Future 21 Century Foundation

Mission - Bridging the digital divides. Foundation established in March, 1997, Plovdiv court , Bulgaria.It operates networking creating community of IT speciliasts dur to its Regional Cisco Academy. More than 30 volunteers actively participate in various online and ofline actibities. It operates at natioanl and international level due to its multifunctional platform iPortal for e-learning and distance collaboration. Expertise in IT trainings (offline and online), online debates, online storitelling, online theater, creation of animation films in 3D virtual worlds, programming, networking, hosting cloud services, design and maintaining of platforms. The foundation is an active participant in national forums dedicated to the development od the civil society in Bulgaria – egovbg, work group for development of civil socirty to Council of Ministers , Bulgaria; 681 group, etc. It runs own IT and people with disabilities program since 2001 , as well as talents of 21 Century Program since 1997. The foundation uses as a quality system tools of its own iPortal platform but not ISO Some of the key relevant projects : F21 was an initiator and a partner in a multilevel ICT project - BG 0029, funded by the Financial Mechanism of EEA during its very first period. The consortium for this project was formed by Municipality of Antonovo (Bulgaria), Bycle og Hovden from Norway, One Systems from Iceland and F21. Total grant sum - 350 873 Euro. Main project activities - up-grading of ICT municipal infrastructure - wireless net, VPN, IP PBX (VoIP) services, video surveillance, video recording of classes in all municipal schools ; audit of the municipal information system, digitization of municipal services including digital cadaster plans; website up-grade; 4 IT courses, including one for Decision makers – offline and blended; exchange of good practices with the foreign partners . In total 11 innovations at the level of Bulgarian municipalities at that time. Bridging the digital divides project – dedicated to IT education for people with disabilities. Financed by Bulgaria Fund (Branch of German Marshal Fund) . A common project with the Technical University Sofia, also granted by the Bulgarian Fund – providing a higher level of networking qualification and Masterclasses facilitated by leading ICT experts and IT managers in Bulgaria. Participation as a subcontractor in a project with an applicant - the municipality of Stambolijski, granted by OPAC (Operational Program Administrative Capacity) . Due to our contribution, Stambolijski is the first Bulgarian municipality to provide e-services to all settlements on its territory. F21 was a coordinator of Bulgarian e-Referendum Model (BERM) project together with the University for applied sciences in Bern, Switzerland within Bulgarian Swiss Collaboration Program. The core - exchange of know-how and the transfer of Swiss expertise and the state of art worldwide, amendments’ proposals re current Bulgarian legislation, a working IT model with a roadmap for its implementation. The project's overall objectives: invigorate direct democracy in Bulgaria; foster active civil participation in decision-making and policy formation at the local and national levels; enhance the civic organizations’ role and significance in public polling and agenda-setting and in Bulgaria; and stimulate the further development of effective e-government in the country. F21 was a coordinator of iPortal project (KA2, EACEA, later Erasmus + program). Budget – 534 000 Euro. Partners from Germany, UK, Spain, Poland, and Turkey. Design and creation of a multifunctional platform for e-learning with synchronous and asynchronous tools integrated to SAKAI LMS. The foundation was an initiator and partner in VAPET VIP project (2016-1-PT01-KA) with a coordinator the Portugal Fundação Raquel e Martin Sain . The foundation was also an initiator and partner in “Integration of ethnic minorities in the into the labor market through enhancement of their employment potentials” project with a coordinator Youth Entrepreneurial Service Foundation, Republic of North Macedonia