Events

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.

BFPA, NNHM and NNC insist on institutionalizing the health mediator work model in improving the quality of care for vulnerable groups

Sofia, August 2, 2017

On august 2nd 2017 Prof. Ivailo Turnev from the National Network of Health Mediators, Dr. Radosveta Stamenkova from the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association and Dani Koleva and Mila Tashkova from the Secretariat of the National Network of Children had a working meeting with the Deputy Health Minister Svetlana Yordanova during which they discussed the health mediator work model and the necessity of including their work into the Health Law as well as the need for elaborating and implementing quality standard guidelines or regulations and the funding of the mediators’program
Deputy – Minister Yordanova stated on behalf of the MoH an intention for mutual cooperation and work on the subject and the representatives of the civil society have taken it upon themselves to send written specific suggestions on how the existing legal framework can be improved in view of ensuring quality of services and sustainability of the work of the health mediators in Bulgaria and improved access to healthcare and services for vulnerable children, parents and communities.

World’s Population Day: Let’s Give a Chance to More Women and Girls to Plan Their Future

London, July 11, 2017

Young people from five cities in Bulgaria were included in the global campaign for equal access of all girls and women to health care, contraception and services, connected with family planning. The Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (BFPA) is supporting the efforts of the global initiative #IDecide #АЗрешавам, organizing and implementing focus groups with young people from different schools in the country. The aim of each group was to formulate three main key messages to be printed as ‘fortune slips’ and to disseminate them in cafes chosen by the young people. In the frame of the calendar year Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Pleven and Ruse – places where BFPA has its branches – will inform citizens or guests in this untraditional way about the importance of the goals the campaign has.

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