Events

Against encouraging children and young people to gamble

Sofia, February 26, 2018

NGOs, members of the National Network for Children, sent an open letter to responsible institutions in order to alarm them about the risk of encouraging children and young people towards gambling by the advertisement from “Chocolate Ticket by the National Lottery – 7777.bg”. BFPA is not only a part of the initiative, but also as an organization working in the field of health prevention and health education finds it’s especially important to work for dependency prevention, including gambling addiction and also for preventing eating disorders in adolescent girls, who are very susceptible to anorexia, for example. The advertisement disseminates messages, unsuitable for children and young people in those two senses – that chocolate shouldn’t be eaten, “we only smell it”, and that scratch cards are an essential part of everyday life and the main way to prosperity. Here are some parts of the letter to the institutions:

BFPA together with other NGOs supports the Convention of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

Sofia, January 5, 2018

In connection with the heated debate and the campaign against the ratification of CE’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) we, a group of organizations and experts in the field of domestic violence and child protection, state our firm support for the ratification of the Convention and our firm position against all false statements and suggestions in connection with it, based on lack of knowledge on the subject or deliberate manipulation of the public opinion. Shifting of the public debate in the wrong direction is the same as refusing to take decisive measures against the violence towards women and children.
For thousands women and children in Bulgaria violence is an everyday occurrence. According to the latest data 1 million out of 4 million Bulgarian women are victims of violence at home. For 54% of Bulgarians sexual violence is an extremely serious problem. According to a survey among students between 13 and 16 old, 70% know personally victims of domestic violence. Child Protection services, who according to Bulgarian legislation are authorized to take measures for protecting children at risk and work with them and their families, in 2015 have worked on 1839 cases in total.

Bill on the Regulation of the Fundamentals of Volunteering

Sofia, December 14, 2017

A bill on volunteering is submitted by a group of MPs on December 14, 2017 for consideration and voting in the National Assembly. The initiative was launched by the Public Council of Citizens of the Commission for Interaction with NGOs and Complaints of Citizens to the Parliament.
In the motives the law is submitted it is shown that the fundamentals of the volunteering activities are regulated within it. Definitions of ‘voluntary organization’, ‘voluntary activities’ and ‘volunteer’ are given. Appropriate prerequisites to provide the participation of volunteers are introduced. The necessary conditions for determining their legal status are established. The relations concerning training and qualification of volunteers are also regulated. Reimbursement of the costs made by the volunteer during or in connection with various activities is foreseen.

BFPA’s participation in the European HIV and Hepatitis testing week

Sofia, November 17–24, 2017

In the period between November 17 and 24 BFPA was one of the 15 Bulgarian organizations who took part in the European HIV and Hepatitis testing week. The campaign was held for a fifth consecutive year, BFPA being part of it from the very beginning, as for the last three years Hepatitis B and C testing is included in the testing options. The aim is to increase the number of informed individuals about the dangers of infection as well as encourage them to find out their HIV and Hepatitis status. The campaign is pan-European, 679 organizations from the whole of Europe and Israel signed up for participation, as a certain part of them are multinational. The organizations from Bulgaria, who took place in the campaign, focus on prevention of HIV infection, prevention of prevalence of Hepatitis B and C and also organizations who focus on prevention of STI as a whole.

BFPA happily joined the celebrations marking NNHM’s 10th anniversary

Sofia, November 15-16, 2017

On November 15th the National Network of Health Mediators (NNHM) held a General Assembly Meeting of the organization – at the beginning of the meeting were presented the activities of the organization from 2011 to 2017 and the Management Board reported on its activities. The election part included voting for a new Management Board, Chairperson, Deputy – Chaiperson, Ethical Committee and Secretary.
The General Assembly elected for members of the Management Board of the network prof. Ivailo Turnev, Dilyana Dilkova, Tzveta Petkova, Petar Tzvetanov, Antoaneta Eftimova, Natasha Todorova, Nargis Mihailova, Jeman Hassan and Zahari Atanassov. The current NNHM Chairperson Pater Tzvetanov received enormous support from the assembly attendees but announced his decision to make room for a new face and announced his support for Antoaneta Eftimova, health mediator in Blagoevgrad municipality. Antoaneta’s application was strongly supported by the General Assembly and she became the new Chairperson of NNHM. Petar Tzvetanov was elected as her Deputy. In the afternoon hours of November 15th were cast the votes for the candidates for members of the Ethical Committee and Kina Assenova, health mediator in Tundja Municipality was elected as Chairperson. The General Assembly was chared by Dr. Radosveta Stamenkova, Executive Director of BFPA and a member of NNHM.

Read between the lines!

Sofia, October 20, 2017

„Read between the lines” is an unconventional and attention-catching campaign of the National Commission to combat Trafficking of Human beings which was launched at an international forum in connection with October 18th - the EU Anti Trafficking Day. Participants in the meeting were the UK Ambassador H.E. Emma Hopkins, the deputy foreign minister Yurii Shterk, representatives of state institution and NGOs working on prevention of trafficking. BFPA was represented by its Executive Director Dr. Radosveta Stamenkova.
The campaign focuses on prevention of enrolling over the internet of potential victims of labour and sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and violence of children, of different fraud or blackmailing schemes by personal information. The aim is to focus the attention on catchy work opportunities or dating ads which can be misleading and a mechanism for attracting potential victims of trafficking. The messages of this campaign will be disseminated online in dating sites, job sites as well as offline – with printed materials which attract attention. The slogan of the campaign - “THINGS ARE EXACTLY WHAT THEY DON’T SEEM” – urges us to look beyond the often misleading façade.

You can see the video messages of hte campaign here (in BG)

BFPA and “Condom with a cause” – partners of BRCY’s “Volunteer Academy” 2017

Kamchiya, September 2-9 2017

Between September 2nd and 9th in Kamchiya, Varna Province, the 2017 “Volunteer Academy” took place, organized by the Bulgarian Red Cross Youth (BRCY).
“Volunteer Academy” is the largest educational event, organized by BRCY. It was held for a 12th consecutive year and over 100 participants from 10 countries attended it.
Volunteers and resident specialists from all Regional Councils of the BRC in Bulgaria are educated on the following topics: Healthy eating and healthy living; Substance abuse prevention; Prevention of risky sexual behavior; Social assistance activities; Promotion of humanitarian values; Innovative methods and approaches in organizational work.
For a third consecutive year within the “Volunteer Academy” there was a specialized educational module on international cooperation, in which took part youth leaders from different National Red Cross/Red Crescent societies.

More Articles...