WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
We are looking for answers to simple questions about social issues related to
youth, women, refugees, Romani people, homeless, disadvantaged people and their problems regarding mental health, poverty, violence, social exclusion and human rights.
We talk with directly affected people to learn more about their first-hand viewpoints on the challenges they have experienced. We want to share the perspectives of NGOs on the root causes of the problems and the roles each one of us plays in society. We are curious to know the opinion of active citizens and ordinary people exposed to all kinds of information.
Part of the project is our survey of NGOs and active citizens in Bulgaria. We looked for answers to the question of why and where the connection between civil society organizations and citizens is broken.
WHY THE SURVEY IS IMPORTANT TO US
The civil sector in Bulgaria is still in development and trust in it is fragile and contradictory. The index for the sustainability of non-governmental organizations in Bulgaria for 2020 (prepared by USAID and BCNL) is 3.5 - coefficient, which puts the third sector in the category of developing sustainability, without significant changes, compared to the previous year. In the three directions - organizational capacity, sectoral infrastructure and public prestige are improving at the expense of a deteriorating legal environment and advocacy. In 2019, a study by Gallup International and Welcome Trust worldwide put Bulgaria in last place (among 140 countries) on trust in non-governmental organizations. The proliferation of COVID-19 brought many political, economic and social crises - a situation in which the civil sector has taken on responsibilities and borne burdens that did not go unnoticed and had a good public response. The crises seemed to have strengthened the trust in the non-governmental sector as a mediator and tool to deal with problems in several areas of public life.
However, the current question is where the bond between NGOs and citizens remains within the sector itself and does not find deserved public attention outside the civil society organizations. Through the survey results, Reflektor hopes to provoke more discussions on the state of the civil sector together with the citizens interested in joining the work of non-governmental organizations in one way or another. Moreover, we believe that open public discussions on the subject have the potential to define fears, debunk myths and find solutions.
