Following an overwhelming interest in the March 8 Competition and 72 applications received from 34 cities and villages, the Bulgarian Fund for Women awarded eleven bold project ideas to celebrate International Women’s Day and the political, economic, scientific, and cultural achievements of women!
For the second consecutive year, the contest was held with the financial support of the online shopping platform Answear.bg, the British Embassy in Bulgaria, Dokova & Dokov Foundation and individual and corporate donors. Again we are looking for the boldest ideas to celebrate the contribution of women in political, economic, scientific and/or cultural aspects. Organizations, informal groups and activists submitted concepts from different locations including small and large towns as well as villages.
The finalists in the 2022 March 8 Competition are:
- Nadezhda Majalani and informal collective “Feminist Mobilizations”, Sofia. ” March 8, International Women’s Day Protest March”- 71 points
- Svetla Turnin, Sofia – “Seven stories for a just future” – 69 points
- Association “HAYACI”, Novi Pazar – “Roma Cuisine Recipes of Women Cooks from the District of Novi Pazar”. – 69 points
- People’s Community Centre “Lyuben Karavelov – 1921”, Buzovgrad and Informal Collective “Influx – Art as Life Experience”, Buzovgrad, – “Woman by Nature” – 63 points
- Association for Support of People with Mental Disabilities, Varna – “Days Without Lipstick – 8 Inspiring Stories” – 62 points
- Izabela Ivanova, Sofia – Short comics “Why I Celebrate Women’s History Month” – 61 points
- NGO “Young, Active, Creative”, Kurtovo, Karlovo municipality – “We Have the Power to Save the World” – 61 points
- Emprove” Foundation and Women Survivors, Sofia. “A Day to Remember: From Women to Women” – 61 points
- Galina Delikirova (a.k.a. Galina Ferroli) and Club “Educational Activist”, Kardzhali – “Street Fest 3E / Emancipation, Еrudition, Empathy” – 60 points
- “Medecins du Monde” Association – Sliven Branch, “March 8 – Women Together” – 60 points
- “Fine Acts” Foundation, Sofia. “SPRINTS” – an innovative creative bootcamp for women’s rights – 60 points
The Bulgarian Fund for Women (BFW) team confirmed the finalists after a two-phase selection process, where the applications were evaluated on several criteria, including connection of the project idea to International Women’s Day, familiarity with women’s discourse and/or clear addressing of existing issues in women’s communities, bold and original approaches in the activities of the project idea, realism, budget.
In the second round of evaluation, external evaluators from Answear.bg and a representative of the Board of Trustees of the Bulgarian Fund for Women were involved, and the projects that scored more than 30 points in the first round were considered.
The evaluation jury consisted of:
Irina Lazova – Managing Director of Answeаr online store – partner of the “March 8” 2022 competition. Irina graduated in fashion design and marketing from London College of Fashion and worked for the marketing department of the University of Arts London. Since 2018, she has been heading Answear Bulgaria’s fashion platform.
- Atty. Denitsa Lyuncheva – Member of the Board of Trustees of the Bulgarian Fund for Women.
- Gergana Kutseva – Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Fund for Women.
- Rada Elenkova – Programme Director of the Bulgarian Fund for Women.
- Raya Raeva – Communications and Campaigns Director of the Bulgarian Fund for Women.
BFW will contact all applicants supported by the Fund personally with information on the next steps.
Due to the high interest in the competition, the Bulgarian Fund for Women has placed organizations and activists on a reserve list for which an additional fundraising campaign is currently underway! If successful and additional funds are secured, we will further contact the applicants who are ranked on the reserve list.
In the evaluation, priority was given to:
- Project ideas that include or address the needs of vulnerable groups of women (subject to multiple discrimination and/or marginalization;
- Project ideas that are implemented outside Sofia;
- Project ideas that develop advocacy activities for women’s rights and involve local and/or national authorities;
- Project ideas that aim to organize marches or other public events with the potential to mobilize a wide range of people and communities.
Due to limited resources, BFW is unable to send reasons for rejection to unsuccessful applicants.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed their concepts to this initiative! We wish good luck to the organizations, collectives and activists that were not shortlisted for funding, and will look forward to their applications in one of our next calls. Keep an eye on our website regularly for more information.
