Project of the Year 2023 Award for BFPA

We are happy because one of the nominated projects in this year’s selection of the Tulip Foundation – ‘Youth voices, youth choices’ – our project, which we are very proud of, was noticed and awarded.

In order to distinguish him among all the nominees, the following people worked: Tsvetanka Mincheva, CEO and Chairman of the Board of UniCredit Bulbank; Snezhina Petrova, actress and head of the Theater Department of the New Bulgarian University; Tsveta Nikolova, journalist in ‘Hristo Botev’ program of BNR; Irena Komitova, representative of The Economist Group; Svetlozar Zhelev, director of the National Center for the Book.
This happened at a special ceremony in the Sofia City Art Gallery on July 2, 2024, among selected paintings of the great Bulgarian artist Dechko Uzunov, collected in an exhibition on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth.

Our project ‘Youth voices, youth choices’ (2021-2023) was international. Partner organizations from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and North Macedonia participated in it. We from BFPA worked for our country, and the overall coordination was carried out by the International Planned Parenthood Federation with support from the program for socially responsible business of the company MSD.
We are proud and happy to have been able to carry out research and better understand what the impact of COVID-19 has been on young people’s access to health services, and what deficits are found and what were the most priority activities we could contribute to. As we did. The research made it clear that mental health is one of the most important things for young people, but in fact there is no service available in our country to meet the needs of people seeking support. Thus, our young volunteers created and maintain the platform for free psychological help One Click Away, which during its existence has already carried out more than 350 consultations and continues to work. We continue to seek funding for it in the future. We worked with vulnerable communities, making it so that young people from several universities and from several Roma neighborhoods worked in teams to look for local problems, define them and propose solutions to them together.

Thus, we have held exhibitions, including those shown in two municipalities – Dupnitsa and Blagoevgrad, with which young people implemented advocacy activities; cleaned and painted with graffiti tunnel, as a result of which the Municipality electrified it; sewer cleaned after a letter sent by a group of youths to the local authorities; implemented health and information campaigns. Several young people worked on a film that presented the whole project and the activities in places. The most valuable thing we have achieved is that they, the youth, continue to connect with each other with enthusiasm, and are ready to overcome new challenges for the benefit of their communities, to involve and enthuse other youth to become stronger and capable .

We at BFPA are happy and continue to support them.
The award – a sculpture with a tulip as a sign of appreciation – was specially made by Georgi Chapkanov-Chapa. It is for all of us and for all of them. Thanks for the recognition!