Funded projects

Funding of summer camps for poor children to help them take on their responsibilities.

The Roms Coppersmiths association, founded by young Roma individuals, has requested funding for the training of 20 young Roma individuals in the traditional Roma blacksmith art, to help them integrate the working world.

The Bulgarian association Teosis has requested support for organizing a summer camp in nature with 40 children and young people from poor families and 20 young people living in orphanages to help them assume their responsibilities.

The Bulgarian foundation TSA (Trust for Social Achievement) has requested  7,670 € to organise virtual consultations by nurses and midwives for pregnant women and mothers of small children (up to 2 years) in Roma communities that are particularly isolated due to the pandemic. The request concerns the purchase for one year of the internet connection for the 60 women beneficiaries. The contract with the supplier provides for the distribution of a tablet free of charge. The advice will be done through videos, given the low level of literacy. 

The Bulgarian association Bio-B-Eko has requested funding for a used off-road vehicle to assist vulnerable people living in isolated and difficult to reach mountain villages.

The Bulgarian association Teosis aims to integrate disadvantaged people. It has received 3,200€ for the organisation of a summer camp in the mountains for children and young people from large single-parent families, orphans, abandoned or very poor, to develop their skills. It plans to organise such camps again the next year.  This year's camp could be maintained due to the measures envisaged against the pandemic.

The NGO Bio-B-Eco focuses on improving the wider environment in the village of Borino, located in a poor region in southeastern Bulgaria (Smolyan) which has a largely elderly population due to the emigration of young people from the area. GIVE EUR-HOPE agreed to provide 2,400€ for the purchase of two log-splitting machines of different sizes to facilitate the supply of firewood for the winter as well as the purchase of a drill to maintain the fences. After the payment was received, the association asked to use the amount awarded differently: to buy a cheaper log splitter and, with the difference, buy a chainsaw. This change has been accepted.

Caritas Sofia offers services, especially for the homeless. It has established long-term contacts with beneficiaries based on trust, support and mutual respect. GIVE EUR-HOPE allocated 5,000€ for a mobile medical service for the homeless who are not covered by the Bulgarian health system.

The Cedar Foundation is a Bulgarian NGO that develops alternatives for young orphans from state institutions. It has already been subsidised by GEH in 2014 for specialized physiotherapy equipment, and in 2017 for the development of 24 children and young people, poor and partially mentally or cognitively disabled, through occupational and artistic therapy. GIVE EUR-HOPE agreed to provide 5,000€ to a personal development project for 12 disadvantaged teenagers who are housed in a home because of abandonment or serious violence in their families

Stoyanka Sokolova 1999 is a cultural and educational centre in the Roma district of Faculteta that supports the civil education of the Roma community through providing arts and cultural related programmes which enhance the dissemination of the Roma cultural traditions. GIVE EUR-HOPE is supporting with 2,260€ the provision of an educational hairdresser course for 10 Roma people for 300 hours (theoretical 120, practical 180). After finishing the hairdressers course and passing the theoretical and practical exams, the beneficiaries will be provided with official certificates which will allow them to start their own business or to work in an existing hair salon.

The Roma-Coppersmiths association, founded by young Roma and located in the north-east of Bulgaria, aims to help Roma integrate. It has been awarded 4,100€ by GIVE EUR-HOPE to develop training on expression by theatre for 20 Roma children and their families. It is hoped that the participants will become ambassadors for new cultural values in their community.

Teosis Summer Camps, Bulgaria which aims to integrate disadvantaged people has been awarded 3,000€ for the organisation of a summer camp in the mountains with children and young people who are either from large single-parent families, orphans, abandoned or extremely poor, in order to develop their skills. It plans to organize such camps for the next two years

The International Movement ATD Fourth World is an NGO that strives to eradicate extreme poverty. It received 7,500€ from GIVE EUR-HOPE to help finance a workshop between people and associations fighting poverty in Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania in particular) to identify and understand the obstacles that prevent children from going to school, from a school located in a disadvantaged district of Plovdiv, where three ATD volunteers have been involved for more than 3 and a half years. This workshop should contribute to the recognition of parents as actors and partners for their children's academic success.

GIVE EUR-HOPE provided the Open Eyes association with 5,600€ to rehabilitate people addicted to psychoactive substances for their social integration and to help their families. Most of these people are homeless. The programme will be carried out with a therapeutic community of doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists.

La fondation CEDAR est une ONG bulgare qui développe des alternatives pour de jeunes orphelins, issus d'institutions étatiques. Déjà subsidiée par GEH en 2014 pour un équipement physio-thérapeutique spécialisé, elle demande de financer le développement de 24 enfants et jeunes, pauvres et partiellement handicapés mentaux ou cognitifs, par une thérapie occupationnelle et artistique.

ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) finance un projet HOPE (Housing Opportunities with Participation and Empowerment), considéré comme meilleur modèle de logement social par la Banque mondiale. Sa mise en oeuvre a fait l'objet de soutiens de GEH en 2012 et 2014, qui ont été suivis par des rapports positifs. ADRA Bulgarie demande maintenant un soutien pour la rénovation de maisons habitées par des Roms à Kyustendil, cinq familles qui n'avaient pas pu être couvertes en 2014. Cette rénovation permet non seulement de réduire la consommation énergétique mais aussi de supprimer les moisissures, sources de maladies. Ce projet a été financé grâce aux dons et parrainages EKIDEN 2014.

The project involved the outer insulation of two blocks of social housing with polymer panels, thereby reducing energy consumption - reduction in management costs - as well as providing easier maintenance (water only).

The Cedar Foundation, established in Bulgaria since 2005, sought the support of GEH for specialized physiotherapy equipment in a shelter run disabled, poor people

The Diogenes association, founded in 1975, is renovating a house for disabled poor people looked after by the Bulgarian Association "Green Bridges". The latter was founded in 2004 and operates in the area north of Ruse in Bulgaria and has been working with Diogenes since 2008, when the Bulgarian government stopped funding institutions dealing with disabled people. "Green Bridges" allows people with a disability – whose poor families cannot support them - to find refuge in a safe house, which must, however, be up to standard to receive a license. This project was financed in cooperation with the AST group of DG MARE in the Commission.

Various ethnic groups make up the village of Krepost (in southern Bulgaria): the Roma Kopanari (of Romanian origin) suffer from isolation and rejection. The project involves 18 training sessions for 25 children aged 8-15 years old: sex education, disease prevention, hygiene, school work, and including meeting teachers from vocational schools. Some work is needed at the welcome centre: replacing a floor and a door, as well as the purchase of furniture, school books and some other equipment.

This project involved the insulation of a medical centre. Damp in the walls had meant that the centre no longer met hygiene standards for multiple occupancy, particularly in winter when it was partially used to house Roma families. Medical treatment could, therefore, be carried out in greatly improved conditions. GEH was asked to provide €6,000.00 of the total budget of €10,000.00, the difference being paid by the applicant.

The project aims to integrate Roma into civil society and to provide training in the treatment of copper and the manufacture of craft items. 20 unemployed young people will be trained by experienced artisans to acquire both a trade and to promote traditional skills. A permanent exhibition of these items will also be organized which will give visibility to their activities and show these young people that they have a real possibility to integrate society. €7,640 was requested.