The project is funded by

A large number of children in Bulgaria are placed in state residential homes (social institutions) with either no parents or parents who have abandoned them.

Around 30% of these children do not have any contact with their families and do not leave the institution, whilst the other 70% have occasional contacts during the summer holiday or have visits from their parents.

Thus those children form a large vulnerable group and are exposed at the risk of getting into slavery-like practices as a result of limited chances for proper socialization and professional realization.

For a number of reasons children living in institutions are most exposed to the risk of trafficking for sexual or other kind of exploitation as well.

Children are very sensitive to people coming from outside and they trust mainly their close friends, roommates and children with similar experience and age. Therefore prevention programs run by peers are mostly efficient.

The objective of the Project is to train peer educators who will further run preventive programs against sexual exploitation and trafficking in children, and to raise the awareness and capacity of children from specific vulnerable groups to protect themselves from violence, trafficking and sexual and other kind of exploitation

Main activities

 Organise a one week training camp for 25 children from social institutions
 Prepare a pool of peer educators, living in these institutions who will work further with their peers - children staying in the Homes.
 Publish handbooks with age appropriate information for prevention of violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking and other worst forms of child exploitation.

Target groups

 The Children from State social institutions
 The educators and psychologists within the institutions