E-PROTECT II - 4 Professionals’ MeetUps in Bulgaria (D2.4)

Four MeetUps were organised in Bulgaria in the course of E-PROTECT II project implementation welcoming 122 participants. Three of them were carried out in presence, while one (the 3rd one) was held online due to the restrictions against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the particular target audience (which was mainly students, who are more likely to be reached in an online environment).

• The first two MeetUps carried-out were organised at local level. The cities were selected based on statistics by the National Statistical Institute in terms of number of children who have become victims of crime during the recent years. The team has aimed to avoid the biggest cities in the country as some of them were visited during the first E-PROTECT project and some of the key components of the Individual Needs Assessment Methodology (IAM) for child victims of crime have been already introduced there. In addition, there is a tendency that the majority of the events across the country are usually held in the biggest cities.
• The third one was held online and available for everyone interested to attend. The focus was on child victims in the online environment.
• The fourth one was organised at national level targeting policymakers in order to build up the results and findings from the local MeetUps and the desk research performed regarding the recent national policy and legislative changes in terms of children victims of crime. It was held face-to-face.