A livestream of the Democracy Conference will be broadcast on the Facebook page of the Public Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development on 26 February (Saturday) between 10 am and 4 pm.
Due to the imposed anti-epidemic measures, the citizens’ forum in its traditional format, in a hall, is postponed until later this year.
The aim of the forum is to provide a platform for the presentation of civic causes and activities in support of democratic values in society – freedom and protection of civil rights, balance of interests of different groups in society, consensus building and sustainable development.
“Those who chose democracy over bread, today eat three hundred kinds of bread, and those who chose bread, today have neither bread nor democracy!”/W. Churchill/
Meet our speakers and the topics of their presentations:
Alexander Asenov; Velislava Dzhambazova; Daniela Bozhinova; Iva Dimitrova, Ivaylo Dzhambazov; Ilian Iliev; Julia Stoeva; Vladislav Ivanov; Anna Sabrinska, Yana Popova;
TIME Duration Topic Lecturer Organization
10:00 Opening – Presentation of the conference objectives and programme
Panel 1: Civic initiatives from Varna and the country
10:10 Small Initiatives Support Fund Ilian Iliev Public Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, Varna, Bulgaria. Varna
10:30 Civic Initiative “FOR PAVLIKEN” Vladislav Ivanov Initiative Group FOR PAVLIKEN town of Varna, Bulgaria. Pavlikeni
10:50 Waste TBD Desislava Stoyanova Environmental Association “For the Earth”
11:20 30 min Q&A
11:50 Pause
Panel 2: Citizen Expert Initiatives – Part One
12:00 Mediation as a way of conflict resolution Julia Stoeva Gaia Foundation, Varna
12:20 Democracy in local authorities Velislava Dzhambazova URBICA Ltd.
12:40 Q&A
13:00 Break
Panel 2: Civil Expert Initiatives – Part Two
13:10 Democracy and Freedom Maria Dimitrova Advocate of civil causes
13:30 “The Kovid pandemic as a (missed) chance for digital democracy in Bulgaria” Dr. Daniela Bozhinova PhD in Political Science
13:50 Q&A
14:10 Break
Panel 3: Economic and Environmental Justice
14:30 Tax Justice Iva Dimitrova Environmental Association “For the Earth”
14:50 Protect yourself from financial debt with effective interactive learning! Yana Popova Themis Foundation
15:10 Q&A
15:30 Break
Panel 4: Freedom without Borders
15:40 The Caution Planet Bulgaria initiative to save the topsoil of Sadguru and Bulgaria Ania Surbinska Conscious Planet Movement
16:00 “Moralist and thinker- the forgotten democrat” Adv. Alexander Asenov Legal Fund at ecovarna.info
16:20 Q&A
16:40 Closing of the Conference

Improving public knowledge about the role of Civil Society Organizations
The project “Improving public knowledge about the role of Civil Society Organizations” shall be implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EEA Financial Mechanism. The main goal of the project is to improve citizens’ awareness of the role of non-governmental organizations in society. This material is established with the financial support of the Active Citizens Fund of Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The whole responsibility for the content of the document is held by the Public Environmental Center for Sustainable Development and under no circumstances can this material be considered to reflect the official opinion of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Active Citizens Fund of Bulgaria.