Italy and Bulgaria – Exchange of Ideas on Social Entrepreneurship

As part of a social entrepreneurship development program, Karin Dom hosted a representative of Centro Internazionale delle Culture Ubuntu ETS -Ubuntu – Patricia Pappalardo from Palermo, Italy. The project partner is the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law (BCNP), which organizes the exchange program on the part of Bulgaria.

The Ubuntu organization was founded in 2006. by Patricia Pappalardo who is a social worker. The organization deals with the management of a kindergarten for children of different nationalities (from families of emigrants), works in the direction of social inclusion and child care, training, culinary and art activities. The kindergarten that Patricia runs is for children from 6 months. up to 3 years old, organize various activities for older children as well, workshops and other ways of social inclusion, international culinary workshops in which families are also involved.

At Karin Dom, Patrizia joined our activities and initiatives, attended therapy sessions and group activities with the children. The Martenichka campaign of Karin Dom was very interesting for her, as was the celebration itself to welcome Baba Marta to our country. Almost all the colleagues and services we visited were preparing for the holiday and making orders for their social enterprises. This is a favorite campaign of many organizations, and our Family Store “Ambassadors of Goodness” during this period was really flooded with orders, our studio was full of volunteers, and many kindergartens, schools, citizens and organizations made and sent martenichki to the bazaars , which we organized.

Our guest was particularly impressed by the Montessori center at Karin Dom and the environment that is tailored to Montessori learning. She was impressed by the fully adapted and structured environment, which allows children from both groups “Montessori House” and “Montessori Group” (for children with special needs), to communicate and learn together, to join a music circle and educational activities.

We thank all the colleagues we visited for presenting their organizations, shared difficulties and interest in social programs in Italy! We have unique organizations in Varna, a lot has been achieved over the years with a lot of effort and many difficulties overcome.

And something curious – our guest shared that Varna is very similar to Palermo, so besides people dedicated to the profession, Varna also shines with the beauty of its unique sea coast!

We thank Mrs. Chankova, who welcomed us to the Day Center for Adults with Disabilities “Riviera” and talked about her work with great enthusiasm, shared interesting stories from the creation of the organization and the way to now. At Akademika VUM – which provides protected employment for persons who have limited access to the labor market, we were welcomed with an impressive organization and culinary offerings by a team that works with pleasure for its customers. In the Social Teahouse, they told us about their mentoring program, which was very interesting and innovative for our guest, who works with vulnerable groups and youth of different nationalities. Mitko – a mentor from the program, shared how they support young people from a problematic social or family environment by giving them the tools to build themselves personally and professionally. “Smiles for Ukraine” children’s center welcomed us with countless children’s smiles. The Dokova and Dokov Foundation offers hourly classes, psychological and emotional support. Mrs. Biyacheva from the Community Center for Children and Families – Varna welcomed us with her entire team. Presented the services for early childhood development and family center for children from 0 to 3 years. Colleagues shared their achievements and long-term work with the Roma community, with whom they have already built trust and work very successfully.

And at the end, the children in Karin’s home learned to prepare the traditional Italian pasta, and our guest was impressed by our traditional banitsa (cheese pie).

As part of the program, the organizations participating in the exchange program will visit an international conference on the topic “Building stronger ecosystems for social enterprises in Europe” in Athens within the framework of the project “SEHUBS – Co-creating Hubs for Social Enterprises” (BCNP is project partner). The event will stimulate the exchange of information and experience with representatives of social enterprises from Italy, Greece, Poland and Bulgaria, as well as the presentation of various successful models of social entrepreneurship, management and development of social enterprise teams.

As a general conclusion, the event will prepare joint recommendations for the development of the social entrepreneurship theme at the European level (community policies). In addition, the Bulgarian group will have another opportunity to informally discuss the problems and prospects of the development of the sector in Bulgaria.

Italy and Bulgaria – exchange of ideas on social entrepreneurship. We thank the Bulgarian Center for Non-Profit Law for this opportunity

We tried to include as many different social services and entrepreneurs as possible in our guest’s program, to introduce her to the community in Varna, which works with various vulnerable groups – children, youth and adults, and how many creative ideas manage to be implemented despite the difficulties.

The development of the international partnership happened thanks to the latest exchange program (Shadowing program) for social enterprises from Italy, Greece, Poland and Bulgaria, with a coordinator for Bulgaria Bulgarian Center for Non-profit Law. On the same program, Karin Dom was a guest of a social enterprise from Poland.

Karin Dom is part of the DarPazar community – the online platform that has united social entrepreneurs in our country and helps them reach more and more people with their products. It also supports social enterprises through the exchange of ideas, training and sharing of international experience. Visit the platform and order products with meaning and a cause!

The material was prepared within the framework of the “SEHUBS Co-creating Hubs for Social Enterprises” project (621421-EPP-1-2020-1-IT-EPPKA3-IPI-SOC-IN). This project is financed with the support of the European Commission. This material reflects only the views of the authors and the Commission is not responsible for the use of the information contained therein.