FINAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE UMN PROJECT IN BULGARIA

The final public event of the UMN project in Sofia was the international conference organized by the partners CITUB and SDA on 27 September 2022. The conference gathered representatives of local and international organizations – public bodies, NGOs, employers – for a constructive and insightful dialogue on the challenges to integration of TCN in Sofia and in Europe. Welcome addresses were delivered by the president of CITUB, Mr Plamen Dimitrov, N. L. Narasimha RAO, UNHCR Representative in Bulgaria, and Ms. Malina Edreva, municipal councilor and chair of the Standing Committee for Culture, Education and Cultural Diversity at Sofia Municipal Council, Deputy Chair of the EU Committee of the Regions. International guests and project partners from Slovenia and Belgium also attended, sharing interesting ideas about TCN social and labor integration. Speakers emphasized the need to setting up mechanisms for assisting refugees and person with temporary protection (refugees from Ukraine), which guarantee not only the access to jobs and services, but ensure that TCNs enjoy their rights, are not discriminated against, and have the resources to build decent lives for themselves and their families.

While the conference put an end to the project activities in Sofia, the UMN consortium will gather for a final international conference in Brussels, on 13-14 December. Visit the project website and the special multilingual platform for access to services for TCNs at https://www.unionmigrantnet.eu/get-in-touch/ for other news and fresh ideas on integration.

UMN project co-funded by the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.      

INTRODUCING THE NEW ELECTRIC MINIBUSES IN SOFIA

On September 22th, the World Car-Free Day, the Municipality of Sofia presented to the citizens the new electric minibuses, that will deliver the innovative “transport on demand” public service. The Karsan Jest Electric buses are 6 meters long, which makes them convenient for a busy city area with narrow streets and heavy traffic. All the vehicles have low floors and are wheelchair accessible. They are air-conditioned and can carry up to 20 people at a time. The buses have a 88kWh battery and can drive up to 250 km with just a single charge.

Six fast charging stations will also be installed. Five of those will be in the Tramcar depot of Sofia Public Electrical Transport Company JSC to minimize the investment cost, one will be located at the terminal stop on one of the busies boulevards in the southern part of the city. The buses will join the fleet of Sofia Public Electrical Transport Company JSC.

At the end of September a test run of the on-demand service will begin in three zones in Southern Sofia residential areas:
          Zone 1 – “Yellow” – Manastirski livadi, Buxton
          Zone 2 – “Blue” – Gardova glava, Panorama Boyana, Buxton, Pavlovo, parts of Krasno selo
          Zone 3 – “Red” – Karpuzitsa, Gorna Banya

The goal of the pilot phase is on the one hand to train drivers and dispatch officers, and equally important - to engage the communities in these three areas to explore the application and possibilities for the service. This process would result in stronger communities, greater equality of access, better economic performance, more attractive neighborhoodss, and a more sustainable environment. It is expected that the buses will start serving citizens from December 2022.

The Deputy Mayor of the Sofia Municipality and INNOAIR project manager Kristian Krastev pointed out that people are starting to return to public transportation again. 80% of the passenger flow has been restored as far as data from 2019 is concerned. In his words, "the better the public transport in Sofia, the more people will use and thus reduce car traffic".

The on-demand service will be used through the BUSINN mobile application, which will soon be available on Google Play and the App Store. The app is free and gives access to all the features of the service. The demand transport platform creates dynamic routes based on the exact demand, taking into account the preferred starting point and the destination of all available requests in the geo-fenced respective zone. The mobile app with an intuitive interface uses machine learning and in-depth data analysis to create the most efficient route for each trip, collecting the maximum number of passengers on each trip.

The initial and final stop along the route will coinside with the main metro stops (Metro line 3, Tm 5, 7) or transport hubs (the roundabout on "T. Kableshkov" Blvd.).

"Through an interactive mobile application, which you will soon be able to download through the respective app store, you can request transport to and from your home and use it. After the test period, the service will be available later this year. The service will be easily accessible to all and represents another measure towards a more sustainable way of transportation.", Georgi Georgiev, Chairman of Sofia Municipality‘s City Council, explained.

LAUNCH OF THE NEW ELECTRIC MINIBUSES: INNOAIR INFORMATION DAY

Sofia Municipality and Sofia Development Association are pleased to invite you to an Information Day about INNOAIR project. The event will take place in the framework of the European Mobility Week, on Thursday, September 22, the Car-free day.

If you are interested to see the new electric minibuses bought through the project, and the mobile application BUSINN with which you can order and use the innovative service “on-demand public transport”, you are welcome! You can view the buses in Gurko Street, in front of the national stadium – closed for traffic that day – from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm. Project experts will also be available to provide any additional information you may need.

We are looking forward to seeing you there! Come on foot, by bike, by e-scooter – and do not forget to use the mobile app SofiaCoin that rewards active transport, and turn your kilometers passed into attractive awards. 

INNAIR is the only Bulgarian project funded by the EC’s initiative Urban Innovative Actions. It is implemented by a consortium led by Sofia Municipality and is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

THE FOOD AND SPICES WALKING TOUR TOOK PLACE IN SOFIA

In honor of the Day of Sofia, the Food and Spices Walking Tour was held in the center of the city.

Two different tours, one in Bulgarian and one in English, were organized and 20 people got to be a part of an adventure of the senses on “Tsar Simeon” street in Sofia.

The first stop was an Iranian bakery, where guests were taught how to make lavash. After stopping by Mustafa’s shop, the participants heard Ahmed’s story – an engineer who has lived in Bulgaria for the last 40 years of his life. He told the groups that one of the best moments of his life was when he got to vote for the first time as a Bulgarian citizen.

The participants also tried Lebanese sweets and ended their adventure in Sarah’s Afgan restaurant which she opened a year ago. There they tried sambosa, bolyani and other typical Afgan food.

Every last owner or worker in the establishments also shared their personal stories of migration, which made the tour a very personal one. All migrants had one thing in common – they love Bulgaria and adore Sofia as a city, because of its people. Happy Day of Sofia!

Organizers of the event were Meeting Points and the Sofia Development Association, with the financial help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The event is a part of the official Day of Sofia program as well as the European Mobility Week in Sofia.

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

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SOFIA CITY COUNCIL GEORGI GEORGIEV AND THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES NARASIMHA RAO OFFICIALLY OPENED THE ACADEMIC YEAR IN SOFIA’S 119 SCHOOL

The Chairman of the Sofia City Council, Mr. Georgi Georgiev, officially opened the school year at 119. Secondary School "Acad. Mikhail Arnaudov" together with Mr. Narasimha Rao Nilagiri Lakshmi, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

This year, both Bulgarian students and children and teenagers from refugee families from Ukraine will start the school year in the school. According to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, over 2,018 Ukrainian children were enrolled in Bulgarian schools and kindergartens in the last 6 months.

Georgi Georgiev welcomed students, teachers and parents and wished them all academic success. Georgiev also presented all students with reflective bracelets to ensure their safety on the road.

Mr. Rao also gave a speech in which he congratulated the school for being an excellent example of how refugee children can become a part of school life and get the opportunity to develop their gifts to become responsible and successful citizens of the world. He also specified that around 90 million people around the world are forcibly displaced, 41% of them being children and have limited access to education.

"Bulgaria has a long history of helping refugees, and in view of what is happening in Ukraine, our activities should be even more focused. UNHCR welcomes the efforts made by the Bulgarian state to support the refugees, help them find a livelihood and get involved in the economic and social life of the country. Ensuring access to education is part of these efforts, and UNHCR thanks Bulgaria for all the actions to include refugee children in the national education system," the UNHCR representative also shared.

119 Secondary School’s headmaster Diyan Stamatov welcomed students and officially put a start to the new school year with the ringing of the first bell.

The joint opening of the school year is supported by the Bureau of Information and Services for Third Country Nationals. https://infobureau.bcrm-bg.org/