The annual meeting of the National Network Anna Lindh, Bulgaria, was held in the city of Plovdiv on March 22 and 23 2025. Our hosts were the association Pisalka i Pero (Pen and Quill), who welcomed us at the Ivan Vazov National Library, and the association Magna Silva, who took care of the cultural program.
The topic of the meeting was “Diverse Approaches and Strategies for Active Civic Participation”. We had the opportunity to exchange good practices that have been identified during our work with local communities of different social status and ethnicity.
As a recurring good practice that motivates and unites people towards active civic participation, “placemaking” stood out. This is an approach to urban planning and design that focuses on the people who use the space, and not just on the physical structures or buildings. The idea is to create places that are not only functional, but also beautiful and meaningful for the people who live, work and play there. The discussion made it clear that during our work in the last 15-20 years we have tried different approaches and strategies to provoke civic participation and we have a clear assessment of which of them are working well in our social reality. The topic that provoked great interest was the upcoming Forum in Albania. We discussed what the opportunities for participation in the Anna Lindh Forum are.
The colleagues from Magna Silva made a transition to the cultural program by telling us how the idea for the “Mediterranean Rhythms” project, which is funded by the ALFinMotion program, was born. They introduced us the main actors in the project, namely the musicians Tanio Pavlov and Antonio Ferrara. During the dinner, we had the pleasure of being the first audience for their joint performance. On the second day, we visited the Second Home center, which is a buffer center for accommodating refugees from Ukraine. We had the opportunity to see firsthand the challenges faced by refugees and the efforts that are being made to support their integration into local communities. Representatives of the center shared their work, including housing, education and employment programs, and explained how they include refugees in civic participation. We also visited the Compass center, which supports refugees by providing them with educational and administrative support for integration.
The annual meeting ended with positive emotions and motivation to continue discovering good practices.
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