“I Vote for Europe’: Bulgarian Youth Votes in the European Elections 2009”
Project Summary
The primary objective of the project is to encourage the participation of young people, age 18-25, in the European elections in 2009, by developing new models and channels of communication between youth groups and political parties/candidates and new models for voter mobilisation in the run-up to the elections. The coalition of 4 NGOs, created for the implementation of the project, will work to engage young people in the elections, providing them with non-partisan information about key issues shaping the candidates’ platforms. All of the project activities will follow the principles of participatory democracy, focusing upon ways that have become main venues of free exchange of information, ideas, and debates for young people. The project will use the format of a political Facebook-community, through a website with blogs and discussion fora toencourage direct participation of young people in debates and online meetings with EP candidates. Main expected result of the information campaign, proposed here, will be greater voter activity on election day and larger turn-out compared to the 2007 elections. Project activities will also contribute to fostering a stronger sense of European citizenship among young people in Bulgaria, as the newest member of the EU.
The Bulgarian School of Politics (BSoP), in partnership with the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (IEAC) in Kiev, proposes an initiative to aid Ukraine’s democratic community in the country’s efforts to join the Euro-Atlantic community.
Bulgarian School of Politics: Institutional Development Project, 2007
This project focuses on further developing and improving the institutional and intellectual capacity of the Bulgarian School of Politics for providing high-quality training to political and civic leaders in the country and the region, in order to establish the School as a leading educational and resource center in political leadership training
Matra Project “Training for Democracy. Bulgarian School of Politics”, 2008-2011
The key problem that this project identifies is the lack of a community of professional political and civic leaders in Bulgaria, who understand and can fully implement the core principles of good governance, such as the rule of law, legitimacy, transparency, and accountability.
