NEWS

IGA Representative participated in a conference by the invitation of the EC and the European Organisation for Probation

Late last week by city Antakya - Turkey has returned Andrey Momchilov - Manager International Projects in the Fund - IGA, who took part in a conference on "Programs for offenders in the prison system and probation.” Host of the Forum was the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey, an invitation was sent to Fund - IGA by the European Commission and the European Organisation for Probation.
The representative of the Fund - IGA made a presentation titled "West - East - the transfer of programs for offenders with alcohol or drug dependence." The participation in the prestigious forum came as a result of strong international performance of the organization within Project “STARR - Strengthening the international approach to reducing recidivism.” Within the project, Fund - IGA is a partner of Britain, France, Hungary and the European Organisation for Probation.  

Fund - IGA, Ministry of Justice - hosted a seminar on international project 

The fourth thematic workshop on Project "STARR - Strengthening the international approach to reducing recidivism," was held from 2 to 4 February at the Hilton Hotel - Sofia. The project of the Ministry of Justice of Great Britain is being realized within the period 2009 - 2011 on the territory of the entire European Union and the candidate countries. Partners are the Ministry of Justice of Bulgaria, Fund for Crime Prevention - IGA, the European Organisation for Probation, Ministry of Justice of France and the Ministry of Justice of Hungary. The research is guided by the University of Cambridge - UK. The project should answer the question "What works to reduce recidivism in the European Union?" and will focus on three thematic areas: Young offenders between 16 and 25; Domestic violence; Abuse alcohol and drugs. Topic of the fourth workshop was "Working with offenders with alcohol or drug dependence." As speakers were representatives of the University of Cambridge, experts from Britain, Hungary, Bulgaria and others. The results of studies conducted within the European Union, will be presented at final conference in May in Sofia, where hosts will again be Ministry of Justice of Bulgaria and Fund - IGA.

IGA presents in Cambridge (UK) 

At the end of April, “Fund for Crime Prevention – IGA” participated in the European conference “What is working for recidivism reduction”, which took place in Cambridge (UK). The conference was part from project “STARR – strengthening international approach towards recidivism reduction”, in which IGA is a partner and event’s co-organizer together with European Organization for Probation (CEP) and the International Department of the British Ministry of Justice.
Andrey Momchilov – Manager International Projects – Fund IGA; has presented topic “Work with lawbreakers with drug dependencies.” Next spring (2011) Fund IGA would organize in Bulgaria – European Conference “International cooperation for reducing the recidivism.” It is considered that this would be the most important event in Europe for 2011 in connection with probation.
Beside the European Organization for Probation (CEP) and the British Ministry of Justice, partners of IGA are and the Ministries of Justice of France, Hungary, and Bulgaria, as well as the University of Cambridge (UK).

 IGA started the year with two new projects 

Fund - IGA works on two new projects by late last and early this year. The first, “ENTER-2 - Development of models for social inclusion of former prisoners”, is financed by the Operational Program "Human Resources Development" 2007-2013, Component 1. Support the development of existing social enterprises to increase the range and diversity of the provided services. The project will allow one of the most marginalized social groups - those who have served their punishment "imprisonment", to acquire new knowledge and skills through practice for lifelong learning, which will improve their chances for professional realization on the actual labour market. Partners of IGA in this project are the association “Centre for Training and Services”, “Taurus – Consulting” Ltd and the Foundation for Regional Development “Roma” - Plovdiv.
The second project, “CHANCE. Integrated approach to early prevention of child antisocial behaviour and school drop-out”, take place in Sofia, in partnership with the “Centre for Inclusive Education” and Sofia Municipality. The project aims to provide technical and resource support for a “Centre for Social Rehabilitation and Integration of Child Offenders and Children at Risk” and a “Centre for Information, Advice, Training and Support to Children and Families.” Beside the creation of the centres, the project aims to implement a set of social services that would be provided to 120 children with learning difficulties and/or deviant behaviour on the territory of Sofia municipality. The project finances are provided by the Fund for support of NGO - Bulgaria 2008-2010. Its deadline is the end of 2010.
Besides these two projects, IGA continues its work on other 6 national and 3 international projects. International projects are being implemented in collaboration with the British Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice of France, Hungary, Denmark; porters from Greece, Britain, Italy, Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain and Catalonia and the partners from the European Organization for Probation. Broadly international projects concerning the strengthening of the international approach in reduction of recidivism, development and management of cases in Europe, as well as focus on the three primary levels of prevention of crime: by taking measures of general prevention directed to all citizens, and particular measures to prevent violence in schools, measures to reduce the physical circumstances to carry out criminal acts and activities, and reduce subjective fear of crime through the development and the adoption of effective strategies for crime prevention.
Photo: The University of Cambridge - partner of IGA in the international "STARR" project.