Having your own space where you don't have to be embarrassed to be who you are, a place where you get support, and a place where you meet people you can share with is important for everyone. It's even more important for people who are part of a discriminated community.
Having your own space where you don't have to be embarrassed to be who you are, a place where you get support, and a place where you meet people you can share with is important for everyone. It's even more important for people who are part of a discriminated community.
This place is the Bilitis Foundation, which develops, supports, and empowers the LGBTI community in Bulgaria. The Foundation supports people to be able to express themselves freely, to feel good, and to feel safe. At the same time, it helps people in the community believe that they have the power within themselves to fight for the positive change they want.
Manuela Popova and Lilia Dragoeva are two of the faces of the Foundation. They are the ones who defend the cause of Bulgaria to be a safer place for the LGBTI community, where their rights are respected and protected.
Manuela and Lilia are two of the 60 young people from all over Bulgaria who participated in the Initiative - a project of WCIF. Through interactive training, creating opportunities for sharing and exchanging experiences, solving practical tasks, mentoring by experts in the civil sector, and creating a community of young leaders, the project contributes to the development of CSOs by supporting young people working in CSOs to make them and their organizations work better.
You'll learn about the benefits of participating in the training, the meaning of standing up for a cause you believe in, and the changes they both strive to make every day in the video.
The Project Initiative for building the next generation of civic leaders is implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway under the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria within the framework of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The main objective of the project is an accumulation of knowledge, and skills and creating the conditions for transfer of experience to young leaders of civic organizations. The project is implemented by the Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation.