Once again, our Svetogled Support Centre in the Roma community of Fakulteta, Sofia, opened its doors for local children and their families. With flowers, toys, smiles, a little impatience and a few tears, a group of fifteen children aged between 3 and 5 years old gathered for the first time in the new school year.

This is the fourth year that the neighbourhood’s children will receive care, training, support and encouragement within FSCI’s Early Years Education in Vulnerable Communities Programme. The Centre’s team will be working intensively with educational materials approved by the Ministry of Education. Special attention will go to the parents and extended family of the children, whose attitude to education and care is particularly crucial for their children’s development, and their retention in the education system.

The first working day of the Svetogled public support centre was traditionally welcomed – with sprinkled water for good luck, plenty of flowers and hope for an even more successful upcoming year for the Roma children and their parents.

We invited Anna Ilieva who is the coordinator of the Early Years Education Programme in vulnerable communities to talk about the last two years and the future of the Svetogled centre.

“It’s difficult for me to summarise what we have achieved during the last two years. So many things have happened – we opened the Centre based on the Early Years Education Programme in vulnerable communities, we have worked to promote it in the local community, particularly among parents and families who really need this service. These past two years we have worked with two groups of children – one for each year. The work is carried out according to the approved programme by the Ministry of Education and Science and follows all the educational activities set out in the curriculum.

We are proud to announce that for the last year 11 children went on to attend school, which means that we managed to motivate not only the children, but their parents as well, which is essential for the enrolling process.

Not everything is measured by numbers. For us it is extremely important to see positive change in the children, in their behaviour, their knowledge and their language skills. Most of the children come to us with serious behavioural problems and no knowledge of the Bulgarian language. Thanks to the work of the teacher, the children have developed a lot of their skills and parents have realised the importance of education. Indeed, the parents see the change in their children and feel very proud of them and their achievements.

The tasks of the centre are numerous and they might be quite ambitious, but we are working on community development and focus on school dropout prevention. We help build trust and strengthen the relationship between families in the community, organise local activities and campaigns, support people when they need assistance in preparing different types of documentation, organise events for the children and their families in the Centre. Most of our work is done on the ground when we travel locally to establish dialogue between the community and the local institutions.

Even though the classes didn’t begin on 15 September, the spirit of the first school day was in the air and excited both children and staff.

The public support centre has a very important mission – here children get the opportunity to adapt to the learning process so that when they start school they can be on the same level as their peers of Bulgarian origin. In the Centre the children learn about good behaviour, healthy habits as well as what it means to be part of a team. The Centre even tries to lay the foundation for their cultural interest in music and arts.

This year we have two more goals beyond working with young children – deepening our work with parents from the Roma minority as well as enrolling children of school age.

How can you possibly manage to build a home when you have never had one?

30 young adults succeeded, thanks to the programme House of Opportunity and text messages from thousands of people.

In each House of Opportunity there is one room for girls and one room for boys

Close your eyes. Now imagine that you are very young again and you are at home. Can you smell the aroma at home- the combination between your mum’s pancakes, your dad’s aftershave, the flowers in the garden?

Now imagine what your life would you be like without this aroma – how would you live without this place that smells of home?

Well, this is the life for hundreds of young adults who leave institutions for children, deprived of parental care.

Abandoned by their own parents, the only aroma they could smell throughout all their childhood was the one of the social institution – a place that never felt like real home for them.

However, when they turn 18 they are expected to leave and suddenly become independent and able to create their own home.

How do you create a home when you have never had one before?

The people from the FSCI team are looking to answer this question. It gives young adults who are leaving social institutionsa chance to live in one of the family-style homes all around the country until they get more independent, finish their education and find a job.

The people from FSCI insist that this is the only way to stop the vicious circle of abandoned children who grow up and in turn abandon their own children.

First attempts at cooking

In the House of Opportunitythe young adults learn how to cope with life after the social institution. They stay in the flats for two years while receivingtraining and support in finding and keeping a job, developing work habits, personal finance and household management, adequate care for personal health, developing social skills and skills to create long-term positive relationships.

The aim of all of this is that the young people can start an independent and fulfilling life with the help of the FSCI team which fully supports the young adults until they leave the flats.

That’s why it is not surprising that DMS DOM is one of the most popular text messages received by the number 17777 and the House of Opportunity Programme is also one of the campaigns with the highest number of regular donors for 2016. This is thanks to the support of VIVACOM and their campaign Operation “Yellow Coins”, which has supported the House of Opportunity Programme for the last three years.

Within the framework of the campaign, FSCI and VIVACOM managed to raiseover BGN 170 000 in the form of financial resources, products and volunteers to support the programme.

With the financial support two new Houses were opened – in Sofia and Varna, which provide five places for young adults who have left social institutions.

Thanks to the generosity of the thousands of people who supported the campaign, these young adults along with the other 25 young people across the country are supported by the Foundation and will get a chance for a fresh start in life.

60 participants from all across the Balkans came together to learn more about Inspiring civil society for good during this year’s Network Conference in Sofia. Everybody enjoyed spending time with people who share a similar vision and values about social change and inclusion.

Highlights of this year’s conference were interviews with former House of Opportunity residents, contributions by Bulgarian business people on why they support FSCI and what they look for in NGOs, and stories about the work of FSCI’s partners from all across the Balkans. The workshops provided a good opportunity to ask questions, exchange ideas and experiences and share good practice with each other.

Find out more about FSCI’s Development Programme here.

In order to increase social change and inclusion across the Balkans and Eastern Europe, FSCI is offering the House of Opportunity and Early Years Education Programmes that the foundation has developed in Bulgaria to other like-minded organisations throughout the region by inviting them to join its Development Programme.

Seven organisations are already partnering with FSCI – House of Opportunity projects have started in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, with Albania not far behind. FSCI’s Greek partners are running a Day Care Centre for care leavers in Athens, while the Albanian partner of FSCI – A2B, with support from FSCI, is helping a local church run a kindergarten for 40 Roma children.

House of Opportunity in Croatia – two official openings in one week

The official openings of the Houses of Opportunity in Čakovec and Varaždin took place at the beginning of September. The launch events were very well attended with guests including the Mayor of the city and the deputy governor of the regional municipality who all spoke of their appreciation of this project. Two FSCI representatives were also delighted to be able to join in the celebrations – the Founder and Chairman of the Bulgarian foundation – Chris Mould and the organization’s Coordinator for the Balkans – Annette Glaw.

Both of the openings were covered positively on national and local TV for several days afterwards.

(Watch a video of HOP Čakovec here and a video of a drama the young people and staff of HOP Varazdin performed about young people having to leave foster care when they turn 18 – click here)

House of Opportunity going from strength to strength in Serbia

House of Opportunity Belgrade has been going well for the last eleven months and Tanya, the House Manager and director of Center Star, has been busy with preparations for a second Serbian House in the city of Niš.

At the beginning of Sept. Center Star was able to rent a suitable apartment and training of the HOP staff, volunteers and other interested people by Nikolay, FSCI’s Social Work Dept. Manager, took place mid-September. The team have also identified candidates to join the House of Opportunity Programme in Niš.

House of Opportunity (or “Half-Way House”) finally opened in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina

After a long and challenging development period, the first residents were finally able to move into the House of Opportunity that our Partners, Our Kids Foundation, are running in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

There are eight young men in the programme, most of whom have already found a job. The staff team is busy with offering all sorts of training for the young people.

Over the past seven months, our first group of children between 3 and 4 years old visited regularly the community centre in the Roma community of Fakulteta (Sofia). The program’s activities are focused on preparing the children for admission to kindergarten by improving their language and social skills.

On the occasion of the first day of the spring, the children presented to their parents songs and poems that they have learned at the centre.