site.btaThree Bulgarian Organisations in Odesa Province to Be Supported by Bulgaria

Three Bulgarian organisations in Odesa Province, Ukraine, will be supported by Bulgaria under the 2024 Programme for Support of Expat Bulgarians' Communities, Organizations, Initiatives, Bulgaria's Consulate General in Odesa told BTA.

The Programme targets maintaining steady contacts with Bulgarian citizens and Bulgarian communities abroad and assisting their structures, organizations and media to cope with information and communication challenges and create an improved environment and resilience for their development.

In the building of the Consulate, on behalf of the Foreign Ministry, Bulgarian Consul General Svetoslav Ivanov signed three agreements for financial support with the following organizations: Congress of Bulgarians in Ukraine, Ukraine-based Bulgarian newspaper Roden Krai and Bulgarian-Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center Media.

"The programme’s objectives have been reoriented due to the military situation in Ukraine and hybrid attacks of third countries against the EU and the Balkan countries. […] We have received many proposals for funding. But the ideas here are focused on the media, the websites, on creating a sustainable working media environment, and on how to filter the news - which one is real, and which one is fake," Ivanov told BTA.

The financial support amounts to some BGN 200,000. Every single project is financed with up to BGN 10,000, the Consul General explained. He also underscored that competition is created among Bulgarian organizations in Ukraine. "Our idea is to reach more Bulgarian populated places. There are many Bulgarians here, especially in Odesa Province," Svetoslav Ivanov added.

Due to the war in Ukraine, the work of Bulgaria's Consulate General in Odesa was restored in May 2023. "Since then, we have already approved 10 projects, this is a good success. If the Consulate was not working, these contracts would not have been signed. Even though we have limited staff, this is a success for us," Ivanov said.

The focus of the Programme is on support for projects of traditional Bulgarian communities, organizations and media in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. Financing will be available for courses, training events, lectures, creation of digital content, podcasts, information portals (video, audio, charts, visualization, quizzes, online platforms and cooperation networks in fact checks and combating disinformation and fake news; initiatives targeting enhancement of media literacy and public resilience and intransigence to fake news, disinformation and external interference and manipulation of information.

The BGN 200,000 required for the Programme are planned in the 2024 State Budget Act. The funding will be provided to Bulgarian organizations and media abroad on a project basis through the overseas representations of the Republic of Bulgaria.