From June 20 to July 1, 2026, the Blagoevgrad-based “For Tomorrow” Foundation will once again host a youth exchange funded by the Erasmus+ program, under the title “ECO ART INclusion – Eco-Art Inclusion: Ecological and Artistic Tools for the Labor and Social Inclusion of Youth with Special Educational Needs.”
Young people from eight countries - Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Spain, Turkey, Croatia, Poland, and North Macedonia - will gather in the village of Dolni Rakovets. Over the course of 10 days, they will live together, work, and acquire skills in the areas of intercultural communication and the social and labor inclusion of youth with special educational needs. Among the project participants will be people with various special needs. The project’s goal is for participants to learn ecological and artistic techniques through interactive training sessions and hands-on activities; when combined with sound therapy, these techniques help boost the motivation, self-confidence, and well-being of people with special educational needs.
Volunteers with an interest in and knowledge of non-formal education, the arts, and nature will gain new knowledge and skills that they will use as tools for meaningful communication with people with special needs and for their successful social inclusion. “Our efforts are focused on people with special educational needs and their effective socialization. We are working hard with young people from different countries to turn them into ‘agents’ of positive change and to improve the social climate for achieving the employment and social inclusion of people with special educational needs,” said Dimitar Urdev, Chairman of the “For Tomorrow” Foundation.
The goal of the Blagoevgrad-based “For Tomorrow” Foundation is to create and test new models of non-formal education based on practical work and the shared living experience between volunteers from different countries and their peers with special educational needs. As part of the project, the youth workers in training will organize public events to present and put into practice what they have learned, and to have the opportunity to interact with more young people with SEN and their families.
The youth exchange “ECO ART Inclusion - Ecological and Artistic Tools for the Labor and Social Inclusion of Youth with Special Educational Needs” will demonstrate in practice how various art forms and contact with nature support emotional expression, the development of social and cognitive skills, reduce stress, encourage the development of inner potential, personal qualities, and talents, boost motivation, and make the social inclusion of people with special educational needs achievable.
The volunteers in the project will work with clay and recycled materials, receive training in dance, sound and music, set design, and acting skills, visit some social service facilities in Blagoevgrad, and have the opportunity to communicate and interact with young people with special educational needs. “Through this exchange of experience and information, we aim to strengthen the unique network of nongovernmental organizations and volunteers that we have been building for several years now, in order to promote positive environmental and social changes that support the employment and social inclusion of people with special educational needs,” said Borislav Slavchov, coordinator and trainer for the “For Tomorrow” Foundation’s projects. “All interested social service organizations in Blagoevgrad, as well as families with children with special educational needs in the region, are invited to see the results of our project. Our hope is that more people will become familiar with the non-formal education models we are creating to engage with young people with SEN, so that we can disseminate them and make the social inclusion of these young people more accessible and successful,” Slavchov added.
The work of the team at the “For Tomorrow” Foundation in Blagoevgrad is focused on improving the quality of life for people with special educational needs and integrating them into society as equal members. The “For Tomorrow” Foundation promotes the exchange of information, best practices, experience, awareness, and support for families so that they can foster their child’s development despite the medical and social challenges the child faces.
The activities under the Youth Worker Training Program – Eco Art Inclusion, organized by the “For Tomorrow” Foundation in Blagoevgrad, are part of a youth mobility initiative
under Project No. 2025-1-BG01-KA151-YOU-000299745 - SM-PDA-T-3, funded by the EU under the Erasmus+ program.