Since its foundation, YDCMA has been committed to protect the environment and to raise eco-awareness among people in Bulgaria, especially in Kazanlak. In 2011, YDCMA team created the volunteering project “Ecology development (I) to realize this mission. During the project, the NGO also organized for the first time its ecology festival near Koprinka Lake, an original idea of Raminta (Lithuania), volunteer hosted by the organization at that time.

Together with her mentor Megan (USA), volunteer from the Peace Corps, Raminta set up the first edition of the festival without any financial expenses and it was a success. As tells Maria Slavova, Chairperson of YDCMA, “participants came because they love ecology, and both Raminta and Megan attracted them for their cause.”

In the video below, Raminta tells her experience as volunteer in the project “Ecology development (I)”.

Since then, YDCMA team decided to continue with this successful initiative and to make it bigger and better year after year. So far, the organization have run short-term projects such as “Ecology development II” (2012) and “Ecology development III” (2013) and “Eco festival Koprinka 2015” (2015) with the participation of 36 volunteers in total under the European Voluntary Service. The fourth edition (2014) was supported by two Spanish volunteers, hosted by the organization within the project “Friendship in a box”.

The projects “Ecology development II” (2012) and “Ecology development III” (2013).

Over the years, all these projects have enabled volunteers to participate in YDCMA’s activities and to organize thе eco festival in synergy with partner institutions, such as the Municipality of Kazanlak. Volunteers, on their hand, have shared their creative ideas and gave their contribution to make every edition of eco festival different from the previous ones, as well as to keep the cause alive. As Maria says, “We have a common goal: take care of nature which we help to be always clean. We want to live without any waste here. And we will do it for it every year more thanks to our volunteers”. A selection of eco movies realized by YDCMA’s volunteers taking part in the projects between 2012 and 2015 can be seen in this playlist on our Youtube channel.

YDCMA is already working on the 8th edition of the eco fest, which will be held in a new location for this year: the town of Kazanlak. In order to organize it, YDCMA will host volunteers coming from all the European partner countries of Erasmus+ programme. This year project, called “Deep Roots”, will be dealing with a wide range of activities: cleaning the area of the river Stara Reka and Tyulbeto Park, workshops for recycling and composting, renovating of YDCMA mosaic and an old picnic area, meetings with environmental tourist and accredited EVS organizations, shooting and screening of eco movies, making of a summer movie, creating trash art items and organizing concerts with young talents, among others. The project, as always, will give the opportunity to young people from different countries to realize their common values and share their own cultural identities and backgrounds.