Active Bulgarian Society (ABS)

Active Bulgarian Society (ABS) is an organization founded in 2013 and accredited for EVS for the first time at the beginning of 2016. The ABS team works in the field of youth mobility and non-formal education, with a priority of work being the creation of a local youth network which helps young people in their realisation and their active citizenship in Bulgaria and Europe. The office of Active Bulgarian Society is located in Blagoevgrad and the main target group of the activities of the organization are the young people in the region. The work of the ABS team involves organizing and partnering in different training courses, initiating volunteer exchanges, coordinating sports, cultural, environmental projects, seminars and events. ABS prioritizes communication with students in Blagoevgrad and periodically makes informative presentations in schools and universities that provide young people with information on opportunities for professional realization and participation in Erasmus+ projects. One of the popular initiatives of ABS, the Festival of Tolerance, which took place in Blagoevgrad in November 2017, included over 250 young volunteers from the region. With the support of the ABS team, the students that took part in the project organized various campaigns that reached a large part of the population of Blagoevgrad. One of the main goals of the team is to provide opportunities for development of disadvantaged young people. For this purpose, some of the activities target the youth in the social homes in the city of Blagoevgrad. The organization also deals with social entrepreneurship projects that allow building of leadership skills and give theoretical and practical knowledge to young people who are not part of the country's workforce. Another main objective is the establishment of an international dialogue between Bulgarian and foreign youth. It takes place through the reception and sending of volunteers in training seminars related to personal development, employment, entrepreneurship, art, human rights, ecology, youth development and many others on the territory of Europe. The Active Bulgarian Society team strives in all its activities to cooperate with the local partners in the face of Blagoevgrad Municipality, the American University in Bulgaria and the South West University - both located in Blagoevgrad, local schools as well as with various youth organizations in the region.