SOFIA DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION was founded as non-profit organization with the decision 348
of the Sofia Municipal Council to work for the sustainable development of the capital.
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CITIZENS OF MANASTIRSKI LIVADI NEIGHBOURHOOD ALREADY USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT ON DEMAND
After almost three years of research, data generation and analytics, programming, co-creation with citizens, testing, updating and new testing, on May 11, 2023, the innovative urban on-demand transport service for Bulgaria and the EU was officially presented to the public.
"In three metropolitan districts – "Manastirski livadi – East", "Manastirski livadi – West", "Pavlovo", the citizens of Sofia, with whom we have been working since the very beginning of the INNOAIR project, can benefit from a new type of public transport on request. The buses were purchased with European funds. The inclusion of transport "on demand" in the traditional public transport services of passengers is an important part of our overall policy for modernization of urban transport," said the Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council Georgi Georgiev.
Doncho Barbalov, Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality and INNOAIR project manager, thanked the citizens of Manastirski Livadi for their active participation in the creation and testing of the service so that it best meets the needs of the residents of the neighborhood. Zafir Zdravkov, Sofia municipal councilor, emphasized that the new service not only creates new comfortable and accessible travel options for the citizens but also for the transport operators because dispatchers can electronically monitor buses, their occupancy, citizens' satisfaction.
"I would like to thank the Transport Directorate and the Sofia Development Association for including us. Involving citizens takes time, but it is the only way to do something innovative and effective, and to build trust between the municipality and the people," said Veselin Krastev from the Initiative Committee "Manastirski Livadi - West".
The new buses will run every weekday from 6:07 to 22:40. The service can be used with all passenger documents for public transport.
INNOAIR project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative.
HACKATHON “INNOAIR AND EUROPEANA: THE CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE”
The new challenge is here!
Sofia Development Association and Sofia Municipality, with the support of Europeana, launch a hackathon “The Challenge of Sustainability and Social Justice”, the grand finale of which will be held live on June 8, 2023. The hackathon challenges participants to look for bold technological and social innovation solutions that guide the vision for a next generation transport services, access and cultural heritage preservation. These areas are powerful catalysts for cities and regions in times of rapid urbanization, digitalization and individualization.
How?
If you are interested in sustainability technology and innovation, and if you have ideas that can improve our urban environment, take part in the hackathon with a team of 2 to 5 people in order to propose solutions for cleaner mobility and environment, or for sustainable use of cultural heritage.
What can you receive?
The ideas with the highest scores will be awarded total financing of 15,000 BNG (7,500 Euro) provided by Sofia Municipality, for further development and implementation of the solutions.
Other non-financial awards will also be provided.
What are the challenges?
- Programming the cycling city of the future.
- Creating tools – a bridge between citizens and transport operators.
- Looking into the past to rethink the future - historical photographs and contemporary urban mobility.
- Green sustainable future and environmental solutions - Biodiversity Databases.
Detailed information about the competition - program, conditions for participation, challenges, jury and final, can be found on the page of INNOAIR.
INNOAIR project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative.
CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES FOR MAY 2023 IN THE BUREAU FOR INFORMATION AND SERVICES FOR THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS
In April, over 60 people used the services provided in the Bureau for Information and Services for Third Country Nationals. Legal consultation and applications for financial assistance remain among the leading sought services. Requests for humanitarian aid also take the lead in submissions from foreign nationals.
A program, that describes the various services by days and hours, is offered each month to facilitate the requested assistance. The program can be found in several languages: Bulgarian, English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic and Persian.
You can find the program for May in Bulgarian HERE.
You can find the program for May in Ukrainian HERE.
You can find the program for May in English HERE.
You can find the program for May in French HERE.
You can find the program for May in Russian HERE.
You can find the program for May in Arabic HERE.
You can find the program for May in Farsi HERE.
The project Support for the Development of Integration Policy Framework and Service Provision for Refugees in Sofia is supported by UNHCR – Bulgaria.
LEAD-ONLINE PARTNERS DISCUSSED THE HATEOUT! GAME STRUCTURE AND SCENARIOS IN PERUGIA, ITALY LAST WEEK
The LEAD-Online EU project partners gathered in Perugia on 20 & 21/04/2023 to discuss the next steps of our project, namely the scenarios and structure of the HateOut! Game that will help users combat hate speech incidents following an avatar’s actions and the LEAD-Online Talks, awareness raising events that will take place in all partners’ countries. Denitsa Lozanova, LEAD Online project manager and Rumyana Grozeva, financial manager, lead the sessions on the project management progress.
On behalf of the Sofia Development Association we want to thank FORMA.Azione Giove In Formatica for the excellent organisation and the warm hosting!
Validating the HateOut! Game concept with external experts was at the core of the discussion, which was done with Debora Barletta from No Hate Speech Movement Italia and other experts in the field. The 2nd day of our partners' meeting in Perugia offered a good chance to meet people from similar backgrounds who also shared their experiences on actions, projects, and campaigns with the same targets as the LEAD-Online project.
The project is funded by the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme. SDA is the lead partner and coordinator of the project with Asociatia Divers, Forma.Azione, Future Needs Management Consulting LTD, Hellenic Open University, ZARA - Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus Arbeit and Udruge Centar za Mir, Nenasilje i Ljudska Prava as partners.
THE BUREAU FOR INFORMATION AND SERVICES FOR FOREIGN CITIZENS IN SOFIA RECEIVES RECOGNITION AS GOOD PRACTICE BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
The Bureau for Information and Services for Foreign Citizens is recognized as a good practice by the European Commission and the integration community. The news is published onThe European Website on Integration (EWSI), an initiative of the European Commission under the Directorate-General Home Affairs and Migration, and the only EU-wide source bringing up-to-date information and good practices on migrant integration for policy makers and practitioners.
The Bureau for Information and Services for Foreign Citizens, founded in September 2021, is a collaborative initiative led by Sofia Municipality to establish a service centre providing up-to-date information and services to refugees and migrants, third-country nationals, NGOs, employers, and stakeholders. Sofia Development Association manages the Bureau together with the Bulgarian Red Cross and the support of UNHCR, Bulgaria. Over the past year and a half, the Bureau has established itself as an important source of information and coordination of integration-related services in the city, following the one-stop-shop approach.
Click here to read more about the good practice on EWSI.
Click here to find out more about the Bureau and the services offered.
THE "CULTURE AND CREATIVITY" PARTNERSHIP
The Mayor of Sofia Municipality Yordanka Fandakova met with mayors and deputy mayors from Kyustendil, Pernik, Burgas, Gabrovo, representatives of the National Association of the Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria and different Bulgarian professional associations and clusters, non-governmental organizations, universities and businesses related to culture, representatives of the network of European cultural institutes in Bulgaria, to discuss and develop the "Culture and Creativity" partnership. The meeting was hosted by the Sofia Development Association.
Mrs. Fandakova presented the implementation of Bulgaria's first cultural development strategy "Sofia - Creative Сapital 2013-2023" and emphasized the vision, consistent policy measures, achievements and potential of Sofia as a city for development of and through culture. "We know that many other municipalities in Bulgaria have similar stories and achievements. That's the exact point of this meeting - to join forces, so that our cities can be stronger at the European level and also to take advantage of new opportunities, specifically in the field of culture," she said.
Mrs. Malina Edreva, Chairperson of the Education, Culture, Science and Cultural Diversity Standing Committee of Sofia Municipality, led the discussion, that focused on the future. Svetlana Lomeva and Sevdalina Voynova from the Sofia Development Association presented the upcoming second European Innovation Campus that will be held in Sofia on June 8-9, 2023, and is organized together with Maria Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and the vision for the "Culture and Creativity" partnership, whose goal is to jointly protect the interests of Sofia and Bulgaria, to put them on the European map and to contribute to European policies as a whole.
The event’s participants all agreed that Sofia has the capacity to be a regional center of cultural and the creative sectors and industries for Southeast Europe, and a common platform can give many opportunities for support, advocacy, projects and mutual support and exchange.
"We have been waiting for such an initiative for a long time. We want to have such a partnership, with Bulgaria as the center for it. We must be proactive and united," said Genoveva Hristova, chairman of CreaTech Bulgaria.
The Executive Director of the National Association of the Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria Silvia Georgieva expressed the Association's support for the initiative and emphasized that the unification of all Bulgarian municipalities can provide a suitable platform for the exchange of ideas and knowledge for the development of the partnership. She also pointed to the project of a concept for integrated territorial investments in the South-West Development Region developed by the Association’s consulting team, which is specifically aimed at the development of cultural and creative industries through the perspective of information and communication technologies, and added that this is an example of consistency in policy of Sofia as an established generator of economic growth. NAMRB will be a partner in the upcoming European Innovation Campus in early June, which will be hosted by Sofia.
A cooperation agreement with all interested parties is to be drawn up and signed.
