On October 4 and 5, we met with children from two schools in the town of Kardjali and with students from the village of Tarnava. Thanks to the financial and material support of companies and individual donors in the campaign, the National Network for Children was able to expand the campaign “Let’s save September 15 for the children in Tsarevo and the surrounding area” and help not only in the areas affected by the floods, but also in three more the cities in Bulgaria – Kardzhali and Tarnava are among them, along with the town of Byala Slatina.
Packages of school materials were provided to socially disadvantaged children in “P. K. Yavorov” in Karzhali, and 20 children in need in Tarnava will be supported – with educational aids, school uniforms and provision of food. Lyudmil Spasov – director of “Corporate Partnerships”, Rositsa Sredkova – member of the Board of Directors of NNC and representative of the Kardzhali association “Development Initiative – Kardzhali Resolves”, Martin Kostadinov – manager of “Administration and Finance” met with the students, their teachers and the directors. Kristina Nenova – coordinator “Children’s and youth participation” and Stanislava Kostadinova from the “Fundraising” department.
With the director of OU “P. K. Yavorov” Mrs. Elena Yaneva, we discussed the problems at school and in which cases the National Network for Children can assist. In the village of Tarnava, we held a focus group with the children about Internet safety – about the different risks they recognie in online communication, about the technologies that detect harmful content and about how the online trail can be a safer place for children.
We also visited SU “P. R. Slaveykov”, in which we conducted the training “Children – advocates, children – activists”. The seminar was attended by students and teachers from several secondary schools and vocational high schools in the city, as well as representatives of local institutions. We presented our program for children and youth participation “Megaphone”, in which students from “P. R. Slaveikov” participate together with a supporting adult. Among them is Melvin from Year 12B, who has already completed our two-year program and shared with the young people present her experience of the program, what she learned and the benefits. With the children and teachers we talked about advocacy and how even if we can’t change the world with a magic wand, through leadership, advocacy and youth activism we can change someone’s destiny or something significant in our community. The young people in the hall told us about their initiatives in which they actively try to make the world and their community a better place to live. We express our gratitude for the warm welcome and hospitality of the school director Milko Bagdasarov. In 2022, “P. R. Slaveykov” received the “Golden Apple” award of the National Network for Children in the “School” category, which takes care of children’s rights and creates opportunities for child and youth inclusion.
