The Bulgarian Fund for Women started its new 5-year Youth Program “Young Women Can Do It”, with the support of Mama Cash, the Netherlands.

The Program is designed to provide young women and girls, including those of Roma ethnic origin, with knowledge and organizational and leadership skills that will raise their self-esteem and self-confidence and foster their further development as strong and independent personalities. Through participation in the Youth Program, they will realize the value of equal opportunities for development and success in life and this will encourage them to take active participation in public processes and in the general development of our country.
Young people from both gender and from different ethnic groups will be involved in the Program. The leadership role however, will be delegated to young women and girls, including Roma one.
First BFW will identify 10-A partners’ NGOs of youth people throughout the country, which will become the core and basis of the future gender equality Youth clubs /YC/.
The next step will be to build the capacity of these 10-A partners’ NGOs in gender equality human rights approach; how to work with volunteers; and in planning, management and implementation of advocacy/awareness raising campaigns. Their staff will be trained in gender equality concept; how to identify the main problems of youth in the local communities from gender perspective and how to plan solutions to these problems.
Then the staff of these 10-A NGOs together with a lot of young volunteers will carry out 10-A local awareness raising campaigns targeting the young people and their gender sensitivity, and to build the fundament for the 10-A non-formal Youth clubs.
The topics of the local Campaigns will be chosen by the youth people according to their local specificity. BFW will lay down terms the Campaigns to be implemented through the means ofart and/or sport. We expect at least 5 of the Campaigns to be designed as mass sport activity. This approach will make the participation of youth in the project more attractive and will support the development of their creativity.
At the end of the first year (2009), II-nd capacity building training will be held according to the concrete needs that will be identified while the project is in implementation. This 3-day meeting will be used also for evaluation of the first year, for lessons learned outlining and for joint planning of the activities to be held in the next year.What are the follow-up activities and tasks after the first 2009 year?

Year 2010: Consolidation of the first 10 Youth clubs and raising the local communities’ awareness of girls’ and boys’ gender-related problems – “from theory to practice”
Tasks:
2.1. To identify the concrete needs of young people, depending on their gender, in each community.
2.2. To carry out 20-A campaigns whose aim is to popularize the measures for solving young people’s problems in a gender aspect?
2.3. To elaborate 10 strategies for development of the local Youth clubs.
2.4. To initiate a fundraising process for the needs of the Youth Program.
2.5. To analyze the local and national legislation and normative documents and to prepare suggestions and recommendations.
Year 2011: Building partnerships with the local government in order to effect changes in the legislation/policy at the local level. Expanding the partner network with another 10 NGOs through experience exchange and training delivered by the teams of the first participating NGOs
Tasks:
3.1. To carry out 10-A advocacy campaigns.
3.2. To secure funding for initiatives dedicated to gender equality and young women and girls’ problems from local budgets.
3.3. To identify another 10-B NGOs and to form 10-B new Youth clubs.
3.4. To carry out at least 4 meetings with the purpose of training, experience exchange and increasing the organizational capacity of the NGOs.
3.5. To study and analyze the national state policies concerning gender equality and the problems of young women and girls.
Year 2012: Implementation of a national advocacy campaign to promote changes in state policies and/or legislation. Expanding the Network with another 10 NGOs
Tasks:
4.1. To form work teams and a Coalition for the implementation of the national advocacy campaign.
4.2. To hold meetings and negotiations with all stakeholders.
4.3. To effect change in the state policies and/or legislation and to obtain the respective amounts of state funding.
4.4. To identify another 10-C NGOs and to form 10-C new Youth clubs.
4.5. To carry out at least 4 meetings with the purpose of training, experience exchange and increasing the organizational capacity of the NGOs.
Year 2013: Consolidation of the network of Youth clubs and improvement of their sustainability and independence
Tasks:
5.1. To identify the potential for development and to initiate a process of setting up non-formal youth clubs in village communities which will act in cooperation with the already existing 30 gender equality Youth clubs.
5.2. To devise strategies for the development of Youth clubs over the period 2014 – 2019.
5.3. To train the youth activists how to elaborate business plans for their clubs.
5.4. To hold meetings with representatives of the local government, business and NGOs in all 30 target communities with the aim to popularize the youth clubs’ business plans and strategies.
5.5. To start the implementation of the devised business plans.
Within the 5-year period of the Youth Program, BFW expects formation and sustainable development of a country network of 30 Youth clubs with developed expertise in youth issues from gender perspective and effected change not only in the local communities’ attitudes to their specific problems, but also in the local and national policies that deal with these problems. A lot of young women and girl’s leaders will be working in the Clubs, practicing their new skills and using the new knowledge. They will be strong enough physically and mentally and capable to take decisions on their own.