For a seventh successive year representatives of the civil organisations from all over the country, municipal authorities and businesses as well as many guests came together to express their recognition to the people who are socially responsible for their own communities. This year the best projects were selected by a jury with the following members Ognian Donev, Chair of the Board of the Confederation of the Employers and the Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG); Sevda Shishmanova, Programme Director of the Bulgarian National Television; HE Matthias Höpfner, Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany; Daniela Petkova, Chef Executive Director, POC Doverie and Anna Zaharieva, Executive Director, FairPlay International AD.
The ceremony was opened by Maria Petkova, Director of Tulip Foundation and Vladimir Kisiov, Chairman of the Board of Tulip Foundation. Following the tradition the members of the Jury – representatives of leading business companies, media and diplomats announced and gave away the awards to the people from the organisations realizing the best projects.
Anna Zaharieva and Ognian Donev presented the first awarded project “Early Intervention to Prevent Institutionalization of Children with Disabilities” run by Karin Dom Foundation, Varna. The project is aimed to develop and apply a model of early intervention to prevent institutionalization of children with disabilities on the territory of Varna municipality – a transition from expert towards family oriented services approach. The project supports families so that they can feel aware, capable and confident in their parents role. As a result over 150 children and their families received individual support in their homes. For some of the children there was a risk of placement in institutions but due to the project it didn’t happened. More serious attention on the role of breastfeed for the development of children with disabilities is now being paid in the partners hospitals. Karin Dom Foundation had spread its model for early intervention among 10 civil organizations in 8 municipalities that are now applying it. The award was received by Veselina Vasileva, Early Intervention Coordinator at Karin Dom Foundation.
The Project “Contact Parents Network” run by Association of Patients with Facial Abnormalities and their Parents – ALA, Plovdiv was presented by Ambassador Höpfner and Daniela Petkova. The aim of the project is to provide qualitative prevention of abandonment of children with disabilities and facial abnormalities through creating a parent’s network for countenance. Parents of children with disabilities were trained and prepared so that they will give psychological support to parents of new born babies with disabilities. As a result of the work of the 15 trained parents a total of 83 families asked for support since the beginning of the project; 2 children with facial abnormalities that were placed in institutions have returned back to their families; 9 pregnant women were prenatal diagnosed but didn’t aborted and kept their born babies. ALA Association is working in cooperation with parents, patients and medical specialists in order to prevent abandonment of children with facial abnormalities and to improve the quality of treatment of these children. Jana Angelova, President of ALA Association received the award accompanied by people from the project team and some of the conatct parents.
Sevda Shishmanova and Vladimir Penkov, Member of the Board of Tulip Foundation, announced the third awarded project - „Let’s Better Protect and Take Care for the Health of Our Children Living Along the Danube River” run by Association of Danube River Municipalities “Danube”. The aim of the project is to improve the conditions and access of children form 17 Danube municipalities to specialized medical services, prophylaxis, timely diagnosis and adequate treatment. In 4 municipalities there isn’t any specialized pediatric room. In 13 municipalities these rooms were in an urgent need of repairs, reconstruction and contemporary medical equipment. Within the project the pediatric rooms were repaired and equipped with modern medical apparatuses and waiting rooms for children and their parents were created, full with toys, slides and other entertainments. As a result the conditions and access of 58 000 children from the Danube region to specialized medical services were improved. The award was received by Petar Stoikov, Project Coordinator at Association of Danube River Municipalities "Danube".
The awarded projects were selected among 31 projects (in Bulgarian) implemented all over the country, which were praised by the people who nominated them. The nominated projects present an impressive variety of social activities and are targeted at positive change in the opportunities and quality of life of certain groups or communities in disadvantaged position.
Eleven of the nominated projects are implemented in various towns in the country and another eight - in cities. In Sofia are realised eight projects and four are implemented by local organisations in villages. One of the projects is realized in 17 municipalities in Northern Bulgaria; another two projects are with national coverage. The projects are nominated by other NGOs and partners; by the project team of the organisations implementing the project; by journalists and media; by representatives of local authorities, libraries and schools; by volunteers and participants in project activities.
Civil organisations that in 2011 had implemented a project aimed at improving the living conditions, possibilities and quality of life of certain groups or communities in disadvantaged position were invited to participate in the competition. Projects implemented in towns, cities and villages are welcome regardless of the project budget, source of funding, scale of operation, type of activity or beneficiaries.
The nominated project were evaluated on the basis of: achieved results, sustainability of the project activities, financial efficiency, participation of the target groups and the local communities, innovative services and the possibilities for implementing the project in other areas of the country.
The ceremony was organised with the media partnership of the Bulgarian National Television and the newspapers Capital weekly and Capital daily.
The Project of the Year 2011 award is a plastic especially made for the occasion by Prof. Georgi Chapkunov, certificate and incentive grant from Tulip Foundation.
Bulgarian National Television, Central News (in Bulgarian)
Project of the Year 2011 Awards Leaflet (in Bulgarian)
Project of the Year 2011 Nominations Lealfet (in Bulgarian)
