Bulgaria In the framework of the project “The Child in Bulgaria” (1997), a working group of students and professors at the Faculty of Law of the Sofia University was formed, which collected and translated international legal acts on which the proposals for legislative changes concerning the children of Bulgaria were to be based. A National Workshop on “Interaction in the Policies for Children” was organized on the 8 December 1997 with the participation of over 30 representatives of non-governmental organizations working with children and representatives of executive agencies, where various problems related to children were discussed and recommendations for their solution were offered.

It was the composer Boris Karadimchev who gave the idea of the national festival of the Bulgarian children’s song “The Golden Rooster” which started in 1998. The organization of the festival is a result of the fruitful cooperation and partnership between the foundations “Bulgarian Song” and Future for Bulgaria. The festival includes two competitions: for choirs of all genres and styles and for new Bulgarian songs. The preparation of the choirs spans throughout the year, and the final stage is traditionally conducted between 30 May and 1 June each year.

Program 2000 features a cycle of competitions and quizzes connected with the national and traditional holidays of Bulgaria.
The topics of the competitions evoked the children’s lively interest, which can easily be noted by the number of 11 327 participants in the competitions organized between 1997 and 2001 and the program as a whole.
The results of the competitions were broadly covered by the media and displayed at exhibitions in the country and abroad. The nominated pictures of the competition “Look in the Future” were exhibited in the UN building in New York, and the pictures from the competition “Bulgarian Saints and Holy Places” were displayed in Warsaw on the occasion of the national holiday of Bulgaria, the 3 March. Exhibitions were organized in Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Pleven, Targovishte, Lovech and Blagoevgrad.

On the occasion of the beginning of spring and on the eve of the sacred Christian holiday of the Annunciation, the Future for Bulgaria Foundation together with publishing house Anubis organized a holiday for the children of Sofia on the 23 March 2001. There were performances by Bogdan Tomov, Blagovest Argirov and the children from 37 Nursery School in Sofia. On this holiday, the winners of the competition for children’s paintings on the topic “Spring” organized by the Foundation for the schools and nurseries in the region of Krasno Selo in Sofia, were announced.

On the 15 May 2003 a charity concert was held in the reading-room of the town of Botevgrad on the occasion of 140 years from the establishment Sv. Sv. Kiril I Metodiy Primary School in the village of Lipnitsa, municipality of Botevgrad. The Future for Bulgaria Foundation supported this charity initiative of the school which teaches and accommodates parentless. We provided children’s clothes and a concert featuring the popular singers Bogdana Karadocheva, Stefan Dimitrov, Vasko Krapkata, Bogdan Tomov and Blagovest Argirov.