We would like to invite you to a special experience!
Join to explore the topic of peace on 3 levels (inner peace, peace with others and peace with nature) through the prism of food and story-telling.
This international youth exchange aims to bring together young people from diverse backgrounds to explore the universal languages of food and storytelling as pathways to peace.
In this youth-led project, participants will gather in a collaborative environment to cook their favourite dishes from their cultures, sharing not just recipes but the stories behind them. As we chop, stir, and taste together, we will create new fusion recipes, and we’ll break down barriers and build lasting connections.
Our approach to peace works on three interconnected levels:
Inner Peace: Participants develop self-awareness, inner harmony, peace of mind
Peace with others: Young people form meaningful cross-cultural relationships through collaborative cooking and storytelling activities. We’ll explore how food can bridge divides and create understanding between communities
Peace with Nature: Together we’ll explore sustainable cooking practices, locallysourced ingredients, and knowledge about living in harmony with our environment
Throughout the exchange, participants will document their experiences, recipes, and stories to create a collaborative digital magazine (e-zine). This vibrant publication will showcase our culinary creations, personal reflections, and collective insights on peacebuilding through food diplomacy.
Join us as we stir the pot of change, one story and one meal at a time!
Detailed information about the youth exchange you can find in the Call for Participants.
To apply by 30 April 2025, please fill in the application, which you can find below:
We are witnessing a massive resurgence in militarism. The normalization of brutal genocides, the ongoing global arms race, defence budgets at record highs, the resurgence of conscription in several countries, and conflicts causing devastating humanitarian crises are clear signs of this. This needs to change. We also see militarism as inseparable from other forms of injustice that are happening. There are strong connections between militarism and violent border regimes, the patriarchy, the rise of far-right in the West, the climate crisis, pinkwashing, and others – and sometimes, it feels like we don’t know how to tackle all these at the same time. Young people are at the forefront of antimilitarist movements but often experience burnout, isolation, and hopelessness. Many work mainly online, and don’t have a physical community where they live. And many feel the need to meet more fellow activists and are interested in building global solidarity. No More War is an already established global collective connecting antimilitarist activists and educators, and we are organizing a physical event to open our doors to more people!
We are inviting anyone working or wanting to work against militarism from diverse localities and backgrounds to come and connect, exchange, expand their network and skills, learn from others, and be a part of the community we are building!
What, where, when?
The project comports two phases:
No More War Open Forum in Bankya, Sofia (28th April – 5th May) and No More War Festival open to the public, Sofia (30 April – 1st May) In this 5-day Forum, we will focus on empowering activists to enhance their antimilitarist actions through skill-building, networking, and collaborative action in real-life situations, fostering an international network united against war, genocide, and militarism. The Open Event in Sofia will be exploring the various intersections of militarism with border violence, pinkwashing, surveillance systems, extractivism, and the climate apartheid of the Global South, and organize together film screenings, workshops, panel discussions, and anything else each of us wants to bring in. The detailed program of the festival will be announced soon! Our working methods are: experiential learning, community building, critical pedagogy, collaborative action and art.
Follow-up Phase, taking place offline and online with an active strategy to engage people in antimilitarism. You will be able to also apply for a microgrant to support your action’s practical costs.
Who can apply?
The Open assembly and the public event aim to bring together 30 people with diverse profiles, so this is for you if you are:
Over 18 years old – we will focus on having 75% of participants aged 18-30, but it’s open for everyone! Able to express yourself in (basic) English – if you need interpretation this is also available, let us know your application
Living in a Council of Europe Member State, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo, Palestine, or Tunisia; Ready to learn or already know about antimilitarism; Ready to engage in conversations, learning, and actions about antimilitarism, and embark on a journey to campaign against war and military oppression
Bonus if you are already part of an antimilitarist or similarly aligned group/organisation!
The selection will take into consideration inclusiveness principles such as gender balance (including + groups), accessibility for people with disabilities and ensuring geographical, ethnic and socio-cultural diversity. The selection procedure will also follow the internal CVS-Bulgaria procedure for selection of participants in Erasmus+ Programme.
Please check the detailed Call for participants where you can find more information about the application procedure, program, accommodation and travel reimbursement. We encourage you too apply as soon as possible by filling the Application form and no later than 30th March 2025!
This International Activity is a part of the Erasmus+ Accreditation plan of CVS-Bulgaria for 2024 and co- funded by the European Union (Actions for Peace // 2024-1-BG01-KA151-YOU-000237317).
Posted by Rian Hulscher at 13:56Comments Off on Join the No More War open assembly now!
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.
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.
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.
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)
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
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)
English
Български