If someone tells you that HESED`s team works only in our community based centers and restricts the support for the young people only within the limits of their neighborhoods – perhaps this person is misinformed. At the beginning of September we are back to school and we work actively with the young people on actual topics such as bulling and gender based/ ethnicity based violence prevention.

We work in close collaboration with two schools in Sofia and one school and Kjustendil – 50 students aged between 12-15 years attend the Program. We are planning to have 8 consequent seminars with the teenagers and to involve them diverse interactive activities in order to sensitize them to bulling and violence regardless the origin of those behavioral abnormalities, to improve their communication and social skills, self-reflection, self –confidence and self –defense on those very important for the age topics, and to improve the empathy and the interaction between the teenagers in the participating classes.

This activities is a part from a multi-component program, implemented in the frame of Erasmus + yMIND project, together with: (1) needs evaluation of the teenagers, (2) specialized workshops for the teachers for increasing their capacity to work with challenging situations, (3) workshops for increasing the social skills of the students and changing their attitudes on the topics covered by the program and a (5) whole school approach and involvement of all the important stakeholders in school.

We are back to 7^th grade, you can find us every week in school!

The profound analysis of Roma integration issues reveals that problematic social and school integration of the children from Roma community is due to serious gaps in early child development. Nutrition is one of the most important factors influencing the development in the early years, mostly because it is related with the development of the brain and the brain functions. Inappropriate nutrition in the early years has severe consequences for the physiological development and the brain functions. Young mothers often choose easy cooking for their babies and toddlers – junk food and sweet beverages. Thоsе nutrition habits change the flavor receptors and later the children and the families show preference only for food that causes obesity and chronical diseases, but also predispose limitations in the development of the brain functions. All those result in problematic social and school adaptation of the children and obstacle their academic achievements.

To change the attitudes regarding the nutrition in the community, we work individually with the mothers, but also we organize group trainings to improve their awareness and skills. Besides those systematic efforts for improving the nutrition habits of the children through the mothers, we are trying to reach a wider circle of concerned mothers by using an innovative peer education approach. We present here our peer educators who are in the middle of their training for awareness raising and improvement of their communication skills to work with their friends and relatives for changing the old practices and inappropriate nutrition habits within the community.

The second pilot POL training group on the prevention of gender-based violence in the Roma community has begun in the beginning of September in our new MID center. 14 specially selected women from Faculteta, started their training within the yMIND project. The results of the training will serve to develop a training methodology on the topic, which will be disseminated among the partners` organizations within the project.

Our Demo center at Suhodolska str. in Faculteta neighborhood welcomed guests from Africa- Davis Sebulime and  Mugisha Frank from Uganda. Both of them, they work with children at risk by engaging them in creative workshops and art activities to keep them away from the challenges of the street. In Bulgaria, they are on a study visit thanks to Open Space Foundation within the Art and Culture for Unity Project, funded under the EU Erasmus + program, Key Activity 2: Developing the Capacity of Youth Workers. The purpose of the visit was, our guests to take a closer look to MID (Model for integrated development) as a good NGO practice in Bulgaria in engaging children and youth from minority groups in services that support their educational, social and emotional development and their successful social integration. Providing team development and service sustainability were also in the focus of the discussion .

See you soon in Africa, friends!

Today – 23 of June 2017, in the MID center in Filipovovtzi, HESED started the piloting of the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) model and its adaptation for gender based violence prevention use. The results for the adaptation will be used for development and dissemination of methodology for prevention of GBV in Roma community. We start to work with 12 young people – opinion leaders in their social networks who were successfully selected and recruited by our outreach workers.

The activities are part of the yMIND project, supported by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (Initiatives for policy innovation – Social inclusion through education, training and youth – EACEA 05/2016).

We work with desire and enthusiasm on this new challenge!

From 9 to 12 of May, HESED hosted the second partner meeting under Youth MIND Education: Youth Migrants’/Minorities’ Inclusion, Non-violence, Diversity Education (yMIND) project, with the support of the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (Initiatives for policy innovation – Social inclusion through education, training and youth – EACEA 05/2016).

During the four intensive and dynamic days the partners have exchanged experience and ideas regarding the implementation of the two good-practice training models transferred in the frame of the project. During the interactive method transfer, trainers from the 4 partner organizations had the opportunity to experience different interactive and cognitive games related with the topics: diversity education, gender equality and bullying/violence prevention, that could be successfully used for creating a comprehensive diversity competence training in school setting, adapted by the German partner SPI Forschung. Valuable experience for the trainers was provided by the exclusive opportunity to take a closer look to the drama method as instrument for bulling prevention, successfully implemented by the Greek partner Action Synergy S.A at school setting. The colleagues from Austrian Women’s Shelter Network provided the theoretical framework regarding the gender based violence and introduced interesting and engaging technics for approaching the topic in group format.

Our guests and colleagues were very pleased by the opportunity to have one working day in the HESED`s newly opened Demo center at “Suhodolska street” in the Roma neighborhood – to learn more about our mission, to meet our colleagues from the local team, and also some of our clients. The environment in the Center was very favorable for the presentation of the Popular Opinion Leader model, proposed by HESED as a good practice model for changing the community norms regarding gender-based violence. Our guests also went for a walk in the neighborhood to feel the rhythm of life in the Roma neighborhood.

Special time during the partners` meeting was dedicated for planning the activities for the implementation of the GP models and for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the interventions. Apart of the intensive training program the coordinators had the opportunity to receive individual consultations regarding the technical and the financial reporting from Mrs. Maria Papadopolus and Mrs. Katerina Pitirinopoulou (Action Synergy S.A.).

Important input for the partner meeting was provided by Mr. Colin Isham, external evaluator, who presented his recommendations regarding the implementation of the GP models and the criteria for evaluation of their impact potential.

We express our gratitude to Mrs. Tzvetina Arsova-Netzelmann (SPI Forschung), for her devotion to the project and her affection to Sofia- the city hosting the meeting, and thus made the second yMIND partner meeting to be unforgettable experience for all the participants.

On January 25 Dr. Elena Kabakchieva, founder and chairwoman of HESED, was awarded the title “Knight of the National Order of Merit” for her outstanding contribution to the social inclusion of the Roma community in Bulgaria.

The order of merit was given by the Ambassador of France to Bulgaria Mr. Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes at a special ceremony at the French residence. The National Order of Merit is the second most important order in France after the Legion of Honour.

In this way we received exceptional recognition for our continuous work in developing and implementing models for the successful development and integration of Roma children and youths.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to our friends from the French Institute – Mrs. Véronique North-Mincà and Mr. Francois Xavier Kowandy, and all our partners.

Dr. Elena Kabakchieva, a figure in the fight against the social exclusion of Roma people in Bulgaria, received the National Order of Merit for her exemplary career in support of the socially disadvantaged. She is a person with an unconventional path, which combines research, consulting and fieldwork at both local and international level, in favour of the development of knowledge and practices.(http://institutfrancais.bg/satrudnichestvo/conferencia)