The traditional Project of the Year 2012 awards for civil organisations working in the social sphere were given away at a public ceremony on 26 March at Chamber Hall Bulgaria.The traditional Project of the Year 2012 awards for civil organisations working in the social sphere were given away at a public ceremony on 26 March at Chamber Hall Bulgaria.
For an eight successive year representatives of the civil organisations from all over the country, ministries, agencies, municipal authorities and businesses as well as many guests came together to express their recognition to the people who realize their ideas and help others in difficult times.
This year the best projects were selected by a Jury with the following members: Violina Marinova, Chair of the Board and CEO of DSK Bank; HE Matthias Höpfner, Ambassador of Germany; Sevda Shishmanova, Programme Director of the Bulgarian National Television; Ognian Donev, Chair of the Board of the Confederation of the Employers and the Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG); Anna Zaharieva, Executive Director, FairPlay International AD and Nikola Dobrev, CEO of KZM 2000 AD.
Maria Petkova, Director of Tulip Foundation opened the ceremony by congratulating all participants at the annual and underlined that although the formal awards are only three all presented projects are already awarded by the recognition of the people who nominated them.
Following the tradition the members of the Jury – representatives of leading business companies, media and diplomats announced and gave away the awards. The Project of the Year 2012 award is especially made for the occasion by Prof. Georgi Chapkunov and includes certificate and incentive grant from Tulip Foundation.
Anna Zaharieva and Atanas Garov, deputy chair of the Confederation of the Employers and Industrials in Bulgaria announced the award for Association Sauchastie (Co-participation) for the project “Centre for Foster Care” in Varna. The centre provides foster care for children placed in institutions and children whose parents are not able to care for them. The service is based on the understanding that it is a fundamental mechanism for finding a long term solution for the problem of the child; it is a way to ensure all basic needs of children regardless their age, background and characteristics. The foster care is a tool to support the biological families of children who are temporary not able to provide quality care for them. During a period of 4 years 95 have used the service and for 44 of them a sustainable solution has been found – 19 children are reintegrated in their families and 25 children have been adopted. As a result of work with the child and the biological family 5 times more children than initially planned have been reintegrated. The project is nominated by Social Assistance Directorate in Varna.
Anna Zaharieva share that she is highly impressed by the results of the project and the fact that the organisation applies its own methodology delivered by the team of psychologists for moving the children out of the foster family and adaptation to their future adoptive family. As an important element of the activities she pointed out the achievement of the association that has realized the first case in Bulgaria of a baby placed in a foster family directly from the maternity clinic without stay in a social institution.
Atanas Garov shared his impressions that among all the nominated projects there are so many good examples that might be used as ides for how a Corporate social responsibility should be done by the business.
Ilian Rizov and Irina Todorova received the award visibly moved and made a wish for their team to be able to bring as many as possible children back to their biological families and to help all other children to be adopted so that all children have the chance to have their own families forever and not to spend their lives in foster care.
Project “In the Roots of the Volunteering” run by Time Heroes Foundation was presented by Sevda Shishmanova and Nikola Dobrev. The project aims to easy and supports the volunteering in Bulgaria. A study in the beginning of the project has showed that a substantial number of people in Bulgaria would join a volunteer activities but they don’t do so as they are not aware where and how to find the appropriate activity. At the same time there are a limited number of volunteer initiatives and these are often not able to reach their target groups. The internet platform aims to be the bridge between potential volunteers and organisations that need them. For one year the platform has supported some 165 causes of organisations and citizens.
Sevda Shishmanova spoke passionately about volunteering which shows that the society is strong even in difficult moments and how impressed she is by the efforts of the foundation to find the right formula for bringing together some 160 volunteer campaigns and more than 3000 volunteer aged 25 to 30 years in a short time.
Nikola Dobrev Никола said that it has been really difficult for him to select the best projects among the many very good projects. He also shared that it has been the participation of many mainly young people in volunteer campaigns that has really impressed him about the platform as the active participation of young people is crucial for the future of the society.
“We are enormously grateful for the honour. For us it is a great recognition to be awarded among all those fantastic projects of our colleagues. We are very happy and elated!” said Yana Burer Tavanie from the team of “Time Heroes”.
Violina Marinova and Ambassador Matthias Höpfner announced and gave away the award for the project “Early Intervention for Children with Difficulties in Development and Children with Disabilities – Support for Parents and Specialists” implemented by Zakrila (Protection) Association in Lovech.
The project provides support for families with children with disabilities and children with difficulties in their development aged 0 to 7 years old so that they are cared after in their family environment and support for the staff in kindergartens in the municipality of Lovech for the integration of children with disabilities in community life. The project implementation solves many problems of the teams working at kindergartens – lack of skills to cope with the daily needs of children, difficulties in educational process and communication with parents. In total 15 children with disabilities have been supported. Some 20 parents of children with difficulties, teachers, medical workers and staff in kindergartens have been motivated in the process of creation of inclusive and stimulating environment. Stereotypes for rejecting the “different” children of parents and staff in institutions have been changed. Long term individual pedagogical and rehabilitation programme for 6 children has been ensured I the day centre. One more big step towards prevention of placement of children with disabilities in social institutions has been made in cooperation between Zakrila association and the Child Protection Department.
Violina Marinova spoke with understanding and human empathy about the idea and the effect of the project.та и ефекта от проекта. She shared that she has been deeply impressed by the work of the association which with limited funds and a small team has reached serious and very important results.
Ambassador Matthias Höpfner congratulated the team of the association for their successful work for prevention of placement of children in social institutions and wished that Tulip Foundation continues the Project of the Year annual competition and award ceremony as the initiative is highly important and needed for the society.
Maria Nedyalkova, one of the founders of the association, shared that they worked hard for some 17 years and as mothers of children with disabilities they want together to do so that no mother ever again needs to go through what they have lived “when we were send from door to door, we didn’t know where to go, we didn’t know who could help us, we were lost …”.
At the end of the ceremony Kalina Zhuleva and Vladimir Kissiov from the Board of Tulip Foundation presented to the members of the Jury the token of the Foundation as a sign of appreciation for their commitment and professional attitude in the selection of the projects.
The awarded projects were selected among 38 projects 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.
The Project of the Year 2012 competition was launched in the end of 2012. It is organised for for an eight successive year and is provoked by the substantial number of good projects realised each year all over the country. Each of these projects has been made possible by the hard work of the people who invested a lot of their time and dedication for the success of the projects.
In total 38 nominations for the Project of the Year were received by the beginning of February 2013. 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.
Sixteen of the nominated projects are implemented in various towns in the country and another eleven projects - in cities. In Sofia are realised thirteen different projects and five are implemented by local organisations in villages. The projects are nominated by other NGOs and partners; by the project team of the organisations implementing the project; by journalists and media; by mayors and representatives of local authorities, Social Assistance Department, libraries and schools; by volunteers, participants in project activities and citizens.
Civil organizations that have 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 were welcome regardless of the project budget, source of funding, scale of operation, type of activity or beneficiaries.
The nominated projects have been 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 Capital newspaper.
Bulgarian National Television, News, 27 March 2013
Bulgarian National Television, Small Stories Programme, 30 March 2013
Project of the Year 2012 - Awards Brochure (in Bulgarian)
Project of the Year 2012 - Nominated projectsBrochure (in Bulgarian)
