INFOPACK

BULGARIA | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

BULGARIA ROMANIA ITALY FRANCE SPAIN TURKEY

 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

Dear partners, Dear participants

We kindly want to invite you to take part in our youth exchange project which has been approved by
the Bulgarian National Agency and it will take place in Pazardjik, Bulgaria from 22th of November to 1st of
December 2023. At this stage we need to find the participants for the project quickly and you, as sending
partners, should support the participants to buy their tickets AFTER receiving our approval of the potential
participants.
Here below you will find more specific information on the contents of the youth exchange. After review-
ing ALL the information, please have your potential participants fill in the questionnaire that you will find in
the attachment and send back to [email protected] at the latest by Ocotober 10, 2023. We
will review the questionnaires and will give you approval to buy the tickets.

PROJECT SUMMARY: Techniques and methods that will be used will

be interactive, provocative for participants, caus-
Planned activities in the Youth Exchange “GREEN ing them to think about things and opportunities
FRIEND” will be held between 22.11.2023 and they have. These methods include various games
01.12.2023 in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria. Within 9 work- to maintain the group’s dynamics, energizers to fully
ing days, 30 participants coming from 6 countries engage participants in the activities, visual materi-
(Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, France, Romania, Turkey) als, educational videos, presentations, printed aids,
will be invited to take part in various informal activi- role-playing games, simulations, case studies, ses-
ties and through them to learn more about different sions with “Frequently asked questions”, activities
environmental issues, as well as different attitudes, in small groups and in a larger group, interactive pre-
social and institutional responsibilities in European sentations and so on.
countries on key environmental issues such as re-
cycling or alternative energies.
WORKING METHODOLOGY
The main activities planned for the YE are:
Participants will not only take part in discus- • Interactive games
sions or workshops, they will also have a chance • Participation in different workshops
to improve their skills and creativity to create new • Debates
art techniques thanks to creative recycling: partici- • Creative activities to acquire new knowledge
pants will have the opportunity to learn more about and skills
different types of waste and gain basic skills for Non-formal learning methods and informal activi-
turning plastic bottles into works of art. At the end ties will be used during the exchange and the work-
of the project, participants will be able to connect shops.
ecology, recycling and creativity and share their
new knowledge through environmental exhibition in
the local communities in their own countries. PARTICIPANTS PROFILE:
Number of participants per organization:
The main idea of this project is to provide young
4 + 1 group leader
people with information about different environ-
mental issues to raise their awareness, but also to A total of 5 participants per organization–
have them take part in creative activities. In partic- 4 aged between 18-30 and 1 leader without age limit.
ular we aim to create a project that involves par- - Age between 18-30;
ticipants coming from countries that have different - Young unemployed people;
attitudes towards the environment, to provide the - Youth workers, NGO activists, volunteers;
chance for young people to learn from each oth- - Ready to take part and fully engage in the whole
er. This exchange will give participants a chance to Youth Exchange;
learn more about recycling, conservation, ecology, - Have organizational support for further activities
waste types and treatment methods, it will create within ERASMUS+;
preconditions for a better involvement in the civic - Able to communicate in English language.
policies, but it will also maybe inspire some of the
participants to pursue a career in this field. NOTE!
Please take care of the gender balance of the groups!

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

 LEASE DO NOT BUY ANY TICKETS

P
BEFORE RECEIVING OUR APPROVAL.
Number of participants per organisation:
5 participants

ACCOMMODATION AND TC VENUE

The hosting place is Hotel Trakia in Pazardjik,
Bulgaria
HOTEL TRAKIA - www.trakia-hotel.com.bg
which is a hotel that hosts tourists and some
guests of the city. The rooms will be for 2 people.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served in the
same structure.

WHAT SHOULD YOU

BRING WITH YOU?
Here is a list of important things that you should
bring with yourself on the YE module:
• Travel tickets: We can only refund your trav-
elling costs, if you have the tickets, receipts of
the trip, invoices.
• Medicines: for preventive reasons we recom-
mend for those who have health problems to
bring their own medicine.
• Some traditional snacks, drinks or food: In
order to learn as much as possible from each
other’s culture, we will organize an intercultur-
al evening, where you are supposed to share
some of your local specialties with the other
participants.
• Representative materials of your sending
organization: (brochures, CD’s, etc.) and also
photos from your local community.

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

GREEN FRIEND team

Furkan Ivaylo Stoika

Tümkaya Ivanov Georgieva
Logistics Trainer Project Coordinator

FINANCIAL ASPECTS Below you can see the official table

for the reimbursement:
The training course will take place in Pazardjik,
Bulgaria from 22th November until 1st December TRAVEL COST
(22th November arrival day and 1st December de- NUMBER OF
COUNTRY IN € PER ONE
parture day). Financial support will be provide by PARTICIPANTS
PARTICIPANT
the Bulgarian National Agency for the Erasmus +
Program (Key Action 1). NAVIGATOR NGO will be France 5 275 €
able to offer the following financial conditions:
Italy 5 275 €
• The travel costs from home town of the partici-
pants to the venue will be covered according to Romania 5 180 €
the new rules of the Erasmus+ program based
on distance calculator. Spain 5 275 €
• Accommodation, food, local transports and all
materials of the training course will be covered Turkey 5 180 €
by the hosting NGO.
• No participants fee

CONTACT WITH US
ASSOCIATION NAVIGATOR
Address:
street Patriarh Evtimii 19
4400 Pazardjik, Bulgaria
J o i n F R
!
IEND k
phone: 00359 899 08 19 09 N o
url: www.navigatorr.org GREE t Facebo
e-mail: [email protected] YE a
e-mail: [email protected]

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

ABOUT BULGARIA
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a
country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bor-
dered by Romania on the north, Serbia and Mace-
donia on the west, Greece and Turkey on the south
and the Black Sea on the east. With a territory of
110,994 square kilometres, Bulgaria is Europe’s
14th-largest country. Its location has made it a his-
torical crossroad for various civilisations and it is
the home of some of the earliest metalworking, re-
ligious and other cultural artifacts in the world. The
population of 7.36 million people is predominantly
urban and mainly concentrated in the administra-
tive centres of its 28 provinces. Most commercial
and cultural activities are concentrated in the capi-
tal Sofia. The strongest sectors of the economy are
heavy industry, power engineering and agriculture,
all relying on local natural resources.
Official languages: Bulgarian
Official script: Cyrillic
Bulgaria Weather: summer +40 Co
winter –1 Co

HISTORY
In 680 Bulgar tribes, under the leader-
ship of Asparukh moved south across the
Danube and settled in the area between the
lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing
their capital at Pliska. A peace treaty with Byz-
antium in 681 marked the beginning of the First Bul-
garian Empire. The Bulgars gradually mixed up with
the local population, adopting a common language
on the basis of the local Slavic dialect.
Succeeding rulers strengthened the Bulgarian
state throughout the 8th and 9th centuries. Krum
doubled the country’s territory, killed Byzantine em-
peror Nicephorus I in the Battle of Pliska, and intro-
duced the first written code of law. Paganism was
abolished in favour of Eastern Orthodox Christianity
under Boris I in 864. This conversion was followed
by a Byzantine recognition of the Bulgarian church
and the adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet developed
at Preslav which strengthened central authority and
helped fuse the Slavs and Bulgars into a unified peo-
ple. A subsequent cultural golden age began dur-
ing the 34-year rule of Simeon the Great, who also
achieved the largest territorial expansion of the state.
Wars with Magyars and Pechenegs and the
spread of the Bogomil heresy weakened Bulgaria af-
ter Simeon’s death. Consecutive Rus’ and Byzantine
invasions resulted in the seizure of the capital Preslav
by the Byzantine army in 971. Under Samuil, Bulgar-
ia briefly recovered from these attacks, but this rise
ended when Byzantine emperor Basil II defeated the
Bulgarian army at Klyuch in 1014. Samuil died shortly
after the battle,[38] and by 1018 the Byzantines had
ended the First Bulgarian Empire.

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

GEORGRAPHY
Bulgaria occupies a portion of the eastern Balkan
peninsula, bordering five countries—Greece and
Turkey to the south, Macedonia and Serbia to the
west, and Romania to the north. The land borders
have a total length of 1,808 kilometres (1,123 mi),
and the coastline has a length of 354 kilometres (220
mi).[93] Its total area of 110,994 square kilometres
(42,855 sq mi) ranks it as the world’s 105th-largest
country. Bulgaria’s geographic coordinates are 43°
Map of bulgaria N 25° E
The most notable topographical features are the
Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Thracian
Plain, and the Rhodope Mountains.[93] The south-
ern edge of the Danubian Plain slopes upward into
the foothills of the Balkans, while the Danube de-
fines the border with Romania. The Thracian Plain is
roughly triangular, beginning southeast of Sofia and
broadening as it reaches the Black Sea coast.
The Balkan mountains run laterally through the
middle of the country. The mountainous southwest
of the country has two alpine ranges—Rila and Pirin,
which border the lower but more extensive Rhodope
Mountains to the east. Bulgaria is home to the high-
est point of the Balkan peninsula, Musala, at 2,925
metres (9,596 ft)[97] and its lowest point is sea level.
Plains occupy about one-third of the territory, while
plateaus and hills occupy 41 per cent. The country
has a dense network of about 540 rivers, most of
which are relatively small and with low water levels.
The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory,
Bulgarian cyrlic aplhabet
the Iskar, has a length of 368 kilometres (229 mi).
In AD 886, the Bulgarian Empire introduced the
Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Saints Cyril and Metho- Other major rivers include the Struma and the Mar-
dius in the 850s. The Glagolitic alphabet was gradually itsa in the south.
superseded in later centuries by the Cyrillic script, de- Bulgaria has a dynamic climate, which results
veloped around the Preslav Literary School, Bulgaria
at the beginning of the 10th century. Several Cyrillic from its being positioned at the meeting point of
alphabets with 28 to 44 letters were used in the early Mediterranean and continental air masses and the
and middle 19th century during the efforts[clarification barrier effect of its mountains. Northern Bulgaria av-
needed] on the codification of Modern Bulgarian until
an alphabet with 32 letters, proposed by Marin Drin- erages 1 °C (1.8 °F) cooler and registers 200 milli-
ov, gained prominence in the 1870s: it was used until metres (7.9 in) more precipitation annually than the
the orthographic reform of 1945, when the letters Ѣ,
regions south of the Balkan mountains. Tempera-
ѣ (called ят “yat” or двойно е/е-двойно “double e”)
and Ѫ, ѫ (called Голям юс “big yus”, голяма носовка ture amplitudes vary significantly in different areas.
“big nasal sign”, ъ кръстато “crossed ъ” or широко ъ The lowest recorded temperature is −38.3 °C (−36.9
“wide ъ”), were removed from the alphabet, reducing
the number of letters to 30. °F), while the highest is 45.2 °C (113.4 °F). Precip-
The Bulgarian alphabet itation averages about 630 millimetres (24.8 in) per
With the accession of Bulgaria to the European year, and varies from 500 millimetres (19.7 in) in Do-
Union on 1 January 2007, the Cyrillic script became
the third official script of the European Union, follow-
brudja to more than 2,500 millimetres (98.4 in) in the
ing the Latin and Greek scripts. mountains. Continental air masses bring significant
amounts of snowfall during winter.

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

VIDEOS ABOUT BULGARIA

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

CITY OF PAZARDZHIK
Pazardzhik is a city situated along the banks of
the Maritsa river, Southern Bulgaria. It is the capital
of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homony-
mous Pazardzhik Municipality.
For more information on Pazardzhik, visit:
www.PzHistory.info
Weather in Pazardjik
The temperatures in Bulgaria during Novem-
ber is from 5℃ to 13℃ and more degrees. You
can check more info before coming to Pazardjik at
www.sinoptik.bg
Our currency and prices
Bulgarian’s official currency is the LEV (BGN).
One Euro is approximately 1,955 Bulgarian leva. For
other exchange rates, check the following website:
www.xe.com
You can change currency at exchange office in
your hotel, or get LEVA right out of the ATM in sever-
al places in the town, banks and exchange offices.

NOTE!
You should change or withdraw money when you
arrive in Bulgaria, in order to buy a bus tickets only
in Bulgarian leva (BGN).
Here are some examples of local
prices:
One coffee at a coffee shop costs 1 €.
One beer in a pub costs 2 €.
One cake in a patisserie costs 1 €.
One bread in a bakery costs 1€.

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

HISTORY
Pazardzhik was founded by Tatars from what
is today Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in 1485 on the
left bank of the river Maritsa, near the market of
the region, an important crossroad at the mid-
dle of this productive region, and named Tatar
Pazardzhik meaning “small Tatar market”. Thanks
to this favourable location, the settlement quickly
developed. While it was very small at the begin-
ning of the 19th century, it became the admin-
istrative centre for the region at the end of the
century and remained so until the dissolution of
Ottoman Empire.
During the following centuries the town contin-
ued to grow and strengthened its position. Trade
in iron, leather and rice prospered. The town im-
pressed visitors with its beautiful houses and clean
streets. In 1718 Gerard Kornelius Drish visited
Pazardzhik and wrote “the buildings here accord-
ing to construction, size and beauty stand higher
than those of Niš, Sofia and all other places”.
The Russians under Count Nikolay Kamensky
took the city after a brief siege in 1810. By the
mid-19th century Pazardzhik was a big, import-
ant centre of crafts and trade, with a population
of about 25,000 people. It hosted two big annual
fairs, and a big market Tuesdays and Wednes-
days. There was a post office with a telegraph.
In 1837 the Church of the Mother of God was
built – an important national monument, famous
for its architecture and woodcarving. In the mid-
19th century Pazardzhik became an important
cultural centre: a school was opened in 1847, a
girls’ school in 1848, a community centre in 1868,
the women’s union “Prosveta” in 1870.
Pazardzhik is exempt from Zapdniya Russian
detachment commander with Lt. Gen. Joseph
Gurko on 14 January 1878 (new style). Thanks
Ovanes Sovadzhiyan Armenian, Turkish command
failed to execute his perfidious and monstrous
plan – to light the town and destroy its Bulgarian
population – before retiring.
The railway station in 1928
From the early 20th century on people built
factories, stores and houses, and thus the in-
dustrial quarter of the town. From 1959 to 1987
Pazardzhik was again an administrative centre for
the region, and is again since the 1999 adminis- The old clock tower is one of the landmarks of
trative division of Bulgaria. Pazardzhik.

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 GREEN FRIEND! - YE INFOPACK | 22.11.2023-01.12.2023

POPULATION
In the 1880s the population of Pazardzhik num-
bered about 15,000 inhabitants and it was one of
the largest of Bulgaria. Since then it started growing
decade by decade, mostly because of the migrants
from the rural areas and the surrounding smaller
towns, reaching its peak in the period 1985–1992
exceeding 80,000.[3] After this time, the popula-
tion has started decreasing in consequence of the
poor economic situation in the Bulgarian provinces
during the 1990s that led to a new migration in the
direction of the country capital Sofia and abroad. Dormition of the Theotokos Church
As of February 2011, the city has a population of
71,979 inhabitants, while the Pazardzhik Municipal-
ity of 114,817 inhabitants.

CULTURE
AND PEDESTRIAN AREAS
The Church of the Theotokos preserves the
most impressive icons in Bulgaria by master art-
ists of the Debar School, wood-carvings of New
and Old Testament scenes, and icons by Stanislav
Dospevski. Among the town’s landmarks are also
the clock tower, the ethnographic and history mu- Pazardzhik History Museum
seums.
As with most Bulgarian cities, Pazardzhik has Symbol of Pazardjik
developed a significant pedestrian center, in which The symbol has three meanings - the
several central squares typify the European coffee Rhodopes mountains, the Thracian Horseman
and the Marica river. Symbol has the shape of a
house society and pedestrian culture. In Bulgar- shield. The upper part is wavy and symbolizes the
ia the café culture is particularly prominent, with relief of the Rodopes mountains, which surrounds
many downtown squares easily providing up to a the city. On the right - the bottom half symbolized
river Maritza depicted with three wavy lines. In the
half dozen cafés, with ample outside seating. upper left half is the Thracian Horseman.
Pazardzhik has a level of pedestrian streets (or
network of carfree areas) even above the relative-
ly high Bulgarian standard. There are several lon- IPAZARDJIK | Movie about Pazardjik
ger pedestrian streets, and at one point there is
even an intersection where five different pedestrian
streets converge. A few of these do not continue
for very long, but most do, or are connected to the
rest of the pedestrian areas of the city, and thus
could be said to form the pedestrian network of
the city.
During the warmer seasons, most afternoons
of the week and especially weekends find a large
number of people strolling about or sitting in cafés.
There are few tourist attractions in this area but
there are large supermarkets including Bila and a
Lidl.
Pazardzhik Point on Snow Island in the
South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named
after Pazardzhik.

10
“The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

Този инфопакет е създаден по проект „ЗЕЛЕН ПРИЯТЕЛ!“ (KA152-YOU-E346D762), който е реализиран по програма „Eразъм+”, ключова дейност 1 „Oбра-
зователна мобилност за граждани”, сектор „Mладеж”, Център за развитие на човешките ресурси - София, България.
“The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”