Refugee Education in Bulgaria – Research and Analysis

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

Since the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, over 2.1 million refugees from Ukraine have entered Bulgaria. As of mid-December 2023, the Government of Bulgaria has granted Temporary Protection to more than 173,400 refugees fleeing Ukraine, with the majority being women and children. An estimated 52,000 Ukrainian refugees remain within the country as of mid-December 2023. Additionally, Bulgaria, as an external EU border, plays a strategic role in refugee protection within Europe.

In 2022, Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees (SAR) registered over 20,400 asylum seekers, primarily from Syria and Afghanistan. As of the end of October 2023, more than 19,000 asylum applications have been received by SAR, surpassing the numbers for the same period last year. SAR operates six reception centers for the registration, Refugee Status Determination procedures, and accommodation of asylum seekers. Amid an increase in arrivals of Afghan and Syrian asylum seekers since 2022, UNHCR supports Bulgaria's Government to ensure policies and legislation align with international and EU standards. UNHCR promotes a comprehensive refugee response grounded in a multi-stakeholder, whole-of-society approach.

UNHCR supports government-led efforts to provide key protection, including legal assistance, information on services, education, and psychosocial support. UNHCR's priority protection interventions include access to territory and asylum procedures, inclusion of refugees in essential services, Child Protection, Gender-Based Violence response, support to persons with specific needs, and mitigation of risks related to trafficking and other forms of abuse and exploitation.

While the national legislation guarantees universal education and inclusion of asylum-seeking and refugee children in the national education system, only 22% of refugee children from Ukraine have access to education. Only few asylum-seeking or refugee children are enrolled in schools in Bulgaria. Difficulties of integrating in national schools and navigating the education system requires NGO assistance to asylum-seeking and refugee children and their families to access education, including by UNHCR partners. The selected volunteers will be asked to support the mapping of services and initiatives supporting education inclusion in Bulgaria with a view to identifying gaps.

In order to provide an evidence basis for its country strategy and programming, UNHCR assesses the needs and capacities of forcibly displaced and stateless people in partnerships with asylum-seeking, refugee or stateless women and men of all ages and backgrounds by promoting meaningful participation through structured dialogue. These assessments provide data on the level of inclusion of education of the displaced and stateless people, their preferences and community-based solutions, among others. The selected volunteers will be asked to support the Office in developing recommendations and action points by analysing the data collected in this process as well as compile information from other sources and identify gaps in available information and data.

Selected volunteers will have a chance to learn more on UNHCR’s education strategy and interventions, while supporting the team at first hand.

We expect the selected online volunteer(s) to start with this task. 1. March 2024 2. June 2024

• Desk review of available information provided by UNHCR in refugee protection assessments conducted in Bulgaria
• Systematising and compiling an initial draft compilation and analysis based on available data provided by UNHRC (approximately 10 pages)

Education or experience in Education, Community-based protection, social work, community work, social studies, research or other relevant field Familiarity with refugee or humanitarian work Professional integrity and commitment to core humanitarian principles Digital literacy Excellent drafting skills; analytical skills; experience in data analysis