Creating Effective Grassroots Alternatives works for capacity building in different levels, changing attitudes and improvement of policies for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities.
C.E.G.A. is a non-profit organisation registered under the Bulgarian Persons and Family Act in 1995 and re-registered in 2002 according to the new Act on legal entities with non-profit purposes as an organisation working for public benefit.
Main fields of work:
Field 1: Capacity building for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities: providing trainings and consultancy to local organizations, groups and authorities, especially in the sphere of education and in-come generation; facilitating dialogue between disadvantaged communities and the decision-making bodies.
Field 2: Improvement of policies for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities, including policies on lifelong learning: running researches and identifying problems and good practices through cooperation of local organizations and communities; participation in councils and structures developing policies for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities on local and national level; running and/or participation in various kinds of monitoring on implementation of policies for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities on local and national level.
Field 3: Changing attitudes for social inclusion of disadvantaged communities: running trainings and seminars, connected with Human rights, intercultural dialogue and social inclusion through various stakeholders; organizing events and campaigns promoting intercultural dialogue as a tool for social inclusion;
Field 4: International development – co-founder and active member of the Bulgarian Platform for International Cooperation; running long-term processes on capacity building and promoting development and global education in both the formal and non-formal learning systems.
In its 20 years of existence C.E.G.A. Foundation has managed a number of large scale long-term projects. The team has experience in managing project activities and partnerships both locally, nationally and internationally. The organization has built wide network of partners in supporters, including state actors, educational institutions (schools in particular) and civic society bodies.
In the last 8 years C.E.G.A. has put a priority on its work in the sphere of global learning and has worked in a number of long term projects (mainly funded by the European Commission through DG DEVCO) among which: Accessing Development Education (associate partner), Teach MDGs (project partner), Enhancing Development Education in Central and Eastern Europe (project partner), Youth of the World! Mainstreaming Global Awareness in the Youth Sphere (lead partner), Changing Habits for Good (project partner), Map Your Meal (ongoing, project partner). Through all this project C.E.G.A. has gained enormous experience and built expertise in the sphere of global and development education is currently one of the leading organisations in the field of Bulgaria. Working on all these initiatives, the team of the organisation has also built an extensive network of contacts, local partners and allies on the local level, especially among school teachers and schools, as well as youth organisations. Finally, the projects has encouraged C.E.G.A. to design and try out various methodologies in approaching the scaling of global education in the formal and non-formal educational systems, which has supported the team to distinguish more and less successful methodological approaches. As a result of the work in all these projects and initiatives C.E.G.A. has now a big number of educational materials and know-how, deep expertise, numerous connections on the local level and is a main player in the global education sector.