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At the end of February, the team of the Health and Social Development Foundation began outreach work within the neighbourhood to identify families in a situation of homelessness, which were included in the needs assessment under the SOLACE CEE project.

In March, the project partners launched a needs assessment in six languages ​​(Bulgarian, English, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Slovak) among the current and potential clients of the organizations participating in the project. The author of the questionnaires is the Metropolitan Research Institute (MRI).

Our organization identified 40 families in a situation of homelessness from the Fakulteta neighbourhood in Sofia, with whom we are conducting interviews for a needs assessment.

The topics covered by the questionnaires include demographic issues, housing conditions, employment, health status, health literacy, traumatic life events and attitudes towards telemedicine. The study is currently ongoing and we expect to finish it by the end of April. By then, all client questionnaires will be completed and recorded online.

In parallel, we are holding discussions with other organizations from the non-governmental sector within the professional network to identify the necessary steps to establish integrated service coordination and to form advocacy goals.

The SOLACE project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

On December 5-6, 2024, the team’s first meeting that will develop integrated innovative health and social care for people living in a situation of homelessness was held in Budapest.

According to ETHOS European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion, people living in temporary/unconventional structures, in unsuitable housing, and/or in extreme overcrowding can also be classified as homeless.

As a partner in the SOLACE project, the Health and Social Development Foundation participates in the group for the development of innovative health and social care for homeless people, which aims to improve access to services, overcome fragmentation in the provision of care, improve the quality and profitability of services oriented towards people living in a situation of homelessness.

During the meeting, the main approaches to which the services will be planned were presented, namely:

1. Health Care for the Homeless is an integrated health and social care program developed in the United States, recognized as the most successful program in responding to the complex needs of people experiencing homelessness.
2. Housing First, is a program widely recognized as an example of providing comprehensive and integrated health and social, including residential services to people experiencing homelessness.
3. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a method that actively integrates trauma survivors’ perspectives into all interventions aimed at them.

Extremely useful and inspiring was the presentation of the telemedicine model applied by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta and the stories presented by medical professionals, doctors, and social workers who provide telemedicine services for people experiencing homelessness and elderly people, as well as the personal meeting with a client of the program, presented by our Hungarian hosts.

Over the next three years, we will integrate the successful experience of the partners in the SOLACE project and will actively work to expand our services in the direction of improving access to quality medical care for the most vulnerable families in the district “Fakulteta”, Sofia.

The SOLACE project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

We are glad to share some further successes of ACTIon, an Erasmus+ project, with our participation, that finalised its work in January 2024.

ACTIon’s project partner team from five European countries participated in a digital focus group organised by the RAY DIGI research project and contributed with expertise and learnings from three years (digital) youth participation and trainings on topics of digital competence, media and health literacy and civic education in Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia and Germany. The final report Exploring Successful Approaches to Digital Youth Work has been now published, along with an executive summary.

Alongside the approach of ACTIon project “Promoting active citizenship through civic education and active online participation of youth role models” has been selected as a Good Practice example and published in the report: Empowering Participation in Democratic Life through Media and Information Literacy and Digital Participation von SALTO Participation & Information (SALTO PI), a resource centre of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission.

For further reading on building competence for democratic participation: Digital Interactive Spaces: Digitally Transforming Education and Participation.

At the launch of the SOLACE CEE project, Emilia Mikova – Project Coordinator at Health and Social Development Foundation and director of MIR-Suhodolska Center in Fakulteta neighbourhood – gave an interview to the program “Horizont do obed” on the Bulgarian National Radio. She briefly explained what the project aims to achieve and what the activities will be.

In her words, SOLACE CEE is a unique project because it does not only provide activities to support people experiencing homelessness, but also aims to design integrated services for the health and social inclusion of these people.

“Providing housing is complex, as it concerns not only the work of the project, but also local and national policies.

And because the needs of people in a situation of homelessness are different in the different countries participating in the project, each of the partners should develop a model for needs assessment of these people,” explained Mikova.

“We at Health and Social Development Foundation have focused our attention on people who have a home, but it is insecure and/or inadequate according to the European typology of homelessness and housing exclusion.

These are people living in extreme poverty and isolation, in temporary structures that they have built themselves.

Most often, these are unsafe or illegally built homes, whose residents are under threat of eviction, or cases in which large families live in one room. Society has a negative attitude towards these people because it believes that they put themselves in such a life situation because it is easier for them. But the truth is that this is not the case. This concerns other processes that are related to the circle of intergenerational poverty, which is passed down from generation to generation,” commented the project coordinator.

“Providing a home itself does not solve the problems faced by people in a situation of homelessness in Bulgaria. For example, a large part of them do not have an address,

but after recent legislative changes they have received the opportunity to register administrative housing address, which will greatly facilitate both them and the work of social workers,” Mikova pointed out. There are accommodation centers, but they are temporary. People who are accommodated in them can stay there for 3 to 6 months, and this municipal housing service is too small compared to the needs. I assume that after the opportunity to register at administrative housing address is given, the number of the people registered would increase, which will clarify what the needs are. This greatly limits these people’s access to work, school, social and health services. Often the only health care they receive is to call an ambulance in extremely urgent situations, since they cannot use absolutely anything else, they cannot even be registered at General Practitioner, despite the fact that by law, uninsured persons have the right to a personal doctor”, noted Emilia Mikova.

The SOLACE project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The first meeting of a Central and Eastern European consortium of organisations working with people with the experience of homelessness in their regions to jointly pilot integrated social and health services took place in Košice these days.

Casa Ioana – Romania, Health and Social Development Foundation – Bulgaria, Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta (HCSOM) – Hungary, Housing First Foundation – Poland, Metropolitan Research Institute Budapest – Hungary, DEDO Foundation – Slovakia and All for the Family – Slovakia will thus pilot innovations in this field for the next three years.

This unique collaboration is supported by the European Commission, initiated and led by the DEDO Foundation, which will implement the SOLACE CEE project in two cities, Košice and Prešov. In total, the EC has supported 4 projects in the framework of the call for social innovation, in Slovakia a similarly large project and its support directly from Brussels has been received for the second time.

“Our aim is to create integrated social and health services in both cities, complementing the comprehensive approach to ending family homelessness – from housing, to accompaniment and employment – that we are implementing in Eastern Slovakia”, said Alena Vachnová.

“In our work, we try to use proven approaches that we bring and implement in Slovakia with the aim of ending homelessness, not just managing it,” she added. The Solace project seeks to pilot an innovative integrated health and social services initiative to address the complex needs of people with the experience of homelessness for this demographic. The project will embrace a holistic approach to homelessness, incorporating healthcare components within a continuum of care-from street outreach to housing solutions. This will be achieved by collaborating with dedicated and social specialist teams engaged in outreach fieldwork and medical clinics, supplemented by digital health and trauma-informed care elements. The resultant support services will integrate the humane values of the Housing First approach with a spectrum of health services (covering trust, physical, and mental health, including substance abuse), social care, employability services, social networking and support services. The overarching goal is to fully implement this innovative model in five countries within the Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Balkan region, specifically Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania.

The SOLACE project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

This article is created for the project “Efivos in Europe”

Автор: Юлияна Василева

1. What is the European Youth Parliament (EYP)?

I think that in order to answer this question, we have to take a look at the website of the organization: “The European Youth Parliament is one of Europe’s largest youth platforms for civic education, intercultural encounters, and the exchange of ideas – run by young people, for young people. Our mission is to inspire and empower a young generation of informed, open-minded, responsible, and active citizens that shape society and drive impact.”

In other words, it’s a place in which young people meet and exchange ideas. Depending on the scale of the event, the sessions can be regional, national, or international. All of these sessions gather people from all around Europe, but in regional and national sessions, the delegates are mainly from the country hosting the session. The whole names of the sessions are: “regional selection conference” or ”national selection conference.” Their aim is to select delegates from the host-country to go on a session outside of the country. That is, however, not the only way to participate in a session in another European country. After attending a session as a delegate, a person can apply for different volunteering opportunities in sessions held abroad. The selection is also far from the only thing that EYP can offer to a young person. EYP is much more than the selection that happens. It’s a network in which young people meet and form long-lasting connections.

2. My personal experience in EYP

I signed up for a session of the European Youth Parliament, because I saw that delegates were wanted for the first national session that would take place in Bulgaria. Then I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. As it turns out, more than a year later, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. In the different sessions I went to (5 to this day, 2 of which in another European country), I challenged myself to get out of my comfort zone and to try new and scary things. But the most important thing that EYP gave me was a platform where I meet people. People who share the same interests and beliefs as me and people who accepted me for who I am. I will continue applying for sessions abroad, because this is the only way I can meet so many incredible people who I would otherwise never meet.

The sessions involve different activities. For example, I went to a session in Switzerland where we had a “cultural afternoon” in which we explored the city we were in – Logano. In a session that I was an organiser for in Bulgaria, we organised a “cultural morning” in which participants had the opportunity to see Plovdiv under a different light. So the experience is not only an academic one, it’s also a cultural and social one.

Overall, the experience is one that can’t be explained through words. It’s something a person has to experience for themselves. If you want to understand how you can do that, you read the following point.

3. How can you get involved?

So, how can you get started in the network? I would say the most important thing is to find the social media of the national committee in your country. For example, for Bulgaria, it would be EYP Bulgaria. On social media, they post all the announcements that you need to keep an eye on if you want to get involved!

The article was created as part of the CERV Efivos project in Europe. EFIVOS II program is funded by the European Commission (CERV), with partners Network Children’s Rights (Greece), CIP (Cyprus), HESED (Bulgaria), GEYC (Romania), Dedalus (Italy), Pacto Verde (Spain), Crossing Borders (Denmark).

The support of the European Commission for the preparation of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the content. The publication reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use of the information contained therein.

This article is created for the project “Efivos in Europe”

Authors: Mihaela Traikova and Vaska Dimitrova

Air pollution and noise pollution, the consequences of climate change such as warm winters, heatwaves, and exposure to hazardous chemicals, are among the main factors contributing to the deteriorating health in Europe. According to the report by the European Environment Agency “Healthy Environment, Healthy Lives: How the Environment Influences Health and Well-being in Europe,” illness in European countries is significantly attributed to environmental pollution resulting from human activity. Furthermore, scientific evidence shows that environmental risks are a major cause of cardiovascular diseases, which are the leading cause of death in Europe.

There are many more facts that prove the claim that protecting the environment is actually protecting our health. We chose to take our small step to change the world around us.

Starting in April 2024, as volunteers at the “Health and Social Development” Foundation, we have launched a program focused on ecology and environmental conservation in the “Filipovtsi” neighborhood of the capital.

Engaged in this activity will be young people from the local Roma community aged between 12 and 18 years old. Highly enthusiastic about the idea of ​​making the neighborhood a cleaner and more beautiful place, we are gathering like-minded individuals for four initiatives:

1st of April – Cleanup of the neighborhood

Yes, it’s not particularly pleasant to dig through the trash, but it’s worth it, and there will be plenty of gloves, masks, bags, and containers. Hopefully, we will set a good example, and one day initiatives like this won’t be necessary.

10th of April – Plant a tree

We will plant 10 fruit trees on the main street of the neighborhood. Materials and gardening tools will be provided.

15th of April – Lunch in a box

At the MIR-Filipovtsi Center of the foundation, we will showcase ideas on how to prepare packed lunches with the aim of generating less waste.

20th of April – Second life for our clothes

Volunteers will be distributing second-hand clothes in front of the health center building. Everyone willing to donate is welcome!

These initiatives are our way of changing the place we live in and setting a good example because the health of everyone depends on the environment.

The article was created as part of the CERV Efivos project in Europe. EFIVOS II program is funded by the European Commission (CERV), with partners Network Children’s Rights (Greece), CIP (Cyprus), HESED (Bulgaria), GEYC (Romania), Dedalus (Italy), Pacto Verde (Spain), Crossing Borders (Denmark).The support of the European Commission for the preparation of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the content. The publication reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use of the information contained therein.

This article is created for the project “Efivos in Europe”

Author: Sashko Sashov

Transportation is one of the main causes of air pollution and the largest source of harmful emissions.

Dirty cars – dirty air

Cars, trucks, and buses running on fossil fuels are responsible for the air pollution. In fact, transportation accounts for more than half of the nitrogen oxides in our air and is a major source of harmful emissions. Studies link pollutants from vehicle exhaust to adverse effects on almost all organs and systems in the human body. What’s worse, exposure to pollution is unjust. The harms disproportionately affect people with lower incomes.

Dirty air poses significant risks to human health and the environment, but through clean technologies and fuels, we can significantly reduce emissions from our vehicles and participate in transforming transportation.

Cars, trucks, and buses pollute the air throughout their entire lifecycle, including emissions released during the operation of the vehicle and the production of fuel. Additional emissions are associated with the refining and distribution of fuels, and to a lesser extent, with the production, disposal, or recycling of the vehicle.

The EU aims to achieve a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. This is part of its efforts to reduce carbon emissions and achieve climate neutrality by 2050, as outlined in the European Green Deal roadmap.

Significantly reducing CO₂ emissions from transportation won’t be easy, as the pace at which this was expected to be achieved has slowed down. Recent forecasts project a reduction in emissions by only 22% by 2050, which falls far short of European ambitions.

The possible personal contribution

One of the recommended alternatives is the use of electric vehicles. But would this contribute to less pollution?

It has already been proven that the production and harmful emissions of electric cars are less environmentally damaging than those of internal combustion engine cars. The level of emissions from electric vehicles varies depending on how the electricity is produced.

However, considering the average energy mix in Europe, electric vehicles already appear to be cleaner than gasoline-powered vehicles. As the share of electricity from renewable sources is expected to increase in the future, electric cars should become even less harmful to the environment, especially considering the EU’s plans to make batteries more sustainable.

Another possible way to reduce harmful vehicle emissions is to increase the fuel efficiency of new cars. However, in this regard, there is also a delay, and the efforts of the EU in this area have not yet yielded results.

From this, it follows that currently the only effective ways to make a personal contribution to reducing harmful emissions are to limit the use of personal vehicles, as they cause the most serious pollution. Other options include walking whenever possible, using public transportation, and participating in carpooling.

The article was created as part of the CERV Efivos project in Europe. EFIVOS II program is funded by the European Commission (CERV), with partners Network Children’s Rights (Greece), CIP (Cyprus), HESED (Bulgaria), GEYC (Romania), Dedalus (Italy), Pacto Verde (Spain), Crossing Borders (Denmark).

The support of the European Commission for the preparation of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the content. The publication reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use of the information contained therein.

This article is created for the project “Efivos in Europe”

Author: Asya Atanasova

The right to health of millions of people worldwide is increasingly threatened. Diseases and disasters cause death and disability. Military conflicts are devastating for thousands of lives, causing death, pain, hunger, and psychological stress.

The emissions from vehicles running on traditional fuels are one of the contributors to the climate crisis and deprive us of the right to breathe clean air,

as indoor and outdoor air pollution claims a life every 5 seconds

According to the WHO, at least 140 countries recognize, in their constitution, health as a human right. However, states fail to adopt and implement laws that guarantee their population’s right to access healthcare services in practice. Evidence of this is the fact that more than 4.5 billion people (which is more than half the world’s population!) didn’t have full access to essential health services in 2021.

Every year on April 7th, we celebrate World Health Day. This date marks the establishment of the World Health Organization in 1948, which annually selects a current theme and declares it a priority area.

The theme for the World Health Day in 2024 is “My health – my right”

This year’s theme is chosen to protect the right of every person worldwide to have access to quality healthcare services, education, and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working conditions, and a safe environment, free from discrimination.

What are the EU commitments?

The “EU4Health Programme 2021-2027” is a vision for a healthier European Union. It was adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to enhance crisis preparedness in the EU. The pandemic highlighted the instability of national healthcare systems. The goal of the EU4Health programme is to contribute in addressing long-term health challenges by building stronger, more resilient, and more accessible healthcare systems.

EU4Health sends a clear message that public health is a priority for the EU and is one of the main tools for advancing towards a European Health Union.

The program will pave the way for a European Health Union by investing in urgent health priorities:

• Strengthening the EU’s resilience against cross-border health threats;
• European plan for combating cancer;
• Pharmaceutical strategy for Europe;
• Support for global commitments and health initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Other areas that will be incentivized by the EU include the digitization of healthcare systems, reducing the number of antimicrobial-resistant infections, and improving vaccination rates.

The EU plans to expand successful initiatives such as the European Reference Networks for Rare Diseases and to continue seeking international collaboration on global health threats and challenges.

Biology alone cannot explain serious health inequalities. The differences between countries and within them are due to their socio-economic policies, which influence the environment in which people live. Addressing this inequality is a matter of social justice and human rights. WHO and the EU share a common vision and unite their efforts to achieve a healthier world.

The article was created as part of the CERV Efivos project in Europe. EFIVOS II program is funded by the European Commission (CERV), with partners Network Children’s Rights (Greece), CIP (Cyprus), HESED (Bulgaria), GEYC (Romania), Dedalus (Italy), Pacto Verde (Spain), Crossing Borders (Denmark).

The support of the European Commission for the preparation of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the content. The publication reflects only the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use of the information contained therein.