ÿíóàðè 2004 a i n f o o i S Sofia t a AAnnualnnual d MMISSIONISSION n TToo ppromote,romote, u RReporteport hhelpelp o ddevelopevelop F aandnd y ssustainustain t e tthehe i 22003003 vvalues,alues, c aattitudesttitudes o S aandnd IInitiativesnitiatives ppracticesractices n ooff e SSupportedupported tthehe p PProjectsrojects oopenpen O Open Society Foundation ssocietyociety iinn BBulgariaulgaria OOPENPEN SSOCIETYOCIETY FFOUNDATIONOUNDATION SSOFIAOFIA OOPENPEN SSOCIETYOCIETY FFOUNDATIONOUNDATION – SOFIASOFIA 22003003 FFounderounder George Soros BBoardoard ooff TTrusteesrustees Stefan Popov CChairmanhairman Haralan Alexandrov Rumiana Chervenkova Marin Deltchev Yonko Grozev Petia Kabakchieva Georgi Koritarov Vesselin Metodiev Svetlana Vassileva OOmbudsmanmbudsman Prolet Velkova EExecutivexecutive DDirectorirector Rayna Gavrilova FFinancialinancial DDirectorirector Veliko Sherbanov PProgramrogram DDirectorsirectors Ivanka Ivanova Assya Kavrakova Neda Kristanova Cveta Petkova Kalin Tsekov Elena Zlatanova MMISSIONISSION To promote, help develop and sustain the values, attitudes and practices of the open society in Bulgaria SSTRATEGICTRATEGIC GGOALOAL To support Bulgaria’s accession to United Europe by broadening the integration process into the whole public domain TThehe OOpenpen SSocietyociety FFoundationoundation – SSofiaofia iiss rregisteredegistered aass a ppublicublic bbenefitenefit oorganization.rganization. AANNUALNNUAL RREPORTEPORT 22003003 OOPENPEN SSOCIETYOCIETY FFOUNDATIONOUNDATION SSOFIAOFIA Contents 2003: Opportunities and Challenges of the New Model.............................2 Financial Profile of the Open Society Foundation – Sofia in 2003............3 Public Debate Program ......................................................................................8 European Integration and Regional Stability Program...............................13 East–East Network Program..............................................................................17 Legal Program......................................................................................................21 Local Government Reform Program ...............................................................27 Civil Society Program ........................................................................................36 National Network of Partner Organizations .................................................40 Roma Program .....................................................................................................42 Education Program..............................................................................................47 International Education Programs...................................................................59 Public Health Program.......................................................................................63 Women’s Program...............................................................................................72 Culture Program..................................................................................................73 Economic Reform Program ...............................................................................74 Appendix: Auditor’s Report and Annual Financial Statements................75 2003: Opportunities and Challenges of the New Model In the fall of 2003, the Open Society Foundation – Sofia elaborated and adopted a strategic plan for transforming the Foundation from a grant-making organization into a public policy institution. The strategy was successfully defended before OSI – New York because the transformation had actually began and the paper reflected the opportunities and challenges of the new model. The change in the Foundation’s profile is expected to happen in 2004-2006, but already in 2003 OSF-Sofia actually operated along two models: of a grant-making organization and of an operative institution. Grant-making involved announcing calls for project proposals but also supporting individual unsolicited projects. Project competitions, however, gradually shifted away from the traditional model, in which the Foundation announced a topic and evaluated a broad range of project proposals, more or less related to the theme. We adopted the approach of organizing project competitions with clearly formulated policy objectives and expected results (Equal Participation of People with Disabilities in Public Life Competition, for instance). In many cases they involve comprehensive final evaluation of all supported projects, follow-up meetings with project participants, network creation (as was the case with the Roma Community Centers Project), and/or development of new projects aimed at encouraging legislative changes or undertaking other “political” steps (Establishing an NGO network for introducing alternatives to the penalty of confinement project). At the same time the Foundation broadened the practice of announcing targeted competitions, which involve soliciting proposals from selected organizations with a proven track record and special expertise in a given field. These competitions helped identify a circle of organizations, which could potentially become strategic partners of the Open Society Foundation. The operative model involves a proactive approach to the challenges of Bulgaria’s social development and is expected to become a leading principle in OSF’s operation. This approach is manifested in projects, initiated and developed by the Foundation’s team and targeted to achieving OSF’s strategic goals. Projects are implemented by the Foundation’s program team, sometimes with the assistance of external experts, or in partnership with other organizations. A typical example for such operative projects are the Civil Convention for Amendments to the Bulgarian Constitution, the Public Administration Training Project, the Fiscal Decentralization Research and Analysis Project, etc. The combination of the two models of operation represents a serious challenge for the Foundation, because it requires experience and capacity in both grant-making and operative programming. In this sense, the contribution of the broad range of permanent and provisional experts, which the Foundation has, is essential. They bring in not only the expertise of the non-governmental sector, but also the knowledge and capacity of state administration, academic circles and international networks. Rayna Gavrilova Executive Director 2 Financial Profile of the Open Society Foundation — Sofia in 2003 1. Income from the main donor, the international Open Society Institute In 2003 the recognized contribution income amounted to 5.6 million US dollars. 8000 4000 7358 6019 5578 0 2001 2002 2003 The reduction of this amount, compared to the year 2002, follows the overall strategy of the Foundation and has resulted from both the decrease of OSF – Sofia’s budget from 4.5 to 4 million US dollars and the cutback of 400 thousand US dollars in some Soros Network Programs. 2. Income from other donors In 2003, in pursuit of its strategy to extend funding sources, the Open Society Foundation – Sofia increased the amount of funding attracted under agreements with other donors by nearly five times, compared to the 2002 figure. Contribution Income from other donors (in thousands US dollars) 1000 800 600 840 400 200 121 180 0 2001 2002 2003 Note: As the Foundation’s accounting policy requires, financial reports indicate only the amount of funding actually received by the end of the fiscal year. The third party grants contracted in 2003 and transferred in 2004 amount to 500 thousand US dollars and will be reflected in the 2004 financial report. Moreover, the present report does not include 170 thousand US dollars raised by various consortia, lead by the Open Society Foundation – Sofia. 3 List of donors and programs that have financed the activity of the Open Society Foundation – Sofia in 2003 Donor/Program Project Grant Note King Baudouin Grant transferred Ethnic Minorities € 68,000 Foundation – Belgium in 2003 European Union Programs OSF-led Improving the Access of Consortium, PHARE Program € 301,000 Minorities to Public Health Grant transferred in 2004 PHARE –Raxen Racism and Xenophobia Grant transferred € 21,810 Program Monitoring in 2003/2004 Establishing Public Health Partnerships in Europe, in Grant transferred Public Health Program € 64,000 partnership with the European in 2004 Public Health Alliance Canadian International Grant transferred Development Agency Community Policing $ 66,000 in 2004 (CIDA) Communication Analyses, Opinion Polls, and Strategy for Bulgaria’s Press Monitoring on Issues BGN 140,000 OSF-led Coalition Accession to the Related to Bulgaria’s European Union Accession to the EU EU Closer: Creating and Maintaining an Information BGN 117,000 OSF-led Coalition and Communication Network NGO Participation and Ministry of Foreign Grant transferred Transparency of Bulgaria’s BGN 100,000 Affairs in 2003 Accession to NATO Central European Grant transferred Projects in Higher Education $ 11,854 University and others in 2003 Grant transferred Other donors $ 6,974 in 2003 In the process of developing and implementing various projects, the Open Society Foundation – Sofia organized coalitions involving a national network of more than 20 organizations, the National Open Society Information and Advisory Network of 13 information centers, as well as non-governmental organizations with a proven track record. The total amount of contribution income for 2003 equals 5.7 million US dollars. 4 3. Expenses In 2003 program expenses amounted to 5.2 million