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Description
According to the European Court of Auditors 2018 report, air in Bulgaria is more polluted than air in China. Data of the World Health Organization show that 15.000 Bulgarians die every year of diseases directly related to polluted air. The excessive levels of fine particulate matter is the reason for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes and a stroke. AirBG survey carried out during the last heating season showed that the cities with the most polluted air are Plovdiv, Rousse, Vidin and Sofia and the main reasons for pollution are solid fuel heating and car traffic. At the end of July 2019 the European Commission filed a claim before the Luxembourg Court against Bulgaria on the grounds of failure to provide sufficient measures to protect Bulgarian citizens from polluted air. Local policies are also not up to the challenge. Our project provides for a training programme involving representatives of district and municipal administration, members of civisl society organizations and public opinion leaders from the most affected communities. The goal is to improve awareness of the newly elected local authorities, i.e. district administration representatives, mayors, respective deputy mayors and experts and increase civic involvement in policy-making to fight polluted air and its harmful effects. The project also provides for measures for awareness raising and involvement of local communities in solving the issue. The end beneficiaries will be the citizens of the four most affected cities.
Summary of project results
The project increased the knowledge and skills of 20 representatives of local authorities, NGOs and civil activists from four of the most affected cities in the country (Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse and Vidin) to combat air polution and its harmful effects. The project enabled those players who rarely and hardly come together and interact to work together to solve a real case: "Creation and implementation of measures and policies to solve problems related to polluted air in the municipality of Galabovo." The final product contains an Action Plan, a communication strategy and a budgetary framework to address the problems. The survey among the participants found that even when they are from the same city, those working for the cause of clean air do not know each other, do not know how to cooperate, how local authorities and NGOs can work together. As a result of the project, the participants created a network of acquaintances and contacts, which will be useful in their future work on the problems of clean air through the exchange of information, resources and experience. The benefits for the beneficiary organization are expressed in the testing of a successful training methodology on the topic of the project, which can be applied in the future.