On 16 and 17 October, representatives of the municipalities of Durrës and Pustec in Albania visited Bulgaria to exchange experience in the field of social services.
The visit took place within a project funded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Bulgarian Development Aid Programme and implemented by the Albanian Center for Population and Development (ACPD) in partnership with the National Network for Children.
During the two-day programme, the delegations met with Deputy Minister Natalia Efremova from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Deputy Mayor of Sofia Nadezhda Bacheva, and Deputy Mayor of Pernik Stefan Krastev, as well as with the teams of the Institute for Social Activities and Practices, the newly opened therapeutic centre of the Proud of Me Foundation, and the P.U.L.S. Foundation in Pernik.
“We were impressed by the way Bulgaria coordinates the work between ministries, municipalities and non-governmental organisations. The National Map of Social Services is an extremely useful tool that we would like to introduce in our own context,” said a representative of the Municipality of Pustec.
“We witnessed effective partnerships between local authorities and civil society organisations. The crisis centre of the P.U.L.S. Foundation made a particularly strong impression — it supports both victims and perpetrators of violence, a model we would like to develop in Durrës,” added a member of the Albanian delegation.
The visit demonstrated that cooperation between Bulgaria and Albania can serve as a driver for more innovative and human-centred social policies, focused on better care for children and vulnerable groups.
