SOFIA DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION was founded as non-profit organization with the decision 348
of the Sofia Municipal Council to work for the sustainable development of the capital.
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LEARNINGS FROM PEERS: AVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES
After several intensive learning sessions, the first drafts of the business plans of the participants (refugees) in the Business Accelerator program under the PLOUTOS project are finally ready. Ideas for service businesses such as culinary experiences, community hairdressing, and music schools were thoroughly discussed.
One highlight was a session featuring a special guest mentor, Milad, a Syrian refugee who successfully established his own small business. On March 6th, participants had the opportunity to meet Milad face-to-face. He graciously shared his journey and the challenges he overcame to set up a thriving restaurant in downtown Sofia. From licensing to initial investments, access to banking and credit, hiring practices, and even attitudes towards refugees, Milad provided invaluable insights.
Among the key lessons shared were:
“Investing in your employees pays off: it helps retain trained staff and is also a way to support the refugee community"
"The location is crucial. I chose a spot in the downtown area, close to schools and offices, which naturally attracted clients."
"Local clients appreciate it when you speak their language."
"Consistently delivering high-quality products keeps customers coming back."
"Regularly analyzing sales data allows for adjustments in recipes, pricing, and promotions."
The participants in the Business Acceleration program greatly valued the opportunity to learn directly from peers. This firsthand knowledge not only enriches their understanding but also equips them to avoid common pitfalls.
Don't miss the chance to watch the video featuring Milad as he shares his inspiring story and valuable insights:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5i1M6nYzaU&t=1s
PLOUTOS is implemented with the support of the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COUNTERMEASURES TO URBAN HEAT ISLANDS 1/03/2024
The conference "Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands", organized on March 1, 2024 by the Sofia Development Association, brought together leading policymakers, academic experts and researchers, representatives of European cities and regions from 12 European countries, who discussed together the causes, effects and solutions to overcome urban heat islands.
The conference was opened by Julian Popov, Minister of Environment, who pointed out that we need to start thinking seriously about climate adaptation and take specific actions to overcome the effects of heat islands – energy efficiency, green roofs, restoration of urban rivers.
The Deputy Minister of Regional Development Angelina Boneva shared with the participants the recipe for dealing with urban heat: recognition of the problems related to warming and urbanization; development of a strategy; sharing of experiences; institutional involvement; and development of appropriate, place-based solutions.
Nadezhda Bobcheva, Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality on environment, explained the complexity of the topic – the intersection of the economy, urban planning, ecology, social cohesion. That is why Sofia's work is in different aspects – improving green spaces, creating groves in neighborhoods, schoolyards and inter-block spaces.
Experts from the universities of Vienna, Bratislava and Sofia presented scientific models and methods that can benefit municipalities. Representatives of European cities and regions shared their approaches and challenges.
The conference is held within the project "Be Ready" under the Interreg Danube Program, led by the Sofia Development Association. "The project aims to equip cities with research and tools and help them develop pilot solutions for climate resilience and adaptation together with citizens," said Sevdalina Voynova, Head of BeReady. Sofia Municipality is a strategic partner in the project.
This conference is supported as part of Be Ready, an Interreg Danube Region Programme project co-funded by the European Union.
SYNCLUSIVE PROJECT: SECOND NEWSLETTER
What’s new in the SYNCLUSIVE project journey?
Explore a dynamic lineup of events and developments designed to research, test and validate approaches for just labour market. Get to know more about the Living Labs action plans, the new research, and the synergies with other projects.
News from SYNCLUSIVE Living Labs
SYNCLUSIVE 4 Living labs are at the heart of the innovative approaches to foster labour market access and upward mobility for vulnerable groups. They are just finishing the co-creation of their action plans to be implemented during the next 36 months.
A framework with qualitative and quantitative indicators
SYNCLUSIVE has set a comprehensive framework to monitor activities and evaluate Living Lab interventions. The framework would also be useful to policymakers and social partners working on labour market inclusion of vulnerable groups.
News from sister projects
SYNCLUSIVE is proud to cooperate withCARE4CARE and PATHS2INCLUDEother Horizon Europe projects to achieve a higher impact on the EU labour market.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for more updates and insights on our mission to create inclusive opportunities in the labour market!
Subscribe for our newsletter here:
https://synclusiveproject.eu/?page_id=1514
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101094526
START OF THE PLOUTOS PRACTICE BUSINESS PROGRAMME
The entrepreneurship program, which will help migrants and third-country nationals to develop their own business in the country, began with a lecture on the business environment in Bulgaria. The program, developed by the partners of the project PLUTOS, in which SDA is a partner, includes practical sessions and simulations for starting business initiatives. It is consistent with the conditions that migrants living in Bulgaria must meet in order to realize their business ideas. The training sessions will enable migrants and refugees from Ukraine to gain basic knowledge and skills for entrepreneurship through lectures and meetings with successful migrant entrepreneurs. The practice business program, which is also supported by an online platform, is one of the resources created under the Plutos project, which include courses in financial literacy and business Bulgarian language.
PLOUTOS is implemented with the support of the European Union’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE "COUNTERMEASURES TO URBAN HEAT ISLANDS"
Sofia Development Association (SDA) organizes an international conference "Countermeasures to Urban Heat Islands" on March 1, 2024. The conference is held within the Be Ready project under the Interreg Danube Region Program, which includes a consortium of 19 partners from 12 countries in the Danube region with lead partner SDA.
2023 was the hottest year on record. The recent unprecedented heatwaves demonstrate the acute need to strengthen the readiness and adaptive capabilities of society to cope with the effects of climate change and promote resilience at the urban level.
The conference is dedicated to science, design, engineering and public policies to effectively address the effects of urban heat islands in cities.
Among the speakers are Julian Popov, Minister of Environment and Water; Angelina Boneva, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works; Nadezhda Bobcheva; Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality for Ecology.
A G E N D A
09:30 - 10:00 Registration
10:00 - 11:00 Climate resilience policies and UHI
Julian Popov, Minister of Environment and Water
Angelina Boneva, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, National Coordinator, EUSDR
Nadezhda Bobcheva, Sofia Deputy Mayor, Green System, Ecology and Land Use
11:00 - 12:00 Approaches and solutions to overcome urban heat islands
Dr. Bernhard Pucher, BOKU University, Vienna, "The Vienna Experience - Strategy for Urban Heat Islands"
Branka Knezevic, Municipality of Podgorica, "The role of cities in overcoming heat island effects"
Helena Jurašková, DEX Innovation Center, Czech Republic and European Institute for Technology and Innovation Health, "The Climate-Health Nexus"
Lydia Vitanova, PhD, GATE Institute, Sofia University St. K. Ohridski, "How can urban data and scientific methods be used to estimate UHIs? Sofia case study“
12:00 - 12:30 Discussion
Moderator of the event:
Sevdalina Voynova, Sofia Development Association
This conference is supported as part of Be Ready, an Interreg Danube Region Programme project co-funded by the European Union.
LEAD ONLINE SUCCESS STORY PRESENTED IN BRUSSELS
“Projects like LEAD Online are important as they address the root causes of hate speech and build awareness about the magnitude of the problem,” said Tommaso Chiamparino, policy officer in the Fundamental rights policy unit at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice, in his opening address to the international valorisation conference, organized by Sofia Development Team in Brussels on February, 6 2024.. The project has been very successful in building local multi-stakeholder partnerships in each of the seven partner countries, coordinating the efforts of various actors to tackle hate speech online in an engaging, informative, and effective way.
Hosted in the premises of the Regione Umbria in Brussels, the conference gathered more than seventy participants for a full day of panel discussions, interactive presentations and networking. Partners of the LEAD Online consortium highlighted the project achievements, an online hate speech self-assessment tool, ‘digital gardening’ trainings, local talks for raising awareness of hate speech online, and much more. Over 4000 people participated in activities and over 100,000 have been reached through social media and online publications.
The star of the day was the interactive online game, HateOut! Game, which features animated scenarios enabling players to recognize hate speech incidence and to select the most appropriate response in each case.
The speakers and participants shared important insights about their experiences with cyberhate and the ways to inform and empower people, especially young students, to report and counter it. Key points highlighted in discussions focused on the need to combine online interventions with face-to-face learning events which engage participants in real-life interactions to counter hate speech and help to foster a sense of belonging amongst learners. Building inclusive, responsive digital tools and games is equally important: co-creating open educational resources with the participation of young people, especially from hard-to-reach groups and marginalized communities is critical for improving the efficacy of online hate speech/cyberhate interventions and reducing the creation and/or consumption of hateful content online.
After two years of intense collaboration, the LEAD Online project, coordinated by Sofia Development Association team has come to an end, but the consortium partners are already gearing up for new, more joint initiatives ahead. Follow the project at https://www.lead-online.eu/ ;https://www.facebook.com/LEADOnlineEU, check out our tools and games, and do reach out if you’d like to become part of an ambitious, knowledgeable community of like-minded people who are working to make our online and offline communities safer and more tolerant places.
Presentations
- Learn, Engage, Act: Digital tools to prevent and counter hate speech Online | LEAD-Online
Denitsa Lozanova, LEAD Online Coordinator, Sofia Development Association
- Prompting Awareness: The Hate Speech Self-Assessment Tool
Konstantinos Mantzos, DAISSy Research Group, Hellenic Open University
- Hate Speech ontologies and Hate Speech Self-Assessment Tool
Sylvia Liuti, FORMA.Azione - Italy
- Learn, Engage, Act: Digital Tools to Prevent and Counter Hate Speech Online
Amina El-Gamal, project coordinator, ZARA, an Austrian counselling centre AgainstOnlineHate and AgainstRacism
- LEAD-Online I Hate Out! Game / PLAY AGAINST HATE: ONLINE GAME TO DETECT AND COUNTER HATE SPEECH ONLINE
Konstantinos Potsis, Project Manager, DAISSy Research Group, Hellenic Open University
- Panel Discussion - LEAD-Online: Championing a Hate-Free Digital Future
- Learn, Engage, Act: Digital Tools to Prevent and Counter Hate Speech Online
Maria KORECK, project coordinator, DIVERSE Association, Romania
- Learn, Engage, Act: Digital Tools to Prevent and Counter Hate Speech Online
Summary and Way Forward
Facebook @LEADOnlineEU
Instagram leadonline_eu
Twitter @LEADOnlineEU
The project is funded by the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme.
