Protection

IOM Bulgaria implements a program for the protection of vulnerable persons with a focus on improving the living conditions in the centers of the State Agency for Refugees (SAR). The activities include:

• a team of translators of rare languages;
• repair services of SAR registration and reception centers (RRCs);
• trainings;
• donations, incl. clothes and hygienic materials;
• organizing meetings;
• information sessions and campaigns;

One of the main services provided by IOM Bulgaria, is field work by three mobile teams (social worker, psychologist and lawyer), who conduct consultations with migrants and persons seeking international protection at the SAR centers and the Migration Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, information sessions on topics such as rights and obligations, good hygiene practices, etc., assess the needs / vulnerability and distribute donations. In 2017, mobile teams have conducted over 1,500 consultations with over 500 individuals, have purchased medicines and/or have paid medical expenses to over 100 destitute migrants. In the framework of this program and in order to strengthen the capacity of national institutions and NGOs, in 2017 IOM Bulgaria organized trainings on the following topics:

• intercultural competence;
• psycho-social and health support;
• working with vulnerable migrants and persons seeking international protection;
• identification and targeting of victims of trafficking among persons seeking international protection;
• working with unaccompanied migrant children and refugees

More than 300 representatives of national institutions and NGOs participated in the trainings.