The abbreviation (which in Bulgarian means ardour) and especially the symbol of the foundation – the shining sun – create a feeling of infinite warmth and empathy, a stimulus for life and development. They wonderfully express the aims of the Women’s Alliance for Development, a prestigious, non-governmental, non-party organization, which for a span of already eight years has been diligently and consistently working in compliance with the standards of the European Union and the international human rights conventions for equal opportunities and partnership between men and women in Bulgaria.

The growing interest of the diplomatic circles in Bulgaria and abroad in the WAD Foundation brought us to the Executive Director of the organization Mrs. Pavlina Filipova, who kindly answered the questions of Bulgarian Diplomatic Review.

Mrs. Filipova, what makes the WAD Foundation different from the many NGOs, which sprang up during the last decade in Bulgaria?
Perhaps it is the broad spectrum of its objectives, its openness for cooperation and, most of all, its unifying mission, the mission it has undertaken – to build up a strategic alliance of organizations and personalities, dedicated to achieving equal opportunities for men and women in all spheres. Back in 1996 WAD was founded by a group of only 13 enthusiastic women from different spheres of the socio-political life and the growing business. Today, its activities are supported by hundreds of specialists from various areas of the economic and cultural life, by many national and international organizations.

The work of the Foundation focuses on four major programmes: “Lobbying and Policy Advocacy”, related to the establishment of standards for equality between men and women in Bulgaria’s EU pre-accession process; a “Networking Programme”, aimed at capacity building in the National Network for Equal Opportunities (NNEO); a “Training Centre” for educational courses; and “Information Centre”, which compiles, analyses and disseminates information on the impact of the economic, social and other policies on the position of men and women.

Would you share some of your achievements in these directions?
With pleasure. Our ambition is to make all WAD activities as transparent and popular as possible for all who are interested in its work and who are willing to render their support, including the diplomatic circles.

Since the establishment of the National Network for Equal Opportunities (NNEO), which WAD is administering, our efforts are already yielding results – currently there are 72 member-organizations in it, 41 of which are full-right ones and 31 are associate members. WAD is an active member of a number of networks and coalitions both in Bulgaria and in the region: the KARAT Coalition for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Working Group of the Stability Pact, the Network of East-West Women (NEWW), SHINE and Huairou Commission.

WAD maintains its position and prestige as a reliable information and training centre in the sphere of gender equality in Bulgaria.

The flow of information we receive and disseminate to a broad number of consumers – NGOs, political parties and leaders, ministries and institutions, individuals, etc. is enormous. We do this both through our printed publications and through our fully updated Internet site, which in 2003 was visited by over 15 thousand people. The WAD Training Centre, which was established in April 2000, offers 42 educational modules such as trainings, seminars and full courses, and is annually providing free training for over 800 individuals.

Touching are the letters of gratitude we receive from women, who have received education, assistance and prospects for their professional realization in our courses.

WAD has established its role of “an advocate for de facto equality”.

Together with its partners from the National Network for Equal Opportunities, WAD was an active participant in the discussions on the bills for the Law on Protection against Discrimination and the Law on Combating Human Trafficking. The two were adopted by the National Assembly and came into force on January 1, 2004. In this way, the voice of the 72 network member-organizations on the key legislative changes was heard and their position considered.

WAD increased its role of an active participant in the world consultative processes. We have taken part in UN sessions on women’s problems and equality, with appeals, petitions, etc. We have lobbied before various international organizations for considering the specifics of the region. We also hosted an international conference entitled “Economic Achievements, Banking System and Women”, etc.

We know that during the last eight years WAD has successfully worked on a number of projects in various spheres. Would you dwell on the most successful ones and share the keys to your success?
All projects have equal importance for us. However, I would specifically like to focus on the following:

• The regional study: “Women, Labour and Globalisation”, which was conducted in Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Hungary and was funded by UNIFEM. The WAD Foundation was in charge of this project, which provided a lot of interesting information and basis for comparison between the place of men and women on the three countries’ labour market. I say “men and women”, because we insist on avoiding the opposition between the two genders. The term “equality” is not synonymous with sameness between men and women. In our view, its social implication lies in presenting the two genders with equal opportunities for the realization of their human rights.


• “Reducing the Risk of Human Trafficking in Bulgaria”, funded by the USAID.


• “The Choice is Yours” – a project in support of the women, who ran in the local and in the general elections. On the one hand, our aim was to bring forth a mass entry of women in the ruling power, while on the other provide the female electorate with the necessary information and political culture to make a conscious and responsible choice. I am glad that our efforts contributed for the significant increase in the percentage of women MPs in the 39th National Assembly. However, we do realize quantity is not the only thing that matters. The women MPs should also possess the necessary qualities, have the necessary competence and sensitivity to the problems of women and their equal place in the family and in society.


• We are starting to work on a project funded by the Embassy of the Norway and related to the work on the Anti-Discrimination Act and the NGOs’ capacity building.

How are your activities received and evaluated – by the Bulgarian government and by the foreign organizations, for example?
The WAD Foundation received the 2003 award of the Council of Europe for its project in the “Youth Programmes and Innovative Projects” field. It was a small pilot project with a significant social impact. It was entitled “For an open dialogue with the newly-elected MPs on the problems of preventing drug trafficking in schools”. We developed it immediately after the 2001 elections. The WAD Foundation has received the recognition of many international organizations and coalitions – as a foundation, the partnership of which they can rely on and with which they are willing to work. We received a diploma from the Council of Europe but I will tell you that for us what matters most is the appreciation of the people we have helped in their development, in finding work, in overcoming the difficulties along the road to positive thinking, who come and say “thank you for helping me”.

Having in mind the forthcoming Bulgaria’s EU accession, do you envision new directions for your activities?
Such a strategizing, as we call it, was initiated already two years ago. Outlining WAD’s prospects on the basis of our donors’ assessments, we realized our strength lies in our development as a foundation supporting a whole rage of other organizations, through which we can reach certain target groups and problem categories, experiencing a severe need for support: the women in poverty, the women out of work, the women victims of various forms of violence, single mothers, the women from certain ethnic groups, etc. That is the way in which we structure our priorities, programmes, and projects we’ll work on. However, the issue that will continue to top our agenda in future will be the overcoming of poverty and the place of men and women on the labour market.

You have a number of printed publications. What are they and where are they available?
The WAD Foundation has the ambition and the capacity for a broad publishing activity. Unfortunately, its scale depends on funds, coming from various projects, which often vary in their size. For several years we successfully published the Zharava monthly magazine, which we have now transformed into a humbler edition supplemented with thematic leaflets. In 2001-2002 we published the FAIR PLAY magazine – a quarterly edition of the international KARAT Coalition, which was also discontinued. This year we issued two substantial publications covering the results of our implemented projects: “Human Trafficking – the Bulgarian Response” and “The National Network for Equal Opportunities – shared ideas and joint efforts”.

What else are you trying to achieve in terms of useful contacts and cooperation?
Principally WAD is a foundation opened for broad cooperation. We would like to enhance our relations with the women MPs, with the women occupying key positions in the ministries or in the business so that we can provide them with information and engage them with lobbying for the female equality cause. We would be glad if the women working in the foreign embassies and the wives of the diplomats participate more often in our initiatives. This would provide us with the opportunity to exchange information and expertise and unify our actions in combating the growing international crime and the escalating violence, the victims of which are ever more often women and children.

Yordanka Tropolova