With the coordinated effort of Open Society Institute-Sofia in 2005 to strengthen CSOs capacity to take part in EU decision-making, coalitions in various fields were founded – environment, social policy, regional development, human rights. However, the effort proved to be inadequate to consolidate the NGO sector in Bulgaria, so another initiative was launched in May 2009 – Civic Participation Forum.
It comprises more than 60 NGOs, founded by Balkan Assist, AGORA Platform Association, Devetaki Plateau Association, foundation Workshop for civic initiatives and Institute for the development of the public environment, with the support of Open Society Institute – Sofia. Its main aim is to unite efforts for effective civic participation. It comprises NGOs for local and regional development, social services, environment, public policies, education and legal issues. In that sense, it can be considered representative for the civil society sector in Bulgaria.
The platform is recognised and accepted by CSOs and the state. Its flexible approach to consolidating various organisations under an umbrella allows the Forum to be representative and to streamline its efforts in several working groups:
– Working with central and local government
– Civic participation in programming the next period of the EU funds
– Analysing working practices of civic participation
– Elaboration of Code of Ethics
– Communication with the EU institutions
It has a role in development and in functioning of civil dialogue mechanisms: initiating meetings with the Parliament and the Council of Ministers, launching a project on analyzing the gaps of the 2007-2013 programming of the EU funds with the aim to strengthen the partnership principle and bottom-up civic participation and involvement in setting priorities for the next programming period; discussing the Rules of Consultation and enhancing civil society dialogue with the state.