Bulgaria was represented at the Conference for deinstitutionalization and use of Structural Funds in Zagreb

A conference on the topic “Use of funds from the EU structural instruments for moving from institutional care regime to alternative services” was held on October 24, 2013 in Zagreb. The seminar was organized by the Croatian Ministry for Social Policy and Youth in partnership with the European Commission Representation. The purpose of the meeting was drawing the attention of the Croatian authorities and stakeholders to the use of European funding for development of reforms in the deinstitutionalization.

Nadya Shabani, Program Director of the “Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law” Foundation (BCNL), was invited to represent the Bulgarian experience, the Vision of the deinstitutionalization of children in Republic of Bulgaria and the Action Plan 2010-2020. The other participants who took part in the Conference were international experts as Mr Ines Bulic, The European Expert Group on Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care, Ms Judith Klein and Ms Camilla Parker, Mental Health Initiative of the Open Society Foundation, and Jana Trost, United Nations Development Programme. Pan-European guidelines for transition from institutional care to services within the Community and Manual for the use of EU funds were also presented at the seminar.