Foundation "SolidarityWorks"

Foundation "SolidarityWorks" is a nonprofit registered in Bulgaria which is financed through
donations and project funding. The foundation is a voluntary, self-governed, community-based
organization without political or religious affiliation. Our main goal is to promote, encourage and support the sustainable development of individuals and communities through solidarity and collective action for social change. Furthermore, we aim to support and expand the equal access to education and opportunities for development, and work to overcome the impact of inequality and violence, as well as reduce it.

Working with marginalized groups
Our work supports and promotes critical thinking, active citizenship and collective action
among a diverse range of groups including refugees, immigrants, orphans and low-income
individuals. Whereas we intentionally include marginalized participants in all our programs,
our language courses for refugees in Sofia, as well as our Survivor retreats for women who
have experienced domestic violence are examples of our targeted work with disadvantaged
and victimized populations. We strive to empower these groups by providing them with
meaningful learning experiences, as well as mobilising them for action on both individual
and collective level.

Youth Work and Development
Our immersion language and leadership programs (aka “Immersion Academy”) for youth
develop participants’ critical thinking skills, support young people in their process of
self-empowerment, and promote the ideal of active citizenship and change-making through
diverse forms of leadership. During our programs young people go through an intensive and
insightful process of identifying problems they want to solve, brainstorming solutions,
developing business ideas and action plans, and learning how to acquire resources and
support to put their ideas into action. In the process they learn how to successfully pitch their
entrepreneurship ideas in front of investors and stakeholders, as well as how to finetune
their ideas to make them realistic and impactful. In addition to our own projects, we support
several partnering organizations in Bulgaria by investing in their capacity building through
mentorship, resource sharing and inclusion of their youth leaders and participants in our
programming.

Paulo Freire’s participatory pedagogy—which inspires our programs—emphasizes dialogue
as the main instrument for action, collaboration, and collective reflection which fosters
responsible, active, and justice-oriented citizens. To that end, our programs facilitate an
active, participant-driven process of intercultural dialogue and engagement which
emphasizes finding common interests and strengths, and reframing differences so that they
become a source of richness and collective appreciation, and not a source of conflicts and
social struggles.

Women Empowerment
Foundation “SolidarityWorks” offers retreats for women and youth who have experienced
domestic violence. Domestic violence is an issue that is closely related to gender norms,
roles and expectations. During our retreats women receive support to deal with their
trauma, as well as set goals, plan for the future, and increase their financial
independence. Whereas personal development is a priority for all our projects, it is a
cornerstone for our Survivor Retreats for women and girls who have experienced
domestic violence, whereby we seek to give women an opportunity to reflect on and
become more attuned to their personal needs and priorities, and devise action plans to
meet their goals.

Domestic Violence and Intimate Violence Prevention
Other activities related to women we are currently planning include a training course
called “Educate and Empower: social work against domestic violence”, funded by the
Erasmus+ programme to be held in June 2020, whereby we will train youth workers from
6 countries how to best support domestic violence affected youth, as well as protect
themselves from burn out and work-related stress.
In April we will host a youth exchange project titled “Love is Kind: Youth prevent Domestic
Violence through Art” whereby young people from 5 countries will learn about domestic
violence, as well as how to have healthy relationships, and will create art in order to raise
awareness and prevent domestic violence in their respective communities. We will also
organize several art exhibitions and community discussions in each partnering country.

Rural Development and Intergenerational dialogue
Our training centre is located in the village of Drugan, 10kms away from the town of Radomir
and 50kms away from Sofia. The village's population consist of 350 elderly residents with
whom we strive to build active dialogue. To that end, our volunteers applied for and received
funding for a Solidarity Project within the European Solidarity Corps to carry out an
ethnographic study of the village. Within 12 months we are interviewing 40+ local residents
whose stories and experiences we will collect in a special ethnographic book which will be
shared both digitally and on paper. The main goal of this project is to create opportunities for
intergenerational dialogue, as well as documentation of livelihood practices and life
experiences of the rural residents. Additionally, hosting international projects in the village
allows the local community to experience new cultures, as well as innovation.

Volunteering and sustainability
The history of our center for learning, sharing and exchange begins in 2018 when we
decided to transform an old rural house into our own space for learning amidst nature.
Throughout 2019 over 50 volunteers took part in weekly work camps during which we
worked on renovations, garden development and maintanance and building of community
relations with the village residents. Thanks to having our own space in the village of Drugan
participants in our diverse programs can experience the peace and quiet of living closer to
the nature, as well as partake in various activities that promote understanding of the
environment and rural lifestyle. Furthermore, our projects hosted in the village support youth
in building their exposure to environmental issues and developing skills related to the
conscious consumption of resources, waste management and minimization, as well as
overall environmental footprint reduction. We frequently host visits to local farms where
youth take part in community service and spend time in close contact with farm animals.
These visits are always followed by critical discussions of the experience, and challenge
youth to reconsider their food habits, as well as reflect on animal rights.

We achieve our goals by:
- empowering individuals, marginalized groups and other collectives
- supporting the equal access to education and opportunities for development, and work to overcome
the impact of inequality, as well as reduce it
- encouraging and supporting solidarity and cooperation between individuals and communities
- developing the capacity for collective action toward social change
- conducting advanced sociological research

We have a strong international partner network consisting of schools, non-profit and for-profit organizations, as well as universities in the United States.