Varna, the third largest city in Bulgaria, is also its “youngest” one. Awarded European Youth Capital (EYC) for 2017, Varna is transforming itself into a hub for social innovation based on youth empowerment and participation; an urban lab for good practices and alternative models to be shared with the rest of the continent.

Its slogan “innowave” combines the concept of social innovation with the geographic characteristics of the city, as one of the biggest Eastern European harbors on the Black Sea, but also plays with the idea of “making waves”, creating change, spreading the enthusiasm and energy of young people to the entire society. Varna EYC 2017 is reshaping the image of Bulgaria and creating a new narrative of hope, optimism, and future for the country. From periphery to center for youth policy in the Black Sea region and South-Eastern Europe.

Surrounded by the vibrant cultural atmosphere of Varna, the Youth team has kept a close eye on two important youth initiatives in the programme there during the summer: the International Youth Day, on 12th August, and the Funcity+ Youth Festival, from 30th August to 3rd September 2017.

International Youth Day

The United Nations’ International Youth Day is celebrated on August 12th each year to draw attention on youth issues worldwide and recognize the efforts of youth in enhancing global society. It also aims to promote ways to engage them and be actively involved in their communities. During this celebration, started in 1999 with the adoption of the Resolution 54/120, concerts, workshops, cultural events and meetings involving national and local government representatives and youth organizations take place around the world.

The themes of the previous editions, from 2014 to 2016, were respectively “Youth and Mental Health”, “Youth and Civic Engagement” and “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. In 2017, it has been chosen “Youth Building Peace” to recognize the contributions of young people in conflict prevention, social inclusion, social justice and sustainable peace.

The International Youth Day has been marked in Bulgaria since 2007. For the occasion, we visited the city chosen to host the event this year: Varna, European Youth Capital of 2017. The celebration, at the doors of the Sea Garden, was a “great step towards fostering the practice for more effective inclusion of a larger part of young people and Varna citizens in the urban development processes”. The programme, built around the concept of Innowave, consisted in a series of events related with youth participation and inclusion through information stands, activities and games.

During the day we had the opportunity to interview the representatives of the organizations involved in the event:

• Elina Rainova – representative of FOR YOU Organization
• Vasil Stavrev – representative of the Organization of Bulgarian Scouts in the National Youth Forum of Bulgaria
• Alexandra Mirtcheva – representative of the National Youth Forum of Bulgaria
• Lilia Elenkova – She participated in the establishment of a National Youth Forum as a representative of ASAS. Deputy Chairman of the NYF in 2010 – 2012, Chair of the NYF in 2012 – 2014.
• Rosalina Nedkova – Vice president of the youth section of United Nation Association of Bulgaria
• Veselina Georgieva – Worker of the Ministry of Young and Sport in the Directorate of Youth Politics

Young people’s inclusion in the peace and security agenda and in society more broadly is a key to build a sustainable peace. The process of social inclusion for youth, including participation in decision-making processes, as well as access to quality education, healthcare, and basic services, promote their role as active contributors to society and provide young people with opportunities to develop their potential and achieve their goals.

Funcity+: the youth festival of the Black Sea Region

From 30th August to 3rd of September, hundred of youngsters, artists and sportists from Bulgaria and abroad gathered in the port of Varna for a new edition of Funcity+, the biggest youth festival of the country and the Black Sea Region. Funcity+ is already a consolidated platform that every year gives visibility to young talents in a large variety of fields, such as music, sports or visual & performing arts, and reflects contemporary trends in youth entertainment and leisure time activities. Co-organized by the Varna Youth Festival Association, the Varna EYC team and the Municipality of Varna, with the support of european volunteers, NGOs and informal groups, Funcity+ is also an outstanding example of structured dialogue that the city maintains with its youth sector.

The 5-days programme of this 2017 edition drew around thousands of participants and provided a great offer of activities to choose among. Open-air giant chess, board games, foosball table and darts in the Game Zone; basketball tournaments in the Streetball Court; free ridings and jams in the Skate & Blade Park; yoga, martial arts and slackline demonstrations; beatbox and street dance contests in the Dance Arena; publications, comics and cosplay shows in the Manga & Anime Zone; origami paper, japanese calligraphy and ikebana flower workshops in the Art Zone; clown shows with acrobatics for the whole family in the Street Circus and Magic Corner; and, as the sun went down, concerts in the Main Stage.

What made the atmosphere even cooler were the Dj bass station, a double-decker bus with a mobile DJ platform where music workshops took place and people could dance at the sound of breakbeat, drum and bass, funk and hardcore, and the nearby Graffiti & Street Art Zone, where huge white cubes were painted by graffers like in an open-air museum.

The Legacy of Varna, European Youth Capital 2017

The initiatives of Varna, European youth capital 2017, of which the International Youth Day and the Funcity+ Festivals are only a small part, represent a new point of beginning for the city. They show what the young people are able to achieve and to give to their community becoming a model of social innovation and point of reference for boys coming from the whole continent.

Thanks to these initiatives Bulgaria is able to show with pride to the European community, at which it looks with a hope,  all the cultural richness and the social resources that it haves and wants to share, transforming itself for the first time in center of innovation changing its image of periphery of Europe, offering the best and latest solutions to important problems, which can be used, transformed and remixed all over the world.

Varna European Youth Capital 2017 “will be a novel and useful solution to the changing social needs and problems of young people, an alternative perspective to existing approaches, a new model of social innovation through youth empowerment and participation.

Social Innovation will not start with a complete change in society as a whole. It will start from much smaller groups of people who share a common habitat, or common interests, from the communities we belong to and the people we know.

[…] European social innovation can start from Varna.

Special thanks to Elina Raynova and For You Association for supporting our work in Varna.