Magdalina Benina and Radka Danchovska from Initiatives for Civil Society participated in an International Workshop on Renewable Energy Training (Project No: 2023-2-TR01-KA210-VET-000170231)

DR. ILIYANA BENINA    DR. NIKOLA BENIN

Project No: 2023-2-TR01-KA210-VET-000170231

Project Title: "Improving the Quality of Aligned Training Programs in Renewable Energy Department"

Location: Portugal

Dates: April 27–30, 2026

Participants from Initiatives for Civil Society: Magdalina Benina and Radka Danchovska

During a three-day intensive working program in Portugal, the representatives of the Initiatives for Civil Society

 – Magdalina Benina and Radka Danchovska – actively participated in the development of innovative educational tools for the renewable energy sector. The primary focus of the mobility was to create synergy among partners for the development of a unified curriculum and digital resources.

Magdalina Benina and Radka Danchovska presented national perspectives and best practices in Photovoltaic (PV) systems training. They participated in a workshop dedicated to identifying core competencies and drafting the structure of a shared curriculum. During a visit to the ATEC facilities, the participants gained insights into modern equipment and methodological approaches for practical training.

The second day focused on the project's digitalization. The association's representatives contributed to:

·        Designing the platform structure and the functionalities of the mobile application.

·        Developing prototype content, including learning modules and video materials.

·        Technical planning and task distribution for the finalization of digital tools.

On the final day, the participants focused on project sustainability through trainer preparation. They developed draft models for the structure and content of training modules. Innovative teaching approaches and cultural adaptations of materials were also discussed.

Magdalina Benina and Radka Danchovska took part in outlining the post-mobility action plan, which includes dissemination activities and the finalization of the mobile app.

Their participation significantly contributed to the successful achievement of the mobility goals. Thanks to their input, the project now has a clear framework for a future common curriculum and a digital ecosystem, which will enhance the quality of vocational education in the field of renewable energy sources.

"This partnership is key to implementing European standards in renewable energy training at a national level," the participants shared at the end of the visit.

 

23-30 Sept. European Week of Sport (BeActive) / 23-30 септември Европейска седмица на спорта (BeActive)

Никола Бенин

Еvery child and adult can be active in school with sports and play. This is an amazing chance to be healthy.

Initiatives for civil society organized and conducted numerous sports activities with children and adults in Ruse, Bulgaria

НИКОЛА БЕНИН участва в Transnational Meeting

 PROJECT WO.M.E.N - WOMEN MARCHING EQUAL NETWORK 

Action 1.3, Youth Democracy project

 Transnational Meeting

 Athens, 24-29 November 2014 

Day 1 (24 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 18:00 Arrivals

18:00 – 18:30 Break the ice Ice breakers, questionnaires

18:30 – 20:30 The project so far Facilitators and participants will

present the project and their role in it

and discuss what has been done so

far

20:30 – 21:30 Dinner

22:00 – Welcome Party

Day 2 (25 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 11:30 Preparation of WOMEN mag

issue #4 (part I)

Web search and “sociological”

research (statistical data and specific

cultural barriers women face in each

partner country)

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 – 13:30 Preparation of WOMEN mag

issue #4 (part II)

Participants will write articles

presenting and describing the

situation (Women’s participation in

Politics) in their countries

13:30 – 16:30 Lunch

16:30 – 18:00 Preparation of the mini poll Brainstorming and workshop where

participants will create the

questionnaires they will use to

conduct interviews with women at

the local level (once they are back in

their countries)

18:00 – 18:30 Coffee Break

18:30 – 20:00 Preparation for the

interviews with key

stakeholders

Facilitators will present the key

stakeholders’ profile and participants

will draft the questions that will be

used to interview them

20:00 – 21:00 Dinner

22:00 – Free Night

Day 3 (26 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 13:00 Meet with key stakeholders Discussion and interview

13:30 – 16:30 Lunch

16:30 – 18:00 Preparation of WOMEN mag

issue #5 (part I)

Participants will do web search to find

good practices in Europe and will

discuss ways to motivate women to

participate more actively in politics

18:00 – 18:30 Coffee Break

18:30 – 20:00 Preparation of WOMEN mag

issue #5 (part II)

Participants will write articles

presenting the good practices they

found and the proposals they drafted

in order to motivate women to be

more active in politics

20:00 – 21:00 Dinner

22:00 – Intercultural Night

Day 4 (27 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 11:30 Preparation of WOMEN mag Simulation game where participants N.G.O. CIVISplus, 28 Vassileos Georgiou B Avenue, 11635, Athens, Greece

T:+30211 0121441 F: +302110121443 Url:www.civisplus.gr E: info@civisplus.gr

issue #6 (part I) will form “local governments”

represented equally by women and

men in which they will discuss and

make policies (draft proposals) about

social and political issues concerning

the everyday life of women

(employment, politics etc.)

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 – 13:30 Preparation of WOMEN mag

issue #6 (part II)

Participants will write articles about

the results of the simulation game

(points of view and proposals to be

forwarded to policy makers)

13:30 – 16:30 Lunch

16:30 – 20:00 Free Evening

20:00 – 21:00 Dinner

22:00 – Free Night

Day 5 (28 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 13:00 Acropolis

13:30 – 16:30 Lunch

16:30 – 18:00 The future of the project Participants will discuss what should

be done once they are back to their

countries and decide the

content/topic of issue #7 and of the

e-issues (issue #8 and #9)

18:00 – 18:30 Coffee Break

18:30 – 20:00 Charter of Political Equality Brainstorming and workshop where

participants will create the Charter of

Political Equality which will later be

sent to central decision makers of

each partner country

20:00 – 21:00 Dinner

22:00 – Goodbye Party

Day 6 (29 November)

Time Activity Description

09:00 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 12:00 Departure

Initiatives for Civil Society member of AnnaLindh Foundation

Initiatives for Civil Society

National Network: 

Bulgaria

Address: 

Radi Ivanov str, 5

Rousse

Bulgaria

Telephone: 

82 40 83

E-Mail: 

Contact person by email

E-Mail (2): 

Contact person by email

Organisation Type: 

Non-Governmental Organization

Year of Establishment: 

2001

Fields of Activity: 

Democracy and community development

General Information: 

Employees - 12
Volunteers
Sources of funding - projects, donations

Mission and Objectives: 

To help the recognition of humanistic and culture values, civil society and encouraging the initiative of society.
Initiatives for Civil Society is a nonprofit corporation organized to promote understanding and education in community sustainable development. AWISH conducts educational programs, seminars and workshops, artistic performances, and technical assistance and research to support community wellbeing.
Its programs foster collaborations with communities, businesses, universities and governments to advance knowledge and understanding about the relationship of cultural and economic development, environmental justice, and the creative and performing arts to community health and well being.
Initiatives for Civil Society programs are funded through government and private grants, charitable donations, workshop and seminar fees, and other sources of funding.
- grants, charitable donations, workshop and seminar fees, and other sources of funding.

Main Projects / Activities: 

1.Democracy and Human Righst education Seminars, Networking, Partnership Building Activities.
2. Europe and the World
Youth Exchanges
3. Local and international Internships (Lifelong Learning Programme LLP, Youth in Action Programme YAP)

Contact (1) Full Name: 

Radka Danchovska

Head of the organisation: 

Radka Danchovska

Contact (2) Full Name: 

Nikola Benin

- See more at: http://www.annalindhfoundation.org/members/initiatives-civil-society#sthash.bhToBtTk.dpuf

FIT project mobility to Ruse, Bulgaria, 3rd-7th of April

Nikola Benin

In the beginning of April the partner organization from Bulgaria “Initiatives for Civil Society” organized the 2nd mobility in terms of the FIT project. The mobility took place in Ruse, Bulgaria, also called as Little Vienna, famous for many first innovations in Bulgaria and located only around 70 km away from Bucharest, Romania, which facilitates different possibilities for cross-border collaboration projects. Therefore most of the project participants took a flight to Bucharest and had a chance to cross the first of the two bridges over the Danube river connecting Bulgaria and Romania the Ruse-Giurgiu Bridge – formerly also known as the Friendship bridge opened in 1954.

The mobility programme was intense, full of interesting visits, excursions, cultural activities and exchanges.

Day I: Welcoming and informative visits

The day started with a visit to the Europe District Information Point in Ruse co-financed by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund and established with the aim to provide easy access to the information about EU cohesion policy, NSRF and funding opportunities. The Information Point’s activities will continue till May 2015, but during our visit they made a presentation shortly described main activities and best practices in Ruse. By now in the region there were already 111 information events organizedwith more than 3800 participants, also different common initiatives in collaboration with children and youth, study tours abroad and public presentations. The Information Point also makes the updates of the best practices and conducted projects on the EU Structural Funds Portal (Single Information Web Portal) and on the Unified Management Information System for the EU Structural Instruments website. There are finalized already around 123 projects related to the city reconstruction and modernization, introduction of the new technological equipment, social rehabilitation and integration. In collaboration with theUnion of the Blind in Bulgaria there were organized range of activities for the blind – cooking, Braille alphabet, mobility and orientation classes, entertainment therapy and phonetic library. In the Lomovete – rock mountain bird protection center – the bird’s conservation center in the village of Nisovo was built, Egyptian vulture and Black stork species were traced and marked and the floodplain meadow was restored – the Black stork’s habitat. The social company – soup kitchen “SPOT” was organized that provided daily meals for over 100 people and created 17 new job openings and employing 12 workers from the risk group. Currently there is being built the center for the three family-type accommodations which will provide home for 36 – 42 children and youngsters with disabilities aged 3 to 18 years. Also the artists are not forgotten, in September 2012 the festival of contemporary urban culture ‘I, the City’ was organized with more than 40 different events in 10 days, but the “Home Services Unit” is providing care for the ageing people with limited abilities or unable to care for themselves (adults living on their own).

This visit was followed by a meeting with the Vice Mayor of the Ruse Municipality Strahil Karapchanski who introduced us Ruse’s three main development directions – cross-border collaboration (Ruse is a border town with Romania), culture (Ruse is considered the Free Spirit of Bulgaria) and birth place of the writer, Nobel prize winner Elias Canetti. Furthermore the municipality also applied for the Bloomberg’s Mayors Challenge 2014.

After the lunch break the participants visited the kindergarten “Zora” (“Sunrise”) with the services for the children with special education needs (SEN) and the “Center for Work with Children” (“Kомплекс за социални услуги за деца и семейства“) with the services for children at risk. The center not only organizes different activities for children, but also supports them by providing a temporary place at the center to live throughout the year.

Rest of the day the project participants worked on the FIT portal and ICT tools reviewing the current implemented functionality and suggesting improvements and changes.

The day finished with dinner at the traditional Bulgarian restaurant “Chiflika” introducing to the project participants the traditional Bulgarian food serving it with fire performances and the traditional dances which one could also try and learn.

Day II: Trip to Veliko Tarnovo and Transfiguration Monastery

Veliko Tarnovo is a medieval capital of the II Bulgarian Empire, also referred to as the “City of the Tsars (Kings)”. The city impressed with its rich nature – the Yantra river and the three hills of the old town -, the architecture having some remembrances with Italy and Turkey and the provoking and creative graffiti. The history of the city can be discovered at the multimedia visitor center “Tsarevgrad Tarnov” (Youtube video) opened last year and which features 29 wax figures of the historical persons of Veliko Tarnovo.

The next destination was the Transfiguration Monastery founded around 11th century AD, but fully destroyed after the conquest of the Ottomans and renewed only in 1825 by father Zoticus of the Rila Monastery by means of donations. The monastery is rich with icons and frescoes. One of the best known is the “Circuit of Life” painted by Samokov master painter Zahari Zograph on the outer wall of the church. Nowadays monastery serves as a library and museum. More information about the monastery here (in Bulgarian).

Day III: Work on FIT Portal, ICT Tools and Discussing Other Organizational Issues

During the last day of the mobility the work on the FIT portal continued, partners came up with several specific Flash games scenarios and topics to be covered. One of the main topics that is not enough addressed and covered according to the parents and professionals working with children with disabilities is sexuality. Having said that the biggest challenge of  ”what are the best ways to present and to teach the sexuality topic to the children with disabilities?” remained open to discussions and further investigations.

Also the dates of the next mobility visits to Latvia and to Italy were agreed:

• 25.09. – 28/29.09.2014 – Art workshop seminar in Latvia;
• 25.03. – 28/29.03.2015 – “Record the reality” workshop for developing digital media skills, presentation of interactive films and developing the methods (meeting for teachers and invited guests) in Foligno, Italy.

The work on the project will also continue in between the mobility meetings and further conference calls were already agreed upon during the last day.

About the project “Fascinating ICT Tools for People with Disabilities” (FIT):

The goal of the project is to develop and deliver ICT tool consisting of different modules as: educational tasks and tutorials, interactive digital films, registered workshops on Art Therapy and Recording Reality – creating internet magazine, all based on a simple communication, in easy to read text.

Project partner organizations:

• Polskie Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Osób z Upośledzeniem Umysłowym, Poland (NGO, Website)
• Social Innovation Centre, Latvia (NGO, Website)
• Zespół Szkół nr 6 w Rybniku, Poland (School, Website)
• Initiatives for Civil Society, Bulgaria (NGO)
• Associazione VIAINDUSTRIAE, Italy (NGO, Website)
• Instituto Politecnico de Santarem, Portugal (University, Website)

Read more about the project here.

SIC also received the certificate of attendance:

Initiatives for Civil Society

Initiatives for Civil Society

Président(e) / Directeur (trice): 

 Radka Danchovska

Personne contact (1): 

 Radka Danchovska

Personne contact (2): 

 Nikola Benin

Année de création: 

 2000

Type d'organisme: 

 Organisation non gouvernementale

Domaine d’activité: 

 Democracy and community development

Informations générales: 

Employees - 12
Volunteers - 6
Sources of funding - projects, donations

Mission et objectifs: 

To help the recognition of humanistic and culture values, civil society and encouraging the initiative of society.

Initiatives for Civil Society is a nonprofit corporation organized to promote understanding and education in community sustainable development. AWISH conducts educational programs, seminars and workshops, artistic performances, and technical assistance and research to support community wellbeing.

Its programs foster collaborations with communities, businesses, universities and governments to advance knowledge and understanding about the relationship of cultural and economic development, environmental justice, and the creative and performing arts to community health and well being.

Initiatives for Civil Society programs are funded through government and private grants, charitable donations, workshop and seminar fees, and other sources of funding.
- grants, charitable donations, workshop and seminar fees, and other sources of funding.

Projets / Activités Principales: 

1.Democracy and Human Righst education Seminars, Networking, Partnership Building Activities.
2. Europe and the World
Youth Exchanges
3. Local and international Internships (Lifelong Learning Programme LLP, Youth in Action Programme YAP)