Bulgaria

The third Lifelong Learning Days were organised on 17 September - 5 October 2003, before the common central event of the South-East European Regional Lifelong Learning Festival in Skopje, Macedonia, where Bulgaria was also represented.

After the opening ceremony in Sofia, a great number of Festival activities took place in ten cities and surrounding districts around the country (Sofia, Veliko Tyrnovo, Gorna Oriahovitza, Pleven, Lovetch, Plovdiv, Burgas, Dobritch, Blagoevgrad, and Gabrovo), including an educational fair for all projects, partners and providers as well as an international seminar on the education of adult Roma people. 

Special emphasis was laid this year on gender issues, minorities and other disadvantaged groups, languages and intercultural communication, computing skills, and civil society. As usual in Adult Learners Weeks, the events both gathered together the specialists and decision makers to discuss the current issues in adult learning, and involved a larger public of learners and education providers to celebrate their achievements and to present learning possibilities. Some of the main events also related to the "European Year of People with Disabilities 2003".

The Lifelong Learning Days were organised by the Sofia office of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV) in cooperation with the Federation of Societies for the Spread of Knowledge (Znanie), the Ministries of Education and Science and of Labour and Social Policy, and a wide variety of national agencies, NGOs and institutions. More information can be found on the Lifelong Learning Days website at http://www.lifelonglearning-bulgaria.org.

    2002 
From 5 to 8 October 2002, Bulgaria set up, for the second time, their "Lifelong Learning Days". While the first Festival in 2001 was only "Sofia-based", the second Festival reached out to other regions of the country. Several events were set up not only in Sofia, but also in cities and regions of Plovdiv, Burgas, Pleven and Ruse. 

The opening ceremonies were held in the National Palace of Culture, Sofia on 4 October, with representatives from organisations and governmental bodies both from Bulgaria and other European countries. The official opening was followed by presentations, open doors -activities, series of workshops and cultural events, which were located in all participating regions accross the country. 

The Lifelong Learning Days 2002 also used international approach. A cross-border initiative entitled "Your Chance" -festival took place at the north-east border to Romania in two border cities. As a result, the decision was made for establishing a Bulgarian - Romanian Zonal Centre for Continuing Education, practising on both sides of the border. The Festival also hosted several international guests from the neighbouring countries. The representatives from ministries and organisations from Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro and Slovenia are currently working in close cooperation in order to spread the scope of the Lifelong Learning Days in the region and beyond. (See also the Regional Lifelong Learning Festival in Skopje, Macedonia.)

The festival was organised by the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association (IIZ/DVV) together with the GOPA-program, Ministries of Science and Education, Znanie Federation and Societies and Goethe Institute Inter Nationes. The overall number of partners reached 80, marking a significant growth in comparison the previous year.  

Background...
For the first this year, Bulgaria connected to the international learning festivals movement and organized Lifelong Learning Days on 28 - 30 September 2001. Some forty organizations joined forces to raise the awareness of learners and employers on the importance of learning throughout adult life.