Find a place for every child in your heart!
Give the most vulnerable boys and girls in Bulgaria care, protection, education, and support..

Your support to UNICEF in Bulgaria will help:

• give the best start in life to every child and provide support to families with young children;; 
   

• ensure high-quality inclusive education for children with disabilities and special needs; 
   

• protect children from violence.

 

Protection against Violence for Every Child

 

 

The situation of children in Bulgaria

• Half the children in Bulgaria have suffered some form of violence.

• Emotional violence is the most common.

• One-third of children have suffered physical violence.

• 15.6 % have experienced sexual violence.

• One in seven children reports having suffered cyberbullying on social media.

• One-third of children report that they feel in danger at home, at school or in their community.

 

Our solution

 

UNICEF has supported the development of Zona ZaKrila, child advocacy and support centres. So far, these centres have assisted over 3 000 children and families. The centres constitute the only places in Bulgaria offering comprehensive support to children who have suffered or witnessed violence and to their parents. This model is innovative and is now in place in 3 regions in Bulgaria. It is the fruit of UNICEF’s partnership with the Bulgarian government, the municipalities of Sofia, Shumen and Montana, the Social Activities and Practice Institute and the Animus Association Foundation.

 

The Zona ZaKrila centres provide children and their parents with specialised social and psychological support and therapy; access to any necessary healthcare; legal aid; sparing interviews for children; and crisis intervention in cases where emergency response is needed.

Teams work around the clock to support both children and parents who have already suffered or witnessed violence, and those who are in danger or have engaged in some form of delinquency.
The funds raised by UNICEF will go towards directly supporting 300 children and their parents at the 3 Zona ZaKrila centres for the duration of 2023. A further 150 experts will be trained, allowing them to support another 1 800 children. UNICEF will work to make this service available nation-wide.

Every child has the right to be protected. Help more children who have suffered or are at risk of violence to find their wings again, be free of the severe repercussions of trauma and no longer fear aggression.

 

 

A Voice for Every Child

 

 

The situation of children in Bulgaria

• Nearly 15 000 children with disabilities and special needs attend kindergarten or school in Bulgaria, yet they find their communication and participation in the process of education severely limited.

• For around 5 000 of the non-verbal children in Bulgaria, augmentative and alternative communication aids are often the only option to express themselves, to be heard, understood and included.

• Only 10 % of the teachers who have received dedicated education for this use basic low-tech augmentative and alternative communication tools when working with children with special needs. 

 

Our solution

 

The inclusion of children with special needs at kindergarten and school is still not effective. Often it can amount to an impossible task owing to the lack of augmentative and alternative communication tools and the insufficient training of, and support by, experts and teachers.  

Augmentative and alternative communication aids give children who cannot speak a voice and they allow their parents, teachers and classmates to understand and support them.

 

Over the past year, UNICEF has worked on the A Voice for Every Child project to develop the first free communication app, C-Board, and have this adapted for Bulgarian users. The app comes complete with symbols typical of the Bulgarian context. The mobile app has supported the inclusion and learning of 162 non-verbal children and has made them better equipped to tackle everyday tasks, increased their adaptiveness and fostered their self-esteem. UNICEF has also developed a free online interactive training course and trained 41 national trainers in augmentative and alternative communication and 765 teachers, experts and parents to work with these communication aids.

The funds raised by UNICEF will go towards directly supporting 500 children in Bulgaria, including by providing them with personal communication devices. We will train a further 1 500 teachers, experts and parents from across Bulgaria in the use of augmentative and alternative communication aids to support the participation and learning of children. We will foster the skills of national trainers and establish a trainer network. A voice for children for the free app C-Board will be developed along with training packages and resources to support non-verbal children in Bulgaria.

Non-verbal children have so much to say. Let us give them the opportunity to express themselves, communicate and learn with the help of their teachers and support from augmentative and alternative communication technology.

 

 

Best Start in Life for Every Child

 

 

The situation of children in Bulgaria

• 60 000 babies are born in Bulgaria each year.

• One in seven children is expected to experience developmental difficulties.

• In close to one-third of children, developmental difficulties and disabilities are found too late.

• Just 12% of parents share that their baby’s doctor has filled out a survey or another questionnaire relating to the speech and social development of the child or their behaviour at some point.

• Half the physicians in Bulgaria report that they do not know what questionnaire they are to use to assess childhood development.

 

Our solution

 

Early childhood offers unique learning and development opportunities for every child. During this period children with disabilities and difficulties need adequate support to reach their potential.

The earlier developmental difficulties are found in a child, the greater the child’s chances of overcoming these. UNICEF’s data suggest that not all areas of early childhood development are tracked systematically.

To support families and experts in this field, UNICEF Bulgaria has partnered with the Bulgarian government to develop a national system for early childhood intervention. This will allow all families with children up to the age of 2 years to obtain timely information from an expert on the overall development of their child and to receive high-quality support. UNICEF will use the funds raised in this campaign to support 1 500 families across Bulgaria and train 150 experts.

The most vulnerable children in Bulgaria need your help now! Give every child hope for a better future.

 

 

 

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