Each year, approximately 300 sixteen to eighteen year olds in Bulgaria graduate from state residential institutions and start life on their own. As orphans and disadvantaged youth who have grown up without their families, they often lack the life skills that most of us take for granted. They enjoy few opportunities to interact with the community, possess limited knowledge of how to find a job or rent an apartment, and suffer from real anxiety about their future. They have no families on whom they can rely, and the Bulgarian government cannot afford to provide them with housing or jobs. Thus, for these youth, an age of excitement and promise is filled with uncertainty and danger.

In 1998, Partners-Bulgaria, in collaboration with several other NGOs, initiated a project to create a Youth Center that would prepare youth for the transition from state care to independent life. The main goal of the Center is to provide young people with life skills and emotional and psychological support through counseling and training services.

The Youth Center offers youth a comfortable place of their own, where they can drop by unannounced to have a cup of coffee, use the kitchen, talk with friends, or utilize any of a number of special services. Center staff offer counseling as well as job readiness training and consultation. Mathematics and Bulgarian language and literature tutors help the teenagers improve their grades. The Center also organizes a wide range of training series on topics including street law, civic education and human rights, health education, and communication and assertiveness skills.

The Youth Center also plans fun events such as picnics and day excursions for the teenagers, and hosts a prom at the end of the year, which has become a very important event for the young people. Community volunteers give time and resources to the Center, including collecting gifts for the young people during the holidays.

From the initial design of the Youth Center through its organization and management, Partners-Bulgaria has involved all interested parties in the process: representatives of state institutions and other government departments; local government leaders; other organizations that work with youth; and, most importantly, youth themselves. Partners-Bulgaria held group meetings and individual interviews with young people in the two main state homes in Sofia to learn about their fears, needs, and hopes and to encourage them to utilize the new Center. They also invited over 60 young people who had graduated from state homes in the last three years to visit the Center. The Sofia municipal government provided office space for the Center, and helped the organizers find second-hand furnishings. Supervisors of the state homes played an active role in the program, which also provided them with advanced training programs to improve their professional skills.

Further, the program aims to heighten awareness among child protection policymakers of the challenges facing youth in state institutions. Youth Center staff has met with numerous government representatives and organized conferences to discuss the problems of transition from state care. Young people were invited to present their perspectives to the audience, which included government representatives, state institution staff, NGOs, and journalists. As a result of these conferences, representatives of the Sofia municipal government offered jobs to some of the young people and agreed to meet regularly with the youth and state home supervisors to address new challenges. The Ministries of Education and Social Policy also included reform proposals generated by the Center in their “Action Plan for Social Integration and Professional Development of Youth Leaving Care.”

By all accounts, the program successfully achieved its goals, as young people are developing the skills and support networks necessary for an independent life. The Youth Center helps them explore careers, get jobs, rent apartments, and develop skills to handle the stresses of life. Policymakers saw firsthand the challenges the teenagers faced and became more involved in finding solutions. Finally, the officials who work closely with these youth, especially the state home supervisors and policymakers, gained an understanding that young people must be involved in the formulation of child protection and support policies that affect them. Only with their participation will the policies realistically reflect the needs of the youth. And, in this way, everyone from government leaders to the youth themselves learned the lessons of citizen engagement and participation that are the underpinnings of a successful democratic system.

The Youth Center programs are having far-reaching effects on individual lives. Ivan, a 20-year-old boy, lived in one of the state homes in Sofia because his single mother could not afford to support him at home. Before he became involved with the Center he was shy and ashamed to tell even his girlfriend that he lived in a state institution. As he participated in the Center’s programs, Ivan became more open, communicative, and self-confident. After he graduated the Center staff helped him find a job with a watchmaker and a modest flat on the outskirts of Sofia. He has now moved to another flat with some friends and is studying English, specializing in Swiss watch repair, and earning enough money to help support his mother. Kalina, a 20-year-old girl from a small southern Bulgarian town, lived in a state home in Sofia because her disabled parents were too poor to care for her and her two disabled sisters. Shy and passive, she had few clear post-graduation ambitions. After becoming involved in the Center’s programs, she began to gain confidence and articulate her goals, one of which was to continue her education. She joined a Center sponsored course that prepares students for university exams. After graduation, Kalina successfully passed the university entrance exams. She is now a student at the Chemical and Technological University, where she lives in university housing and also holds a part-time job.