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Description
Varna has received many refugees as a result of the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile there has been no coordination between the available resources in the public, private and non-governmental sectors. The project “Crisis response mechanism for civic organizations in Varna municipality” plans to create a mechanism for crisis response and the aim of the project is to create coordination and communication, which will aid the facilitation of activities and help for refugees that tend to overlap between organisations. The project will allow citizens to stay informed about ways in which they can support the local NGOs. The problem, showcased after the Ukrainian refugee wave is that the needs of the people are different, and the non-governmental sector is not well organized and effective enough. The project will create cooperation within the sector and with the public and private local actors in order to ensure the future coordination of resources in times of crisis. The foreseen products are an interactive platform for the active NGOs locally, 12 meetings of the leaders in all sectors, and an annual conference for the responsible public, private and non-governmental actors on the local level. The project will aid refugees, who will receive effective help, and local organisations, who will be able to work more efficiently through the involvement of NGOs, socially responsible business and local authorities.
Summary of project results
After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Varna became a place of thousands incoming refugees. Unfortunately, the civil sector failed to organize and respond productively to meet the needs of a large group of needy refugees. The project aimed to provide knowledge sharing and build partnerships between active organisations in Varna, and to help them organise more effectively with their available resources in future crises.
The project focused on three main areas. The first was to build an online platform that would make visible the active organisations in Varna and enable them to share initiatives and events without having to conform to the information dissemination model of the big social media. The second guideline was to hold regular meetings of the civil sector. Each meeting had a specific theme and aimed to provoke the sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices between organisations and guests from the public, media, and business sectors. Partnerships and joint initiatives were born in the meetings, which helped to share resources across the sector. The third strand was the organisation of a one-day conference to showcase causes that are actively being worked on in Varna. Businesses supported some of the CSOs in conducting workshops and other activities for the citizens of Varna.
The project had the greatest direct added value for the organisations that participated in it. In the course of the project they expanded their knowledge of all the active organisations at local level and how they can partner to achieve results more successfully. The most visible result is the Active Varna platform, where organizations can share their events and campaigns, and citizens will have a portal to events with a cause in the city. Citizens will feel the result by having a wider choice of initiatives to get involved in as participants, volunteers and donors.