Family Center ‘Posoka’, Concordia Bulgaria Foundation
About this good practice
The main challenges faced are children at risk of poverty, social exclusion of whole groups of communities and neglect of the children in some families. In certain areas, unstable family functioning, severe food insecurity and high school dropout rates compound the issue, leaving many children without essential resources and support. Day Care Centre ‘Posoka’ addresses this situation through a comprehensive community program. The day centre, located in Sofia, Bulgaria offers daily hot meals, educational support, social skills' development, psychological counselling, speech therapy and a list of sport activities to children and their families in need. The centre also provides healthcare and offers support to the families to rights and services. The team provides outreach work, which also helps to identify and reach those in need. In addition, the centre takes part in many local initiatives. This means that we have developed a strong partnership network that also delivers services in some way. All in all, the team applies a holistic approach of tackling the presented issues. We focus on improving school retention, employment of the parents, family stability and social inclusion.
Resources needed
The centre operates with around 200 000 euro/per year. The main part of the financing of the Day Care Center ‘Posoka’ (approx. 90%) comes from Sofia municipality, while Concordia Foundation manages the rest of around 5-10% of the financing. The team that delivers the services consists of 9 people.
Evidence of success
In 2023 alone, the centre supported 70 children on average and 55 families. Approx. 90% of the children have advanced to the next grade. The programme has positively impacted children and adults of their family members, demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering inclusive, supportive communities.
Potential for learning or transfer
Over the years we have learned that one of the most important parts of the work is the stable network that is built (it could be thought of as a network/system around the marginalized families also). In order to effect change of any significance, we work to engage many people in the project who complement our actions with the expertise of their own.
Our actions focus on making the service visible, accessible and close to the families. This gives them the opportunity to be in a constant connection and exchange of information with us.
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Good practice owner
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