Official opening of the Active Citizens Fund in Bulgaria

08-06-2018 14:58

“The majority of Bulgarian citizens are not convinced that democracy is the best form of government. The majority does not feel represented in democratic institutions. A huge part of the Bulgarian citizens - about 80% - stand aside from any organized form of associations. They do not belong anywhere. The objective of Active Citizens Fund is to overcome this civic passivity.”

This is what Georgi Stoychev, Executive Director of the Open Society Institute – Sofia (OSI-S), announced at the official opening of the Active Citizens Fund within the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014-2021. The main focus of the Fund's activities over the next seven years will be the consolidation of a democratic society , respect for human rights and capacity building of the civil sector, Stoychev stressed.

"The civil sector in Bulgaria is going through a difficult period, but the Active Citizens Fund is a huge chance for development of the typical civic activities," Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said in a greeting to the participants in the event. He also said that it is appropriate for the country to support the third sector without this aid to become dependent. "The ultimate goal we must strive for, however, is for society itself to support its civic organizations," said Donchev.

During the event, data on public attitudes towards democracy, the rule of law and fundamental human rights in 2018 were presented in result of national representative survey of the public opinion conducted by the OSI-S in April 2018. The data were presented by Ivanka Ivanova, Director of Legal Program at OSI–S. Ivanova stressed that the majority of Bulgarian citizens feel unrepresented in democratic institutions. In addition, they believe that the laws of the country do not apply equally to all and they remain isolated from public life. "Another big break with EU countries is participation - for Bulgaria it remains extremely low: 80% of the citizens are not members anywhere," Ivanova said.

Presentation: Democracy and civic partisipation

"People who express trust in non-governmental organizations have formed their opinion from direct impressions or from the media. The main reason for citizen’s mistrust in non-governmental organizations or the lack of opinion on the issue is that they have no information about their activity (47% of NGOs and 53% of people without opinion)."

This was stated by Boyan Zahariev, director of the Public Policies Program at the OSI-S, who presented data from a national survey of the public opinion on the state of civic organizations in Bulgaria.

Presentation: Trust in NGOs in 2018 

Summarized data from national representative survey of public opinion conducted by the Open Society Institute - Sofia.

Robert-Jan Ul from the European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), who spoke about  challenges for EU civil society organizations working in the field of human rights, took part in the conference. On the eve of the official opening of the Fund for Active Citizens in Bulgaria Michael O'Flaertty, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), said:
"The EEA and Norway grants contributes for improving people's lives across Europe. The EEA and donor countries are also important strategic partners of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, as we work together to promote a fundamental rights culture across the EU. Today's start of the Active Citizens Fund in Bulgaria marks another step in this process and will help Bulgarian civil society to better promote social cohesion and development as well as respect for human rights in all communities in the country. "

The main programme priorities and the financial instruments of the Fund were presented during the event. Elitsa Markova, programme manager of the Fund for Bulgaria, announced the main priorities: Improving the democratic and civic culture and awareness; Increasing support for human rights; Empowering vulnerable groups; Increasing the contribution of civil society organizations to gender equality and preventing gender-based violence; Enhance citizens' commitment to environmental protection in relation to climate change; Improving the capacity and sustainability of the civil sector, including civil society organizations.

Presentation: Programme priorities and financial instruments of Active citizens Fund in Bulgaria

Elitsa Markova as well as Iliana Nikolova, Executive Director of Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation and Sara Perrin, Executive Director of Trust for Social Alternative also talks about the distribution of budget by priorities, eligible applicants and partners, as well as support mechanisms, which include competitions for long-term initiatives, ongoing scheme for small initiatives, bilateral fund, etc.

Chilean Chimbalmos, Senior Advisor to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, spoke about the opportunities for development of partners projects  between NGOs from Bulgaria and donor countries.