The Fakulteta neighborhood is the largest informal settlement in Sofia, populated mainly by Roma families. Around 40,000 people live outside regulation, in self-built housing, often without building permits and outside the scope of basic public services. Access to water, sanitation and electricity is limited, and waste management is neglected: there are not enough containers, garbage collection is irregular, and numerous unregulated dumps have accumulated in the area. Burning waste and open dumping of garbage pose serious risks to health and air quality.
In winter, Fakulteta experiences particularly high levels of pollution – many households use wood, coal or even waste for heating due to the lack of affordable and legally permitted alternatives. Vulnerable families, especially those without notarial deeds and formal address registration, are excluded from municipal and national programs for replacing heating appliances, which further deepens the cycle of energy poverty and pollution.
Phase 1 of the project (2023–2025), implemented by the Trust for Social Alternatives (TSA), the Health and Social Development Foundation (HESED) and the Equal Opportunities Initiative (EoI), collected significant data through sensors and field surveys. The phase demonstrated community readiness to participate, but also revealed systemic obstacles: lack of equitable policies, poor waste management and legal barriers to access to clean heating.
In the current new phase (2025–2026), the project partners TSA and HESED aim to build on the results achieved and work on long-term structural solutions through targeted advocacy, citizen monitoring and working with the most vulnerable groups.
The project addresses two critical issues in the Fakulteta:
- unregulated waste management, which leads to pollution and health risks;
- the lack of equal access to clean energy for heating, which perpetuates a vicious cycle of energy poverty, waste incineration and severe air pollution.
Through the joint work of the Trust for a Social Alternative and the Health and Social Development Foundation, the project aims to achieve fairer policies, better services and stronger and more sustainable civic participation, by placing the Roma community in the Faculty at the center of the process. The Health and Social Development Foundation is a key field partner with a long-standing presence in the Fakulteta. The Foundation plays a central role in the project, focusing on community work, training and the implementation of pilot activities.
Project objectives
To improve air quality and living conditions in the Fakulteta through better waste management, more equitable access to clean heating and increased civic engagement, putting the voice of the local community at the center of political decisions.
The project focuses on three main areas:
1) Improving waste management and preventing illegal dumping and developing a landfill map;
2) Ensuring access to cleaner heating energy for the poorest families
3) Strengthening civic participation and local capacity
Project activities:
- Updating a map of unregulated landfills and counting containers (in the field information collection part)
- Recruitment and training of volunteers for the citizen monitoring mechanism “Waste Watchers”
- Selection of 10 participants in the piloting of heating with air conditioners
The project is advocacy and community-oriented and aims to influence policies that directly affect the live and health of the residents of the Fakulteta neighborhood.
Project duration: December 1, 2025 – December 1, March 2026 (1 year)
Funding: The “Reducing Pollution for Poor Communities in Sofia – Advocacy Stage” project is funded by the Trust for Social Alternative Foundation.
