site.bta151 Ukrainian Children, Young People Receive Support under Caritas Sofia Project

For about a year, a total of 151 children and young people from Ukraine have received support from Caritas Sofia, a Bulgarian non-governmental organization. Of these, 33 enrolled in kindergarten and 118 in school. A total of 50 children and young people were provided with access to informal activities and Bulgarian language training for foreigners. Adults from Ukraine who were included in language courses numbered 267. A total of 1,249 refugees have received assistance under the "Reaching Out to Refugees from Ukraine" project, funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism (2014-2022). Sofia, Plovdiv and Burgas are the three cities in Bulgaria where the project has been implemented. The information on the results of the project was reported at a closing event in Sofia on Tuesday.

Of the 1,249 people, 75% were women and 25% were men. Most of them are aged 35 to 50 years (34%). 18% of those who received support were aged 18 to 34 years, and 17% were aged between 51 and 65 years. People aged 65 and over represent 14% of the refugees covered by the project. Children under the age of 18 account for 16%. The services provided by the project were 1,324, including accommodation counselling, access to health and social services, assistance with document processing, translation, among others.

The Ukrainian refugees thanked Caritas Sofia for the support they received for their integration in Bulgaria.