FINAL INNOAIR CONFERENCE: URBAN MOBILITY INNOVATIONS FOR CLEANER AIR AND JUST GREEN TRANSITION

The INNOAIR project will be held its final conference on May 18, 2023, at Sofia Hotel Balkan. The event aims to explore the results and lessons learned from the project that for a third year in a row actively develops Sofia urban mobility and contributes to just green transition.

The conference will present and discuss the innovations, developed and tested in the framework of the project like the on-demand public transport, the introduction of low emission zones, a roadmap for the introduction of congestion charging and others. We will have the chance to compare the progress of Sofia with that of other cities and to identify ways to transfer successful models.

We will review the INNOAIR results from the standpoint of universities, of citizens using the new transport services, participants in student and citizen challenges and hackathons, businesses.

During the conference there will be a fair of other relevant projects implemented by Sofia Municipality and its partners in the area of sustainable mobility and air quality.

Immediately after the conference the participants will be able to take part in a site visit and gain first-hand impressions of on-demand public transport, low emission zones or the traffic control center with the analytic system for public transport timetable optimization – seats are limited, and participation is subject to preliminary registration.

You can register for participation here!     

INNOAIR project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative. This is the first Bulgarian project selected for funding by UIA.

THE INDONESIAN CITY OF SEMARANG WILL BE ON A STUDY VISIT TO SOFIA IN THE FIELD OF SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE EUROPEAN PROGRAMME IURC

The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, an initiative funded by the European Union, is organising a study visit to Sofia for representatives of the city of Semarang City, Indonesia, from 13 to 15 March 2023. The visiting delegation also includes representatives of Association of Indonesian Municipalities (APEKSI). The visit aims to promote cooperation between the two cities in the field of sustainable urban mobility. Previously, the Sofia visited Semarang City in June 2022.

The Indonesian city is interested in how to develop its public transport system, especially the tram transport which is considering to introduce, as well as in best practices of Sofia, such as charging facilities in public transport, the SofiaCoin mobile app created under the INOAIR project, measures to improve air quality, initiatives to encourage more citizens to use public transport.

The programme includes meetings with Mr. Barbalov, Deputy Mayor for Transport, representatives of Sofia Municipality, Sofia Electric Transport, Urban Mobility Centre, Sofia Development Association and other stakeholders and will include a number of visits to mobility related sights.

Sofia, one of the 100 European cities aiming to be climate-neutral by 2030, will share its experiences, achievements and challenges, innovations it is testing for the first time on a European scale, such as on-demand transport under the INOAIR project, and discuss opportunities for continued cooperation in the field of mobility with the forth most populous country with a rapidly growing economy.

About IURC

Funded by the European Union, the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme promotes cooperation between cities on sustainable urban development and builds partnerships between EU and non-EU cities. Participating local governments are enabled to implement pilot projects engaging research, civil society and business partners. IURC contributes to the objectives of the UN New Urban Agenda, the Agenda 2030 (SDGs), the Urban Agenda for the EU and the European Commission’s priorities for a “Stronger Europe in the World” with the European Green Deal and the NextGenerationEU (post COVID-19 recovery plan). IURC is implemented in nine countries in Asia and Australasia: Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand, and Vietnam. In Bulgaria, IURC is pairing the Bulgaria’s capital Sofia with the two Asian cities, namely Sejong of Republic of Korea and Semarang City of Indonesia.

Wesbite: https://www.iurc.eu/       

CALENDAR OF ACTIVITIES MARCH 2023 IN THE BUREAU FOR INFORMATION AND SERVICES FOR THIRD COUNTRY NATIONALS

During the past month, 70 people used the services of the Bureau of Information and Services for Foreign Citizens. Of all the services offered, the greatest interest in the month of February was in the service offering connections with other non-governmental organizations, followed by services for submitting requests for financial assistance. Language courses are once again among the services sought by foreign citizens.

On the official website of the bureau, a program is offered every month, in which the various services are described by days and hours. The content of this program is in several languages: Bulgarian, English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic and Persian.

·              You can find the program for March in Bulgarian HERE.
         You can find the program for March in Ukrainian HERE.
         You can find the program for March in English HERE.
         You can find the program for March in French HERE.
         You can find the program for March in Russian HERE.
         You can find the program for March in Arabic HERE.
         You can find the program for March in Farsi HERE.

CONNECTION project: CONNEcting Cities Towards Integration action, is co-funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.      

THE FIRST MEETING OF THE POVERTY AND INCLUSION THEMATIC NETWORK OF THE SI PLUS PROJECT WAS HELD THIS WEEK

The first online meeting of the thematic network on poverty and inclusion, organized by IFKA Public Benefit Non-profit Ltd as a partner of the SI Plus project, was held this week on the Zoom online platform.

The first meeting of the thematic network focused on the presentation of the main challenges of poverty and inclusion on the European level and the leading EU policy trends including social innovation to mitigate them. 

The meeting began with a presentation of the European frameworks by Katalin Szatmari, expert of the European Commission’s DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Experts of IFKA then gave a short introduction into the poverty- and inclusion-related priorities of the Human Resources Development Operational Programme Plus (HRDOP Plus). Zsófia Batta, representative of the Ministry of Interior of Hungary, presented the dedicated social innovation priority of the Hungarian ESF+ programme.

After the policy-focused parts of the programme, the emphasis was put on the practice. Participants of the meeting got an insight into member state-level good examples of social innovation initiatives targeting the mitigation of poverty and inclusion-related issues.

Speakers on the subject were Stefani Doynova from Volkshilfe Wien, Austria, Iskra Stoykova – Program Officer of the Trust for Social Achievement Foundation, Bulgaria, and Nikoletta Luptakova from TENENET NGO, Slovakia. The meeting ended with a moderated discussion about the services to be developed in the future, different cooperation opportunities and the next possible steps forward.

The project is funded by the EUROPEAN UNION, the European Social Fund and European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation.

THREE DIGITAL GARDENING TRAININGS HELPED TEACHERS, TRAINERS, CIVIC ACTIVISTS AND JOURNALISTS RECOGNIZE AND COUNTER HATE SPEECH ONLINE

On February 23, 24 and 25 the Sofia Development Association held three interactive trainings under the title „Digital Gardening – Implementing Strategies to Counter Hate Speech Online“.

The workshops were intended for teachers, trainers, civic activists, specialists in working with children and also journalists.

The participants got acquainted with the general parameters of the LEAD - Online project, within which the training were held, as well as the different definitions of hate speech and specifically that in the online space.

These were followed by exercises on recognizing hate speech in various simulated situations drawn from real-life cases, and a discussion on the different possible reactions and when they are needed.

The final panel of each of the trainings was devoted to debating different scenarios and ideas for HateOut! - an online game that is being created within the framework of LEAD - Online and aims to help reach messages about countering hate speech online among students and young people.

Since a large part of the participants were professionals who on a daily basis have direct contact with children and teenagers, they were able to contribute to the process with objective and useful feedback on what has been built so far and to give interesting and practical ideas for the necessary corrections and additions to the game.

Finalizing HateOut! and publishing it is close, so the process of promoting and reaching as many young people as possible is not far away as well.

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.