The city of Varna, located along the Black Sea coast and Varna Lake in Bulgaria, is the administrative center of the municipality and the region. The Municipality of Varna implements 59 social services, with 26 social services for children and 33 social services for adults. The total capacity of social services is 3550 users, and funding is provided by the state and municipal budget. July 2020 marked the beginning of a social services reform, focusing on community care at the local level through institutional capacity building and the opening of new cross-sectoral services. In partnership with the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social policy, the Social Assistance Agency, and non-governmental organisations, the Municipality of Varna seeks to find solutions to number of problems related to the living and social needs of different population groups.
Main Areas of Work
- Children and young people
- Children at risk of social exclusion
- Homeless
- Elderly
- People with addiction
- People with physical disabilities
- People with mental disabilities
- Mental health
- Public Health
- Social justice
- People who are socially vulnerable
- People in situations of difficulty or precarity
- Victims of domestic abuse
- Gender equality
- Counteracting and supporting victims of gender-based violence
- Migrants
- Social Integration
- Beneficiaries of minimum income
- Poverty
- Recipients of care
Responsibilities/ Services
- Providing social services
- Transformation of care models
- Promotion of systemic change
- Role of the social worker
- Integration of technological tools
- Issuing of guidelines and policies for the district’s councils
- Capacity building and training
- Professional training
- Training of social welfare workforce
- Maintaining networks for managers and social workers
- Management of public nursing homes and day centres for the elderly
- Home care services for the elderly and dependent people
- Socio-educational services for children at risk of social exclusion
- Specialised intervention services as meeting points for children, victims of violence, and their families
- Consulting services and specialised studies for local governments regarding elderly facilities
- Child protection
- Telecare
- Emotional support groups for family caregivers
- Assistance in cases of energy poverty
- Financial support
- Fostering cooperation with non-governmental organisations and the promotion of social volunteering
- Research/ identifying and monitoring of social problems
