Bulgaria

BULGARIA – Sofia Platform Foundation (Sofia / Bulgaria)  

Sofia Platform was founded in 2013. Two strands characterize the work of the NGO: Through historical-political education on wheels, Sofia Platform pursues the goal of carrying political education work in Bulgaria, especially in regions outside the capital, in order to promote a democratic culture and the examination of the communist past. In 2018, 500 students, 120 teachers and 300 citizens in 21 Bulgarian cities were involved (http://sofiaplatform.org/an-incredible-year-comes-to-an-end/). In addition, Sofia Platform is actively involved in the identity debate, which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are grappling with with transition experiences. Specifically, it is about the questions: Who are we and why are we how we are? Does the state of the current political culture have anything to do with the lack of coming to terms with the communist past, with the experiences during the transition or with the current democratic challenges? Sofia Platform was originally founded as part of the events around the Arab Spring in order to support countries in transition phases through their own experiences and lessons learned. Since 2014, the focus has been on the question of how the lack of addressing the transition affects the current social and political situation in Bulgaria. Sofia Platform has a large network of national and international experts in formal and non-formal political education, such as historians, teachers and cultural workers, and is part of Networking European Citizenship Education (NECE) and Networking Arab Civic Education (NACE).