- Program Civil Society
- Program Area Strengthening Civic Space
- Grant Amount $170,000
- Grant Period January 1, 2015–December 31, 2016
- Location Sofia, Bulgaria
- Geographic Focus Bulgaria
About this grant
The project goal is to strengthen young people’s capacities for and commitment to active participation in civic life on the local and national levels in Bulgaria. To this end, the Ideas Factory Association will provide training and capacity building to young activists and social entrepreneurs, provide funding for small projects of individuals and informal youth groups, and document and publicize creative activist practices from Bulgaria and around the world. In addition, the grantee will increase its collaboration with like-minded organizations in Central and Eastern Europe in order to strengthen youth movements in the region. Also, the grantee will improve its communications, operational capacity, and financial sustainability. Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, Ideas Factory Association was established in 2006 with the mission to strengthen civil society and youth participation in civic life. The grantee’s key achievements in the past two years include creating and piloting new methodologies for organizational capacity building, providing training and technical assistance to 34 young leaders and supporting their projects, organizing the sixth edition of a youth festival of creative social and environmental initiatives, and establishing working partnerships with local governments and public institutions. The grantee is based in Sofia, Bulgaria.