Causes that matter: in Solidarity with Ukraine

Throughout Bulgaria, there are many CSOs that have been working for years in favor of different public groups and in the name of various, significant causes. However, a large part of them remain “hidden” from the public – because they don’t like to brag and prefer to devote their time to the “real” work, or they don’t have the human and financial resources needed to promote their activities, or maybe they don’t look attractive enough for today’s oversaturated media world.

For several years now, we at the Citizen Participation Forum – Bulgaria have been working purposefully for more “ordinary people” to understand what we, civil society organizations, are actually doing and what the social benefits of our work are. With exactly this purpose we created the documentary film “A new beginning”, sharing examples of the dedicated work of associations, foundations and community centers in the times of crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, when Ukrainian citizens are fleeing because of the war, individual activists and civil society organizations from different parts of our country are once again harnessing their energy to help those seeking salvation in Bulgaria. 

And, again without fear, they pave the way for their good deeds – this time, going through the information chaos and the considerable amount of prejudice towards Ukrainian refugees shared by some groups in society.

Hear and see the stories of several Bulgarian CSOs and individual activists working in support of Ukrainian citizens affected by the war.

#CAUSESTHATMATTER

Watch now Video 1 Helping here and now: Civic initiatives in support of the fleeing the war in Ukraine, Video 2 To experience solidarity: About the wish to help personally, and Video 3 Disinformation flows: The values debate.

Special thanks to the Bulgarian center for non-for-profit law, Caritas – Rousse, Greenpeace – Bulgaria, Tihomira Metodieva and Evgeniya Bouzhilova for their courage, and to Georgy Marchev (Story Films) who created these videos for us.

With the support of Civitates – a philanthropic initiative for democracy and solidarity in Europe.