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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.
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