SDA Receives a Special Award at the Annual Awards of the NGO Portal in Bulgaria

At last night’s annual award ceremony of the NGO Portal in Bulgaria, SDA received a special award in the category for most publications on the Portal during 2021: with 115 publications, SDA took the third place!

We are very happy to accept the award - it is a recognition of our constant efforts to share knowledge and support the activities of fellow civil society organizations. The annual awards initiative is also a testimony for the very important role played by the Portal and for providing a forum for CSOs to present their work to society. This award motivates us to contribute further to expanding the role of civil society in Bulgaria, and, of course, to aspire for the first place next year – and in more than one category!

Special thanks and congratulations to our colleagues Albena Nacheva and Sanya Raeva who are in charge of digital social media and who make sure that SDA has a strong online presence and a constantly growing network of supporters and partners.

Sofia is hosting and organizing the first educational project for young bulgarian choreographers

From June 15 to 25, 2022, young bulgarian choreographers and ballet dancers will be part of the first edition of a Creative Laboratory, called « HELIOS ».

Within 10 days, at the Regional Center for Contemporary Arts "Топлоцентрала" , they will have the oppurtunity to work with Vladimir Angelov - choreographer, lecturer and CEO of Dance ICONS, Inc. "Washington."

The experimental educational process will end with a live performance.

This unique program is organized by the Sofia Municipality through the Sofia Development Association and the Regional Center for Contemporary Arts "Топлоценррала" in partnership with the International Organization and Professional Network of Choreographers « Dance ICONS, Inc. » in Washington and the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria.

"Our purpose is to support young talents in all fields of art. The creative laboratory, which starts today, is part of our policy to support young talents in the art of dance. We support master classes led by world-famous compatriots, such as Raina Kabaivanska, Theo Ushev, Dimitar Marinov.

For example, this week, several others initiative for young artists are also being held - "Reporters' Workshop", an acting course at the famous Lee Strasberg School of Stars, said Mayor Yordanka Fandakova. According to her, « it is very important to concentrate funding in order to achieve results, wich we succed to do with the municipal program "Culture" ».

This year, through the "Dance, Dance Theater and Performance" direction, we are abble to support 8 projects, and the Cultural Calendar includes the International Festival of Contemporary Dance and Performance "Antistatic" and the Resident Program of Derida Dance Center.
Mrs Fandakova pointed out that "I have always believed that talented successful Bulgarians around the world are a great asset for our country. I thank Mr. Angelov for accepting our invitation to come and make this creative laboratory. " She also thanked the Ministry of Culture for the synergy achieved in the work on the Helios project.

One of the special things about Helios is that it involves representatives of both the institutional and the independent dance scene, said the head of the creative laboratory Vladimir Angelov. "It will be very interesting to work on this project. Our task at Helios will be to improve the skills that choreographers already have and to learn how to experiment ".

The first day of the project was attended by Mila Iskrenova - one of the most prominent Bulgarian choreographers in the bulgarian contemporary dance. "This project is a true miracle".

Choreography in our country started from almost nothing due to the censorship of the Iron Curtain. That is why, dance theorists and practitioners say that the development of dance is proof of the development of democracy, because only a free man can dance. However, what has been happening for 30 years in Bulgaria and especially in the last 10 years is a true miracle, "said Ms. Iskrenova.

The main purpose of Helios is to support the professional development of young bulgarian choreographers and to give them the opportunity to join international performing networks. The project is funded by the Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Culture.

Photographer: Angelina Angelova

INNOAIR – the project that favours both environment and citizens

The main ideas and novelties behind INNOAIR project were presented at the 7th edition of the European Congress of Local Authorities in Mikolajki, Poland, 11-12 April 2022. The Congress represents a platform for exchange of views and for meetings of leaders of local and regional authorities from Poland with representatives of the state administration, NGOs, business and their partners from abroad.

Two of the partners under INNOAIR project were also among the invited participants to the event - Yana Docheva, Head of International Cooperation Department at NAMRB and Gergana Ugrinska, Head of International Activities Department at Urban Mobility Centre – Sofia.

In the framework of the session, focused on the topic of turning green investments into a benefit to all, Yana Docheva shared with the participants that Bulgaria and Poland face common challenges, priorities and goals in achieving environmental change, but have different starting points. Green transformations begins at the local level, local authorities know best the needs of the citizens, that is why municipalities should be the role model for carrying out the activities in implementing the upcoming changes. "We need to focus on what lies ahead for local authorities, because our energy and environmental transformation did not begin yesterday, but many years ago. Some municipalities are more advanced in implementing green ideas, others are just beginning. This highlights the differences in the problems we have to deal with" said Yana Docheva, emphasizing that if we want to achieve the expectations for climate neutrality and safe environment, we need mutual cooperation between citizens, business and the state.

Regarding the role of local authorities and businesses in finding environmental solutions, she presented the project "INNOAIR", implemented by Sofia Municipality in partnership with 2 universities, 2 NGOs, 2 companies and one national institute. With this innovative idea for green public transport on demand, the municipality aims to propose a qualitative change in the way mobility is organized in the capital city. Based on users’ requests submitted via an online application, an optimal route of transportation by electric buses is created, covering the maximum number of passengers. The innovation aims to improve accessibility and the cooperation with the business sector to develop and integrate the project, with the academia for data collection and analysis, as well as with the NGO sector to raise awareness and change consumer behaviour is the win-win combination for successful project implementation, shared with the participants Ms. Docheva.

This year the forum brought together more than 1,500 participants from local, regional and executive authorities from Poland, Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Sweden, Finland, France, the Republic of Northern Macedonia and Albania. MPs, partner associations, associations and business representatives also took part.

INNOAIR project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative.

COMMON EFFORTS FOR THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE IN SOFIA MUNICIPALITY

On June 2nd 2022 an informational meeting named "Integration of Refugees from Ukraine on the Territory of Sofia Municipality" was held, organized by the Sofia Development Association, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Council for Refugees and Migrants.

Representatives of state institutions, Sofia Municipality, non-governmental organizations and district administrations in Sofia shared their past experiences and future plans to help Ukrainian citizens and their integration. During the event, the upcoming national programs for financing municipalities, new trends and statistics regarding the refugee wave, as well as good examples from other European cities were presented. The meeting was attended by Krasimira Velichkova, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister Kalina Konstantinova, Tsvetelin Sofroniev, Deputy Regional Governor of Sofia, as well as the secretary of the Sofia Municipality Venera Milova.

During the discussion the services provided at the national and local level were examined, as well as the importance of the NGO sector and voluntary organizations in dealing with the crisis. The participants of the meeting discussed not only the most effective practices that they applied in the crisis period, but also the gaps that they discovered in the organizational process. Participants united around the idea of centralization of efforts and decentralization of individual activities towards the common goal.

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

The Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences includes the youngest in the cause of cleaner air

On the occasion of the children's holiday – the First of June, the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski" organized a sports holiday for children with bicycles in one of the parks in Trakiya region, together with Trakiya District at the Municipality of Plovdiv, Center “Education for Democracy”, Regional Information Center "Europe Direct ” and the Plovdiv Cycling Association “Tsar Simeon”. The event took place on May 29, started at 10:00 a.m. and grew up in a lot of positive emotions, smiles and useful knowledge.

The idea of the event was to attract families with children, and thus to tell children how important it is to walk and ride a bike, even when they grow up, what are the health benefits not only for those who are engaged in sports, but also for the environment. In this way, children would develop an attitude towards nature, health care and empathy for others. All children received hats and flags with the INNOAIR logo to remind them of the day and what they had learned.

Their parents also got acquainted with the activities of the INNOAIR project. Young and old learned about the innovative transport on demand, the green corridors, the congestion charge and the SofiaCoin application . The participants shared that they appreciate the efforts and measures that Sofia is making to improve air quality and would be happy to implement some of them in Plovdiv.

The sports holiday was also a part of the eco-initiatives of the University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski", aimed at improving the environment and developing the sports culture of young people in 2022 - officially declared by the EC as the Year of Youth in Europe.

The INNOAIR project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Innovative Urban Development Initiative.