms in forced migration, Forced migration situation in Bulgaria and Europe, Working with Refugees and Asylum seekers – basics. In December (15,16 December) we managed to organise a group training, where we involvged guest speakers on different topics.Vladimir Panov was explaining the current refugee situation and answering the questions of volunteers in a Q&A session. For the first time we managed to incorporate in our trainings the first aid education with a professional certified tutors from FirstAid BG School.
Recreational, sport and cultural outings for refugees
Within the project we managed to organise 13 outings for asylum seekers and refugees from Sofia and Harmanli and involved 283 people. There were visits to circus shows, amusement parks, cinema screenings and theatre plays, zoo, daily trips to nearby places, ceramics workshops etc. These activities not only brought an enormous joy in the lives of our beneficiaries but also had an educational and integration aspect. The refugees could go out of the centers and get to know better the Bulgarian culture as well as to get acquainted with local people. Along with the transportation and tickets, we also provided food and drinks for the people who attended: children, unaccompanied monors adults (singles, families, single parents).
Awareness raising events
We orgaised five events in total with a total number of 89 people involved.
Hygiene event. Harmanli. 24.10.2023
This event was organised at the request of the State Agency for Refuges in order to raise awareness about the hygiene in the Harmanli Accommodation and Reception center. Together with Caritas Sofia and Bulgarian Red Cross we created a children and adults competition for carbage collection. There was also a washing hands workshop and a meeting with the Cleaning Department Staff. The winners in the competition were presented with backpacks as prices. After the competition everyone had a well deserved snack.
The next events were organised within the framework of the Solidarity month which was held at the end of the year and was dedicated to different topics:
Solidarity month: Human Library “Migrants got talent” – 17.12.2023
We organsied this event with our partner Mulkti-Kulkti collective and it was dedicated to the International Day of Migrants, which is celebrated on 18th of December. In the midst of the Month of Solidarity and KvARTal fest, CVS-Bulgaria and the Multi Kulti Collective invited local people to the Living Library under the title “Migrants got Talent” to celebrate this holiday together in a local Salted Caf? Sofia. The visitors had an individual conversation with a migrant and each “reader” learned more about the “books” – where they come from, what brought them to Bulgaria and how they contribute to our society. Our Human Library was a place where people met other people sharing their stories and rasing awareness about the topic of migration. It was designed to build a positive framework through dialogue. It was an event in which stereotypes and prejudices were distroyed and questions were answered in a private conversation between a human book and a reader.
Solidarity month: DOBROquiz – 05.12.2023
We traditionally celebrate International Volunteer Day on December 5. We organised a quiz event and invited all current volunhteers but also people who were interested in volunteering in Bulgaria and abroad. The venue was a local cafe Cash Bar and all participants received a warm drink, information about local and international opportunities to volunteer while the winners received candles and chocolate as prizes. The entry ticket was a donation of warm clothes which we gathered and later donated to the people in need in the refugee centers.
Solidarity month: Women circle for Bulgarian and Ukrainian women, Sofia – 20.12.2023
On the Eve of the Christmas holidays, together with our partners from “Help for Ukraine” Foundation and “Concordia” Foundation we organsied a pre-holiday Bulgarian-Ukrainian women’s circle. During the event, women from Ukraine and Bulgaria got to know each other, made a Christmas candle and together they prepared a traditional Bulgarian fortune pie called “banitsa” and a Ukrainian Christmas sweet dish for the solidarity table. While being engaged in the activioties the women shared experiences and planned next women circles, an initiative which we hope to have as a regular monthly activity in the future.
Solidarity month: Solidarity event, Dositeevo village, near Harmanli – 28.12.2023
With this event we ended the year on a positive note. The idea was to organised an event in which refugee women and local women prepare traditional food and then share it in a celebration in the village of Dositeevo, which is located very close to Harmanli Refugee Center. Apart from the food sharing the groups performed traditional dances and songs.
“Solidarity Volunteering Academy” workcamp
Volunteers involved: 6 short-term volunteers, 1 camp coordinator
Dates: 14-24.09.2023
Place: Sofia Reception center “Ovcha kupel” and Reception center in Harmanli, Bulgaria
Target group: refugee children from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan (age 4 to 12)
The worкcamp (https://www.workcamps.sci.ngo/icamps/camp-details/16066.html) envisaged in the project took place in Sofia (Ovcha kupel Reception and accommodation center for asylum seekers) and Harmanli (the biggest reception and accommodation center for asylum seeker in Bulgaria) from 14th to 24 September 2023. We worked mainly with refugee children and had volunteers from Japan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Germany. Camp coordinator was Katerina Stoyanova, who was also the coordinator of the project. We organized a training and teambuilding for the volunteers, as well as a study part so they can get informed about the current refugee situation in Bulgaria.The volunteers met with representatives from the State Agency for Refugees and local and International organisations, which we have been collaborating with. The first part of the workcamp (14-17 September) was in Sofia, where we had the Getting to know each other and Study part, we were invited to the opening of a mural done by UNHCR Bulgaria and a team of international artists, alongside with refugees from the local centers of SAR, we visited the theatre play “Running from war”, ”dedicated to refuges and migrants and we planned the future activities and started our work in Ovcha kupel center.
For the second part of the workcamp (17 -24 September) we traveled to Harmanli, where the biggest refugee camp in Bulgaria is and had intense daily activities. The volunteers were accommodated in the nearby hotel, where we got also our breakfast, lunch and dinner. The activities were Sports, English, Arts and Math and Science clases from 9 am to 12:30 pm and 3pm to 5 pm. There we managed to organise a Study part for the volunteers with the Head of Social Depertment in the Center, Natalia Dreharova and we worked in cooperation with State Agency for Refugees (SAR), Bulgarian Red Cross and Caritas Bulgaria. The last day of the workcamp we have organised a big event which we called “Job fair” – where with the help of SAR, the other NGOs and the parents we set up different job stations and the children could go to each station and try an activity dedicated to the profession which the station was featuring. Few weeks after the workcamp we gathered online and performed our evaluation: the volunteers shared their impressions and also gave some suggestions for the workcamp next edition in the future.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
The theme of the project is social inclusion, the analysis of the situation of people with any kind of disability and fewer opportunities, and fight against discrimination. We are going to analyse from many different point of view the situations, the rights of people with disabilities and fewer opportunities in every different country. We will experience what it feels like to be in other people’s shoes, and how the society faces their needs.
The objective we intend to provide new tools and new methodologies to the social workers and volunteers, working on the integration of people with disabilities and fewer opportunities, to effectively implement their competences in the help relationship and refine strategies for inclusion of people with disabilities and fewer opportunities. Relating to disability presupposes the orientation to experimentation, and the willingness to manage processes and changes of perspective in a flexible way.
The goal is to experiment the encounter with dis-ability, contact and the search for commonalities and the abatement of stereotypes and fears towards the “different from us”. The concept of inclusion leads to the recognition of a right as a form of contrast to its opposite: exclusion
The training therefore aims to:
• Explore the cultural differences and explore how different Countries have addressed issues of disabilities and fewer opportunities.
• Examine the issues from different perspectives with regard to disabilities, marginality and the concept integration: stereotypes and prejudice
• Analyse how gender, male and female, can affect group dynamics and how it can contribute to exclusion, with particular attention to the double discrimination of disabled women and LGBTQ communities
• The dynamics of power, as people exercise power over others: how it is used consciously and unconsciously in the groups and everyday life;
• Share and develop new tools in order to provide new methodologies to the social workers working about integration with people with disabilities and with fewer opportunities, in their social contest, to effectively implement competences in the help relation, civil rights and strategies about inclusion of people with disabilities and fewer opportunities.
• Develop different communication styles, aiming to facilitate discussions and decisional procedures.
• Develop personal knowledge’s about discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices: this work will help a better understanding of dynamics that are behind discriminator behaviours
Expected skills: a better understanding of the dynamics behind discriminating behaviours, develop listening and an attitude open to diversity, share the different working methods adopted in each country to facilitate the balance between disabled people and not disabled once, value oneself, face reality, know one’s limits, sense of responsibility, confront one another, understand the fertility of error, learn from experience, do not be afraid to change, do not be afraid to try. Particular attention will be paid to the issues of different abilities and fewer opportunities to the processes of creation of prejudices and stereotypes and possible activities that contribute to their deconstruction level both individually and collectively. We will go and explore the differences and similarities between countries and through the direct testimony of the social workers, will deepen the theme of being “in-between” between different social and cultural contexts and the possibilities social inclusion.
METHODOLOGIES
We propose an interactive methodology using the tools promoted by non-formal education. The workshops and the activities will be based on the active methodologies proposed by theatre, storytelling and songwriting, photo/video linked to the tales that everyone will share… We believe that all these tools are powerful to promote dialogue, to exchange experiences and good practices, to analyse conflicts and address them in a non-violent way. In fact, contact with space, with natural elements and with each other can be achieved through theatre, and the other tools are ways to deal with human feelings and to reflect on different topics and are particularly suitable for developing the themes of the project.
PLANNED ACTIVITIES / WORKSHOP PROGRAMME
During the 1st step, the Training for trainer we will taste different kind of activities/tools: as we mentioned before: theatre, songwriting, photo/video, non-formal game-exercises.
At the end of the first step, we will decide which tool we would like to explore more in the 2nd step.
PARTICIPANTS’ AGE: 18 +
WORKSHOP LANGUAGE: English
TARGET GROUP: The project is addressed to youth-social workers, volunteers and activists of the association that have the values or integration, the respect for minorities, the fight against discrimination, the recognition of the rights of people with disabilities and fewer opportunities as their Mission and interested in innovative methodologies in the field of non-formal education.
COORDINATING ASSOCIATION: Artemide Association – Italy
PARTNER ASSOCIATIONS: North Macedonia – Council for Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency – SPPDM, Serbia – Udru?enje gra?ana za multikulturalnu saradnju centar ?il Vern, Spain – Youth BCN, Portugal – Cj Amarante, Greece – ArtiMental -Art & Psychoeducation NPO, Romania – Universitur, T?rkiye – Genc Birikim Dernegi, Bulgaria – CVS-Bulgaria
The technical details about food, accommodation and travel reimbursement can be found in the Technical Information about the training. Please read carefully!
PROJECT STRUCTURE
The project will be structured in 4 steps:
– 1st step: Training for trainers 19th (arrival day) – 27th (departure day) November 2024
Age of participants : 18+
Countries involved: Countries involved: All the Partner in this project will be involved in this step with 2 – 3 participants each Country (open for Bulgarian participants)
At the end of this 1st step, we will decide which tool wants to explore in deeper
– 2nd step: Deeper training for trainers 20th (arrival day) – 28th (departure day) March 2025
Age of participants : 18+
Countries involved: Countries involved: All the Partner in this project will be involved in this step with 2 – 3 participants each Country (open for Bulgarian participants)
One of the participants at this second step, has to be the same person that took part in the first step
– 3rd step: Youth Exchange 19th (arrival day) – 30th (departure day) May 2025Age of participants: 17 – 30 (the group leader and the accompanying person can be +30)
Countries involved: Countries involved: 5 Countries will be involved in this step with 1 group leader+ 5 participants each Countries (not open for Bulgarian participants)
– 4th step: Youth Exchange 17th (arrival day) – 28th (departure day) September 2024
Age of participants: 17 – 30 (the group leader can be +30)
Countries involved: Countries involved: 5 Countries will be involved in this step with 1 group leader+ 5 participants each Countries (open for Bulgarian participants)
In order to help the process of the project, it is required that the group leader of each team will be one of the participants at the training for trainers for a double reason: the first is that he/she already knows the work that we are going to do, the staff, and the house, so that can facilitate the process of the participants.
The second reason is that he/she, can experiments by leading in a safe place, some of the sessions during the exchange.
For the 3rd and the 4th steps (the youth exchanges) we will be divided in 2 different group with 5 Countries each; only Italy will be in both the Youth Exchanges. Every group will be set by 1 group leader (one of the 2 participants in the Training Course) and 4 young people from each association.
In every steps we will have:
team building activities, role playing, simulations, debates and all the activities that involve the actively every and each participant, base of theatre activities. The exchange of knowledge and technical tools will be constantly monitored through specific sessions on rating systems before and after:
• meeting between the participants and the trainers: mutual discovery
• workshops, discussions and presentation of case studies on the aim of resilience and fewer opportunities
• processing of non-violent methods of conflict management and sharing of work methods usually used in local context.
At the end of each step, we will have
• the realization of an open final performance
• the writing and recording of a song
• a docu-video about our story together.
HOW TO APPLY
Please download and fill in the Application form and send it asap and not later than 12 November 2024 to cvs.katerina@gmail.com
We will be happy to answer all your additional questions, please feel free to write to cvs.katerina@gmail.com
Additional information:
Technical Information about the training
KEY ACTION KA151 /Project n . 2024-1-IT03-KA151-YOU-000218670 – A5 – A6 – A7 – A8/
“It always seems impossible until it’s done” (Nelson Mandela)
Welcome to Charge up! 48 Hours Varusha South youth exchange!
We wanted to create an opportunity for young people from different countries to meet and explore diverse creative ways for changing realities, community organising and youth empowerment. We also wanted to emphasise on the importance of local initiatives and festivals for the revival of neighbourhoods and the inclusion of young people with different backgrounds, refugees including, in the community life.
Festivals create a simulation of possible realities which many times serve as a starting point for entrepreneurs, local businesses, volunteers and even local municipal authorities to revive and recreate whole neighbourhoods and towns. Festivals bring people from all over the world together and charge up the atmosphere with possibilities, make us think out of the box and believe that everything is possible.
We thought that an amazing place to do all we mentioned above is the local festival which our partners from VT Events and TAM community space are organising every year in the old capital of Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo. The festival is 48 Hours Varusha South and it happens for a third consecutive year, bringing together different artists from Bulgaria and abroad!
During the youth exchange the participant will collaborate with local volunteers who will be part of the 48 Varusha South Festival. They will have small individual and group tasks and will also have to observe, record and document the ongoing events of the festival in order to create an E-zine. The E-zine will be created during the festival and finalised after the festival with the aim of portraying how such local festival re-creates the neighbourhood and contributes to the well-being of the young people. Apart from contributions to the e-zine (photos, videos, interviews, texts), the participants will join the local volunteers team in other tasks:
- Cleaning and preparation of the different locations
- Logistical tasks before and during the festival (folding programs, sticking posters, distribution of information materials, etc.)
- Operation of the info point (Guiding visitors and answering questions about the program and locations)
- Helping the different locations (e.g. supporting the artists in the different categories of the program (musical, architectural, visual, creative and family)
Detailed information about the program, team and logistics you can find in the Detailed Call for Participants.
To apply by 10 August, please fill in the application, which you can find below:
Good luck and hope to see you in Veliko Tarnovo,
The project team!
WHAT?
Learning activity for youth workers to learn about future thinking, to test methods and tools and to collect ideas for Guidelines for youth workers on how to work with future thinking topics with youngsters.
Activity is organized by partner consortium: leading partner “Baltic Regional fund” from Latvia, “MindUp” from Poland, “CVS BULGARIA” from Bulgaria and VsI “Inovatyvi karta” from Lithuania.
WHEN?
August 18 -23, 2024 (including travel days)
Arrival on 18th August until 18.00
Departure on 23rd August in any times
WHERE?
Latvia – guest house “Vecmuiza” (18-22 August), Liepupe parish, Limba?u county (75km from Riga) and Rija Domus Hotel, Tirgonu street 9, Riga (22-23 August)
WHO?
Altogether 24 people (in age 18+) – 6 people from each country- Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Bulgaria. Profile of the participants: youth workers with different experience and roles – from municipal youth centers, from rural and urban areas, from NGOs working with youngsters, experienced and also newcomers in the youth field etc.
The objectives of the learning activity:
– to introduce participants with the future thinking and support to develop personal competences in the future thinking;
– to present in the project developed Toolkit and to practice different methods and tools to work with youngsters on future thinking topic;
– to introduce participants with the pilot versions of the Playbook and Future thinking game and to collect ideas for improvements;
– to share ideas about specific material for youth workers on how to work with future thinking topics with youngsters and create the first draft for this material (guidelines).
– to share youth work experiences working with young people & to discuss challenges, opportunities.
Max Travel limits in EUR
20.00 – Latvia
180.00 – Lithuania
275.00 – Bulgaria
275.00 – Poland
Will be transferred by the Bank after mobility activity and provision of all original documents. Flights tickets can be bought after confirmation for the selection and before buying, please send them for approval to: ginta.salmina@gmail.com
Application form: all participants who are interested to take part in this mobility should fill the application form by 30 June 2024. Final selection will be done in collaboration with the partner organiSations and selected participants will be informed the latest by 3rd July 2024.
For additional information and questions:Ginta Salmina, T. + 371 29256888, E-mail: ginta.salmina@gmail.com
The “Mindful Youth Work: Cultivating Well-Being in Yourself and Others” training course gathered 30 participants from 8 countries and 17 nationalities for the period 9-16.05.2024 in Pozna?, Poland.
CVS-Bulgaria was happy to send our participants – Denitsa, Katya, and Maya. Here you can find their impressions:
We would like to express our gratitude for the wonderful workshop for youth workers in Poznan, Poland from 9 to 15 May 2024.
It was a great chance to get involved in the training course: “MINDFULL YOUTH WORK: Cultivating well-being in yourself and others” that was a part of the project “Stop, Reflect, Do Better” organised by SCI Poland.
We are thankful for the opportunity to meet young people from many countries. The precious moments that we spend with the participants, all discussing the ways for our and our young people’s well-being that will exert great influence on our youth work.
We, the participants from CVS-Bulgaria expresses our acknowledgment for the organizational details that made for transforming a group of individuals of different backgrounds and cultures to establish long-lasting friendships and to start planning future joint activities.
An enormous thank you for the trainers that took care of our well-being during the course and provided us with extremely useful advices for our future work with the young people in our organizations, implementing non-formal educational methods, group work, problem-solving, and clarifying the 8 dimensions of well-being, including the experience of the environmental well-being by walk in the forest, hiking around the lake and swimming in the pool.
Thank you Natalie Jivkova and Goska Tur. Thank you to SCI Poland and CVS-Bulgaria.
The training was a part of the Stop. Reflect. Do Better project and was implemented by SCI Poland thanks to the co-funding by the European Union.
Български