CHAR

Chiprovtsi, Alternative and Development

About CHAR

Association «Chiprovtsi Alternative and Development - Char" is a nonprofit organization to operate in the public interest, reflected in actions to protect the rights of people and nature in the municipality Chiprovtsi and sustainable development of the territory. The statutes of the association are targets associated with increased activity of the people and improve their living conditions and development.

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Mission of the CHAR

Protection of the rights of people and nature on the territory of the municipality of Chiprovtsi.

Objectives of the organization

  • Increasing the public sensitivity, awareness and commitment of the institutions and civil society and their involvement in actively solving environmental and health problems; problems related to children, young people, risk groups;

  • Preservation of the environment, cultural and historical heritage and sustainable development of the settlement Chiprovtsi, the villages of the municipality of Chiprovtsi and its neighboring municipalities, referred to in this document as the "Territory"

  • Increasing the ecological culture of the population

  • Creating better conditions for sport, tourism and physical culture

  • Development and validation of spiritual values ​​in education, culture and civil society
  • Supporting the study and promotion of the cultural and historical heritage of the region
  • Improving the quality of life and public services on the territory
  • To promote optimal urban planning of activities related to effective development and management of the territory in order to achieve harmonious and sustainable development
  • Improve the quality of life of local people and disadvantaged people by developing projects for social and other services
  • Promotion and development of advertising and marketing, presenting the territory of the municipality of Chiprovtzi (and the region) and its resources in order to attract the attention of external investors; development and popularization of alternative forms of tourism
  • Increase employment by supporting initiatives to create new jobs, reduce unemployment and improve the business environment
  • Organizing initiatives to improve the quality of the workforce by increasing its awareness, professional qualification and social inclusion
  •  Improving the ecological culture of children and young people
  • Implement initiatives to protect human rights, ethnic equality, prevention of violence, discrimination and social exclusion
  • Combating Corruption
  • Promotion of small and medium-sized businesses in municipal and state institutions for support and lobbying
  • Establish contacts with civil associations from the country and abroad with similar activities in order to achieve the goals of the association

Experiences of Organization

Project "The Volunteering - Joy and Responsibility"

YOUTH IN ACTION’ PROGRAMME is a youth initiative for the development of their native villages and organizing leisure activities for young people by promoting active and responsible European citizenship. The project aims аrе to promote volunteerism in the context of the European Year of Volunteering through a volunteer network, organizing informal training, voluntary actions and initiatives that require creativity and encouraging youth creativity. Project initiatives are conceived and developed by a group of youth group in association "Chiprovtsi and Alternative Development - CHAR" after meetings and conversations with young people - potential participants. The project will involve young people between 15 and 30 years of frontier settlements in Bulgaria, - Chiprovtsi and Zhelezna. The project provided  the creation and implementation of projects for  "Color and Light" in the settlements, the organization of leisure of youth and children, and after making research a brochure on the European Youth volunteering experience and volunteering in the homeland.

The project "Will for Good"

The project "Will for Good" has helped to increase civic activity and the role of volunteering. The children got acquainted with the idea of volunteering, and some of them took part in the Young Volunteer Initiative, painting fences and sports facilities in the school yard, the Historical Museum, the playground in the city center, wooden sculptures ... Volunteers participated in the "Spring Water" action to restore three ponds in Chiprovtsi Balkan. Through the volunteer gathering activity and the poll conducted to create the "Will for Good" brochure, the attention of a large part of the town's population to the importance of volunteering was addressed. The Volunteer Festival gathered young volunteers and people did very good works for their city.
Тhe project was related to the enhancement of civic activity and volunteerism, as well as with activities for the youth financially supported by Support Programme for NGOs in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area

Culture of Municipality of Chiprovtsi

Chiprovtsi Historical Museum

Founded in 1988 on the anniversary of the Chiprovtsi Uprising. The main exhibition is housed in a renovated schoolhouse, built in 1866.

Ethnographic Museum „Katerina Kushta”

Exposed old clothes, utensils, accessories and famous Kilim carpets.

The Sankta Maria Catholic Church

The Sankta Maria Catholic Church was built in 1371 and was a center of Bulgarian Catholicism prior to the 1688 uprising.

History

It is known that the area around Chiprovtsi has been inhabited since the time of the Thracians and later the Roman Empire, when the local metal deposits were exploited. According to historian V. Velkov, the valley of the Ogosta was inhabited by Thracians since the early 1st millennium BC. 

Antiquity and Middle Ages

 

Early Ottoman rule

Cultural heyday

Chiprovtsi Uprising

This website has been produced with the assistance of the European Union through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria-Serbia Programme, CCI No 2014TC16I5CB007. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Municipality of Boljevac and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the Managing Authority of the Programme.

The project is co-funded by EU through the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria–Serbia Programme.