site.btaGreek Humanitarian Organization "The Smile of the Child" Continues Successful Cross-Border Partnerships in New Programming Period

The Greek volunteer organization The Smile of the Child, which has been working for the protection of children's rights for almost 30 years now, already has considerable experience in cooperation with Bulgarian partners.  The organization has implemented successfully the INTERSYC and INTERSYC II projects under the Greece-Bulgaria Cross-border Cooperation Programme. The projects provided training for social workers, teachers, police officers and others on how to act and cooperate in cases of missing children. The project also included medical checkups for thousands of children in Bulgaria and Greece with the help of equipment acquired in the framework of INTERSYC II.

The new initiatives of The Smile of the Child build on the two projects and largely follow the established model and content or use the existing partnership network. An example of this is the proposal with which the organization has applied for funding under the INTERREG VI-A Greece-Bulgaria 2021-2027 programme, which involves the same partners but this time they cooperate in the field of children's digital skills development.  Sotiria Louka, Project Manager of "The Smile of the Child", who took part in the final conference of the “Europe in the Balkans. Common Future" project, held in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Albena in late August 2024, told BTA about the project.

"We noticed that there is one change in the priority axes of the programme for the next programming period. We continued in the same format with the introduction of one new project that will be dedicated to the development of digital, social and life skills among young people from 14 to 21 years of age in order to develop professional skills in the digital economy. This will provide a significant opportunity for high school students who are interested in programming, IT, technology, in order to be able to get certified and pursue a professional career in this field after obtaining a diploma," Louka said. She added that the partnership formula remains the same. The Greek partners were the Smile of the Child and the Municipal Development Company Konstantinos Karateodoris, based in Komotini, and the Bulgarian partners are the Nadia Centre charity the Regional Education Inspectorate in the southern town of Blagoevgrad.

The Smile of the Child has submitted another proposal, with different partners, but largely based on the INTERSYC project model. This project is also in the framework of cross-border cooperation, but this time it is the INTERREG Greece-North Macedonia Programme. It involves a hospital and the municipality of Oreokastro, and aims to support families in need and children who need preventive medical services", explained Sotiria Louka and clarified that "the same proposal has been submitted for approval with other partners under the Greece-Albania programme, where the equal access to health services is a priority".