Bulgaria

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In brief

The EU Kids Online research is the only comprehensive source of information for the online experiences of children and youth in Bulgaria. The results from EU Kids Online in Bulgaria have shown that Bulgarian children have a higher than European average uptake of online activities. A majority of children do not report any risks (73%) but 22% of children have reported either sexual or contact risks. Bulgarian parents prefer a passive style of mediation but not by a large margin.

Highlights

The project findings have informed the development of a number of awareness-rising resources for children, parents and teachers, as well as social workers and representatives of LEAs such as a guide for parents of first graders (over 50,000 copies were distributed across the country).
There have been over 20 sessions training representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Ministry of Education, based on the project findings and recommendations.
EU Kids Online recommendations have been discussed in a number of consultations and working group meetings initiated by state bodies in order to inform public practice and policy such as the National strategy for improving literacy, and the National programme for the prevention of trafficking.
Six press releases on reports by EU Kids Online have been disseminated and provoked more than 40 publications and a dozen interviews for TV, radio and in the print media.

Bulgarian team

Luiza Shahbazyan is the deputy coordinator of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre at the Applied Research and Communications Fund. She holds a BSc degree in Psychology (University of Sheffield), a MSc degree in Cognitive Science (New Bulgarian University) and is pursuing a PhD degree at the New Bulgarian University.

Jivka Marinova, Master's degree in Automation and Control Engineering, worked for 15 years in information analysis and communications. Since 1998 she was involved in the civil society sector as founder and executive director of GERT (Gender Education, Research and Technologies foundation) working for the empowerment of women and girls through new information technologies. She is a member of WNSP of APC.

Diana Boteva has a Master's degree in Social and Organizational Psychology from the University Victor Segalen (Bordeaux, France). She worked as quantitative research assistant at the research and consulting agency ESTAT, joined the GERT team in July 2008 and has being working as programme manager within a bullying prevention programme in 10 Bulgarian schools.

Impact statement

The conclusions of the study have been taken into consideration in all major safer internet initiatives in the country and they are the basis of a guide for parents in the digital age, released by the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre.

Contact

Luiza Shahbazyan
Applied Research and Communications Fund
1113, Sofia
5, Alexander Zhendov St. /
Tel: +359 2 973 3000 (ext. 412)
email: luiza.shahbazyan@online.bg|

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