Steel and Mining Areas Employment Project - Bulgaria

Source: Ministry of Labour and Social Policy

This employment project is managed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and funded under the European Union PHARE Programme. The project is implemented in 5 regions of the country, affected by the restructuring in the steel and mining industries – Pernik, Sofia, Bourgas, East Rhodopes and West Rhodopes.

The objective of the project is to contribute to the decrease of the social consequences caused by the restructuring of the Bulgarian economy by providing possibilities for training and retraining as well as opening of new working places for unemployed from the steel and mining industries. In the longer term, the objective is to develop the capacity of Bulgarian institutions and organisations at the national and regional level to work with European Union structural funds.

Within the project framework a call for project proposals was organised with participation of many municipalities, organisations and companies, registered in the target regions. The rules for preparation of project proposals, their evaluation and selection, as well as the further implementation of the approved projects, were published well in advance and in compliance with the Practical Guide for PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD. As a result of the organised promotion campaign for the project objectives and for training and consulting of potential applicants, 384 projects proposals were received with individual value from 10,000 Euro to 300,000 Euro.

After evaluation at the regional and national levels and the approval of the EC Delegation in Bulgaria, 109 projects were contracted for the grant scheme funding of 10,202,772 Euro. The distribution of contracts by regions and amounts is as follows: Sofia – 20 contracts amounting to 2,499,999 Euro; Pernik – 25 contracts amounting to 1,995,689 Euro; West Rhodopes – 22 contracts amounting to 2,016,294 Euro; East Rhodopes – 16 contracts amounting to 1,749,980 Euro; Bourgas – 26 contracts amounting to 1,940,808 Euro. The disbursed amounts for the first quarter of 2002 are given in Table 1.

PHARE Programme Grant allocated and disbursed per regions

The distribution by regions of the newly created work places for the first quarter of 2002 is as follows: Sofia - 340, Pernik – 165, West Rhodopes – 123; East Rhodopes – 213; Bourgas – 217. The proportion between the created work places and contracted ones to date is given in Table 2.

Employment creation for steel and mining areas unemployed workers under the project

The total number of trained unemployed by March 31, 2002 distributed by regions is as follows: Sofia – 732; Pernik – 619; West Rhodopes – 664; East Rhodopes – 569; Bourgas –316. The proportion between the trained by March 31, 2002 and the envisaged for training unemployed according to the contracts is given in Table 3.

Steel and mining areas unemployed workers, involved in training/retraining

The distribution of trained under the project component “Institutional building” is as follows: representatives of MLSP – 28, of Regional Employment Councils – 9, of Employment Agency – 5, of Employers Organisations – 12; of Trade Unions – 14; of Local Organisations – 8; of Labour Offices –45; of municipalities – 18, total -139.

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