Bulgarian Youth Association

Bulgarian Youth Association is a Youth non-profit/ non-governmental organization established in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2014 when a group of young people decided to unite their efforts for causes that are important to all of us, although we come from different backgrounds. The idea of this organization is to be the point from which to obtain a common vision for the important aspects of our lives. We wanted it to be the means by which our ideas are born, to materialize, to see the real result. Because we realized that an idea will never see the light of the day, if you do not find a collaborator who believes in it, supports it and gives it the strength to survive. Bulgarian Youth Association aims to support the active involvement of young people in various areas of public life; to promote personal development and democratic citizenship, volunteering and youth mobility; sport and healthy lifestyle; to support the development of the abilities and potential of young people from different social and ethnic groups, and young people with disabilities. The path to this is participation in various national and international projects, implementation of joint activities in partnerships with other organizations or networks; organizing advocacy campaigns; development and implementation of strategies and programs at local, national and international level. Members of the organization are involved in developing, evaluating and managing various programs and projects in the social sector, education and the media. One of the main priorities of the Bulgarian Youth Association is developing international partnerships with similar organizations, active exchange of ideas and best practices, creating a rich network of European partners. We stand for the basic human rights and follow the European moto "Unity in Diversity" by promoting European values. We want to be the change for a better future, it’s up to all of us! After the success of many of our events, our organization got a license to be the only one representative of the foundation “MasterPeace” in Bulgaria. “MasterPeace” aims to inspire everyone to use their talent and energy for building peace and togetherness. It will help lead the way to a more sustainable world with less armed conflicts. Also it’s the fastest growing grass-roots peace movement in the world, with the ambition to reach out to millions and mobilize at least 400,000 new peace builders by 2020. Every year on 21st September the “International Day of Peace” we organize informational campaigns, dance, music and art mutual activities with the coordinators of “MasterPeace” from the other member countries . Other big event we organize is on 1st December the “World Aids Day” where together with partners we inform young people where they can get free testing for HIV, what are the dangers of unprotected sex, how can you get infected and thanks to our strong partnerships, get free condoms where we give them out to the people to protect themselves. As of 2016, we are part of the International Peace Youth Group (IPYG) and act as Peace Ambassadors in our country, together with our MasterPeace team. Also from February, our organization became a member of the Anna Lindh Foundation. Together with the network we are working towards promotion of intercultural dialogue at all levels and active participation for implementation of civil society initiatives. The core team of Bulgarian Youth Association consists of seven founders and up to twenty constant volunteers, all of them young people of different professional profiles, and each one of them responsible for specific aspect of the projects/activities that we realize or plan. The target group of our activities are primarily ambitious and enthusiastic university students seeking additional sources for personal and professional development and interested in working on youth projects. With regard to this, more than 300 young people have been part of our local, national and international activities so far. We also had an approved youth exchange project, which was successfully held in Nessebar, Bulgaria in June 2016, organized by us with 6 different partners. Our motto is VIA JUVENIS (The path of youth, The way of the young).