Information and Publicity at the Centre of Formez Activities of Support to the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies

The activities of cohesion policy and organization of training days for developing the various communication channels, have been realized by Formez under the project “Bulgaria: Preparation for Future Management of the Operational Programme for the Development of Human Resources” which concluded in June 2008. The activities have been carried out under the Administrative Twinning with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, in order to support the Managing Authority (the Directorate for European Funds and international Programmes and Projects) to conduct the Operational Programme “Development of Human Resources”.
The two training days which were held in Sofia in February 2008, were directed to the staff committed to the information and publicity interventions co-financed by the Structural Funds of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies as well as the three intermediary bodies: the Ministry of Education and Science, the Employment Agency and the Agency for Social Assistance. One training day concerned European Union communication strategies, while the other focussed on the implementation of a communication campaign on Structural Funds. Following the training activities, two guide-lines were drafted: one dedicated to the establishment of a website and the other to the drafting of a newsletter for disseminating information about the latest news regarding the Operational Programme. During the international conference which was held in Brussels on November 26th and 27th entitled “Telling the story. Communicating Cohesion Policy together” and organized by the European Commission Directorate General for Regional Policy, three guide-lines previously elaborated by Formez experts in the sphere of Administrative Twinning projects with the Bulgarian Ministry of Public Administration and Labour, were presented and distributed. These publications outlined the best practices for organizing press office activities aimed at communicating actions and projects co-financed by the Structural Funds for the drafting of communication plans and the organization of events. Further guide-lines regarding Information and Publicity obligations for the beneficiaries of the European Social Fund allocations, have been produced during the last project mission which was held in Sofia in June 2008, including the indications on the obligations referred to the beneficiaries of those projects which are co-financed by the Structural Funds with reference to the communication activities for the public.