The project „Bientretans – a Network of Resilience“  attempts to pose the question about the good treatment as an alternative to maltreatment. It is funded by the OAK Foundation and was implemented in partnership with four schools and four kindergartens in the country in the period 2013 -2015. During the first year the activities were focused on the schools in order to stress the role of the school institution as a main protective factor in the life of the children. During the second year they were concentrated on the kindergartens and the creation of a practice for working with children of age between 3 and 7 years old through the training of teachers and parents for positive education. During the last year the approaches and experiences in Bulgaria were shared with partner organizations in Moldova and Latvia: the work of the Resilience Resource Centre was extended and stabilized.

Work Accents:
We have awakened the creativity of the children.

“In the beginning the other children were wandering why I go there, but now everyone wants to participate”.

Forum-theater is an interactive theatrical play in which the children from the public are involved and participate in the resolving of situations that take place on the stage. The actors provoke the children to give suggestions about positive solutions to conflicts, and to think about how their actions could influence others. The play is prepared by Theater “Flower”.

«Philosophy for Children» are sessions for the youngest, prepared and carried out by the organization «Ontoidea». They were piloted in the four schools and in the course of one year included children from the kindergartens in Sofia. The goal of the activities was to provoke the abstract thinking of the children and to guide them towards first conversations in which they could ponder on terms like surprising - non-surprising, difficult-easy, favourite - non-favourite, possible – impossible... They were carried out in the kindergartens in the course of one year with an accent placed on the critical and creative thinking of the children.

We have posed the topic about violence and aggression in the conversations with the children, and we substituted it with some words:
«The attendants helped us a lot. They guided us towards different things, and we changed them as we liked. The project was fun, especially the installation with the eggs. I learned more about psychological abuse – I did not know that calling names is abuse. I learned about the Internet that it should be used less and that I should sign out of my account for safety reasons, I should not publish bad photos, and I should be more careful with strangers. We learned what is a project, and what one does within a project».

The sessions are carried out with children, parents and teachers based on the program “It's Better to Talk”. Its goal is to create a space where the participants could talk freely about different kinds of abuse and maltreatment, which they encounter in their everyday life. The use of games, creative tasks, and problem-solving helped the group to share and discuss some sensitive problems in an environment that is different from the one in the classroom. The approach that is used for prevention of abuse is through sharing and mutual search of positive answers and alternatives to bad treatment between friends, peers, young and elderly, children and adults.

We channeled the child creativity towards the prevention of violence. 

“My ideas were written down. During the process of building the bridge we had a few arguments, but then we decided together how to finish it. Everyone shared his/her opinion and this is how a strong bridge was built”.

We created a program “How to write our own project”, in order to help teachers and children together to invent and then built their own mini-project that would be aimed at a change of the relationships in the school community. 8 children's mini-projects were born in the school communities.

We supported parents and teachers in their shared care for achieving fulfilling childhoods for the children through:

Trainings for “Introduction to Resilience” and “Positive Parenthood” in schools and kindergartens.

“During the joint meetings the parents saw their children in a different way”. “They discussed with the children and had fun in a new way.”

The parents were introduced to the necessary behaviour that would help them create a supportive environment at home, and would stimulate them to strengthen their partnership relations with the teachers. At the same time, the professionals were encouraged to look for the participation of the parents and the community in resolving situations that worried them. Special attention was given to approaches that do not punish or exclude the child from the classroom activities.

Some workshops for parents were organized in the kindergartens,  where an Ethics Code and rules between parents, teachers, and children in the kindergarten were developed.

Parents and teachers made collaborative plans for activities that would ensure a positive environment for the children at home and in the kindergarten. The workshops resulted into parent-teacher products: “shared” manual for “yours our children” that gives directions for positive parenthood and shared with the professionals care in the everyday life of the children, as well as an Ethics Code about the rules in the kindergarten. 

The introduction of the resilience approach in Bulgaria is at a stage when it is necessary to continue the process of offering trainings, materials, programs for various specialists, and for parents. On the other hand, there already exists a professional community that has the ability to engage in sustainable provision of help in this sphere. Our experience now has its methodological reflections in the form of programs for parents (including foster parents), and manuals for parents and teachers. These resources could be used for extending the activities for introducing the resilience approach in the country, for its spreading among more people and specialists from different fields.