USAID-supported Social Enterprise Offers New Services to Disabled in Sofia
On August 9, Mission Director Michael Fritz inaugurated the new branch of the Health for Everyone Association in Sofia. Health for Everyone is a non-profit organization registered in Pleven that provides a full range of services and aid devices for people with disabilities. Since 2002, the NGO has been successfully operating a social enterprise and established a network of 15 offices and 34 branches throughout Bulgaria. Five thousand Bulgarians with disabilities are annual beneficiaries of services provided by the Health for Everyone social enterprise, which conducts income-generating activities to support the organization’s social mission.
The new branch in Sofia will improve the quality of life of 800 people with disabilities in the capital by providing services based on individual need, free training and consultations. The new Sofia branch will create 24 new jobs within the social enterprise. Health for Everyone also plans to implement a national project that aims to develop a National Social Inclusion Network for people with disabilities, which will establish a platform for partnerships to support the integration of people with disabilities through training and employment opportunities, access to resources to start small businesses, and the creation of self-help groups.
Social enterprises in Bulgaria are a vehicle for increased social inclusion of disadvantaged people, especially people with disabilities, through access to resources, health and social services, employment and skills development. Since 2002, USAID/Bulgaria has funded the Community Fund and Social Enterprise Program implemented by Counterpart International. The program has provided training, technical assistance and small grant funding to 45 social service NGOs.
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| NGO chair Emil Kyuchukov, Counterpart Chief of Party Hugh Orosco and Mission
Director Mike Fritz open a new center for people with disabilities in Sofia |
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