Social work programme a resounding success

(22 December 2004)

Although Bulgaria is a middle-income country, there has been an increase in poverty in recent years and social services have struggled to meet new challenges. Working at community level, VSO social workers have contributed to a fundamental change in thinking about social support - away from the insitutional model towards community service model.

At an evaluation workshop, the UK DFID representative explained how VSO’s analysis of social problems informed their development assistance policy and thus supported reform in the social sector. In turn VSO's impact increased as there was an insitutional framework for the new types of services that volunteers have helped to develop through training and skill-sharing.

In addition to celebrating achievements, the workshop helped partners focus on ways of sharing best practice within Bulgaria and continuing to influence reform and development once the VSO programme closes. A full evaluation report will be produced in February 2005.