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1. Intercontinental youth work cooperation

2. Development cooperation activities

Intercontinental youth work cooperation

From 2017 to 2018 the National Centre of Public Health and Analyses implemented the project “Youth Leadership for Development and Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals”. The project involved participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan. The target group comprised youth leaders, national coordinators, activists and experts of national Y-PEER networks in the Western Balkan countries, the Black Sea region and other countries characterized by internal instability due to migration flows. The overall objectives of the project were:

• To facilitate the exchange of experience in promoting democracy, protecting human rights and supporting civil society in the development of evidence-based youth policies and programs, by building capacity and empowering young people.
• To contribute to building the administrative capacity for improving the health and education of young people and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Development Agenda.
• To promote the Bulgarian Support for Development during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Development cooperation activities

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of the development cooperation policy. The main objectives of the Bulgarian cooperation for development are:

• to establish Bulgaria on the international stage as consistent, reliable and foreseeable partner and to protect the national interests;
• to support the development of neighbouring and friendly relations with the neighbouring countries and countries where Bulgarian communities live
• to activate the economic relations with traditional and new partners in the Middle East, Asia and Africa;
• to support eradication of poverty and inequalities in and between the countries that stimulate refugee flows and illegal migration;
• to affirm the principle of multilateralism in international relations, observance of international law, values of democracy and human rights.

Currently, a Mid-Term Program for Development and Humanitarian Aid of the Republic of Bulgaria is in place for the period 2020-2024. It enriches the geographical and sectoral priorities of the Bulgarian Official Development Assistance and expands the circle of participants. Through its development assistance, Bulgaria provides support for overcoming the causes for migration and improvement of living conditions in countries being sources of serious migration flow. Efforts focus on the specific needs of young people by improving the employment quality and the opportunities for entrepreneurship supported by effective policies in the field of education, vocational training, skill development and through access to digital technologies and services. 

One of the objectives of this program in the field of education in the region of Africa is to improve the access to education and qualification thus providing young people with employment opportunities.