Know-how Center for Alternative Child Care (KCACC)
Affiliated Research areas
- Political systems, governance
- Inequalities, discrimination, prejudice
- Social policies, welfare, work and employment
- Poverty and poverty alleviation
- Cognitive basis of human development, developmental disorders; comparative cognition
Scientific Areas
Keywords
Partner Organizations
Summary
The Know-how Centre for Alternative Care for Children (KHC) is an interdepartmental research and consultative organization within the structure of the NBU established in 2010 to support the governmental policy of deinstitutionalization of child care (ending the orphanage system). Since then, KHC has implemented important projects and incited evidence-based child-welfare practices. It has promoted action research methodology which has provided a scientific frame for knowledge production by members of vulnerable groups that guarantees community initiatives address the real community problems and expand the real strengths.
This approach KHC uses focuses on:
• development of realistic strategies for helping marginalized groups;
• empowerment of vulnerable groups;
• lessening stigma;
• provision of quality social, health and educational services.
KHC has created and sustained a network of stakeholders in the field of child welfare and realized a number of policy initiatives, including jointly with EU.
The KHC has 14 years of experience in conducting participatory research with representatives of Roma and other vulnerable communities to study the process of deinstitutionalization as institutional care has affected mostly the parents and the children from those groups.
As a university structure the KHC’s aim is to bridge the gap between academia-practice-different sectors to promote evidence-based child-welfare practices, practice-based learning, and holistic approach to people in need. This approach coupled with its participatory work has resulted in effective advocacy initiatives as an individual body and as a member of networks. The mission of the Center is to include the most vulnerable children and families through research, evidence-based training and advocacy. As a research center our focus has always been on data that helps for taking informed policy decisions.
The Center has many years of experience in involving representatives of vulnerable groups as co-researchers. Our research examines the barriers to the development of services, including those related to juvenile justice, children living in specialized or residential institutions, children separated from their families, children of Roma ethnicity, boys and girls. In our research, we strictly adhere to international ethical frameworks and standards for working with children and vulnerable groups.
KHC manages international and national projects in the fields of children’s rights, integration of vulnerable groups, child participation and has developed sufficient capacity to sustain the needed partnership with local and national government, and NGOs.
In the field of Early childhood the KHC supported the New Bulgarian University Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology collaboration with UNICEF to held the two National Conference on “Early Child Development: Science and Practice” (September, 2016) and (September, 2019). The conferences provided a forum for discussions of scientific research and practice in the field.
The Centre has developed, established and implemented integrated model of child-centered monitoring system in social sphere, developed system of indicators in the areas of "Casework" and "Service Management" and developed an idea of creating a model for child-centered monitoring in the field of education that will be adopted in the recent year.
The Centre has a strong experience in evaluation of programs for improving of wellbeing of children from institution, evaluation of processes, development of child centered monitoring system and implementation of positive research methodologies and action research. All outcomes of the Centre’s work are published on the web-site of the Centre: http://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/
Listed below are some projects, evaluations and publications developed in collaboration with members of Roma communities, departments at the New Bulgarian University and within our partnership agreements with different ministries and civil organizations.
1. The KHC team has implemented a longitudinal participatory research on the process of deinstitutionalization using predominantly qualitative data (2011 – 2021). A total of over 900 participants took part in the research, 1/3 of which were children and parents. The data collected the current recommendations have been developed and presented. During its last stage the team developed a system of indicators to track its progress and assess its impact using quantitative data.
2. KHC is a national correspondent for BG under the UNICEF & EUROCHILD project (Data Care project)
3. The European Child Guarantee policy was piloted in Bulgaria and UNICEF invited the KHC to analyze the applicability of tools for collecting data on children at risk and mapping vulnerabilities. Within this work, the team have analyzed the applicability of several digital mapping tools, Aurora and Primero, developed by international experts and compared them with the functionalities of the national integrated information system for data collection of the ASA. The team have developed and presented recommendations on how to upgrade the NIS, according to international standards.
4. KHC is a member of Transforming Children's Care network, an initiative to create an expert community to work on alternative care and DI issues. This group functions through 4 subgroups, one of which deals with the data - task force on measurement. The effort of this group is aimed at examining existing data collection tools and their comparability across the EU. Within the framework of this initiative, KHC have set a pool of Bulgarian researchers committed to set standards in data collection and data-driven policies and practices.
5. KHC team has carried out the first national mapping of children’s and parents' activism in Bulgaria.
6. The KHC has many years of experience in conducting evaluations of interventions, projects and programs and monitoring processes and policies.
Projects:
1. Suspending Marginalization of the Roma in Kyustendil, Know-How Center for Alternative Child Care, funded by the Velux Foundation, 2013 - 2016. Within a Roma-Bulgarian-UK action research team it created a Model for community development.
2. Inclusive Education Project with the Ministry of Education, Screening Test, Training and Implementation and Analysis of Screening Procedures & Data, BG 051PO001-4.1.07.
3. Participation Experience and Empowerment of Roma Youth, PEER, funded by EC. It mobilized cutting edge thinking both in participatory work with Roma children as well as innovative action research approaches to learning and change.
Research:
1. Studying the process of deinstitutionalization - the case of Bulgaria, funded by Oak Foundation. 2012-2021
2. Suspending the Process of Marginalization of the Roma in the City of Kyustendil, Bulgaria through creating a model of community development. Funded by Velux Foundation. 2012 -2016
3. Somebody's Children: Angles of Vision on the closing of the institutions at Shiroka Luka and Kyustendil, Bulgaria, 2012
4. Evaluation of the program “Strategic Deinstitutionalisation and Child Care Reform in Bulgaria and Moldova”, 2012
5. Appreciative Inquiry evaluation of the closure of Institutions for Children in the Villages of Mogilino and Gorna Koznitza and the Town of Teteven, 2012
6. Financial Analysis and Evaluation of Services for Children in Institutions, 2012
7. Assessment of media content related to the deinstitutionalization process 2013-2015.
8. Support for childcare reforms in conditions of political instability, poverty and limited human resources (Evaluation of the work of "Hope and Homes for Children - Branch Bulgaria" for the period 2014-2016)
9. Beneficiary assessment of Roma Education Fund (REF) interventions in Bulgaria. 2019-2020
10. Evaluation and impact assessment of Empowerment of Roma Women for Roma Children Education project funded by EC. 2019-2020
11. Ministry of Education: Assessment of the effectiveness of the ministerial program for additional school activities with the students. 2019-2020
12. Regional research on violence against children in the school in South East Europe. Research in Bulgaria conducted by KHC team. 2020-2021
13. Conducting an external evaluation of the quality of social services provided by the SOS center for community support and their impact on the community of towns Pernik and Breznik
14. International project on School-Organized Support Centers. Internal monitoring and evaluation of the project performed by the team of KHC. 2022
KHC has an extensive experience of implementing project aiming at increasing the professional capacity for working with vulnerable populations, relevant among others:
Child-Centered Monitoring System (2015-2018): KHC has developed, established and implemented integrated model of child-centered monitoring system in social sphere, developed system of indicators in the areas of "Casework" and "Service Management" and developed an idea of creating a model for child-centered monitoring in the field of education that is soon to be completed within the framework of another project.
Improving the Protection and Wellbeing of Children in Europe: Enhancing the Curriculum (2016-2018): a three year Erasmus+ project developed from the recognised need, amongst international agencies and higher education institutions, for consistency in responses to, and understanding of, child welfare and protection issues across Europe. It was implemented jointly by eight European universities teaching social work. The project’s main product is a suite of core child protection modules for social work child protection training in Europe.
Child Protection Hub for South-Eastern Europe (2017-2021): The Hub is a web-based platform for child protection stakeholders to developed their competencies to prevent and address violence against children in the South-Eastern European region and are supporting regional cooperation through cross-learning and exchanges of experiences. As community and resource centre, the Hub has become increasingly sustainable and demonstrates measurable impact on the quality of care delivered by professionals and on the lives of children.
Through the platform, KHC regularly holds webinars for local and international professionals.
Master’s Program: Psycho-Social Interventions with Children and Families (2018-ongoing): The considerable body of knowledge acquired through the projects cited above is capitalized in a MA program offered by the NBU for the first time in the academic year 2018/2019. The conception behind it is to strengthen professional interaction and to promote multidisciplinary approaches and child-centred work practices by teaching contemporary social work standards and providing an accredited system of high-quality internship under supervision. Stress is put on the internship as valuable opportunity for students to integrate teaching theories, and acquire skills used in assessing, planning, and implementing interventions aimed at providing a safe for children in family and community life. There is already evidence that social workers who have gone through the training gained better results in their work. Additionally, the program provided opportunities for contemporary standards of social work training to find ground in Bulgaria and truly multidisciplinary curriculum to be piloted. The ongoing national process of developing standards for social work, social work training and supervised internship in the social sphere and other caring professionals benefit from this innovative teaching and learning experience gained. An English version of the MA program will be opened to international students in the academic year 2021/2021 to extend further educational and internship opportunity.
PREVIOUS & CURRENT INVOLVEMENT IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROJECTS
- "Development of an alternative model for working with students with deviant behavior, placed in educational boarding schools (EDS) and socio-pedagogical boarding schools (SPI)" under project BG05M2OP001-3.003-0001 "Support for equal access and personal development", financed under the procedure for direct provision of grant aid BG05M20P001-3.003 "Providing conditions and resources for building and developing a supportive environment in kindergartens and schools for implementing inclusive education - phase 1" under the Operational Program "Science and Education for Smart Growth" 2014-2020, co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund2017
- Bamboo-Bg. International Qualitative Study on Resilience in Sexually Abused Children and Children at Risk of Sexual Abuse. Funded by OAK Foundation.
- Co-developing of the System of children in families innovative on-line interactive map (2023). On-line tools (in Bulgarian https://nexial.co/maps/tdfbg and English https://nexial.co/maps/tdf) and training module for triggering effective systemic change to lead to an end to the unnecessary separation between children and their parents and their placement in various forms of alternative care.
- Present and Future: A boost for the empowerment of child human rights defenders in Bulgaria (2022) https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/izsledvane-detski-mladezhki-aktivizam/ Supporting children to formulate and defend matters which concern them and strengthening their empowerment in Bulgaria so that more children can become defenders of human rights – a new concept for Bulgaria.
- DataCare project (2021) https://www.eurochild.org/resource/better-data-for-better-child-protection-systems-in-europe/ KHC assisted Eurochild and UNICEF as one of 50 national correspondents from across EU on outlining how EU countries currently collect data on the status of children in alternative care.
- Child Protection Hub for South-Eastern Europe https://childhub.org/en (2017-2021): Co-creating and managing an innovative web-based platform for child protection stakeholders to heighten capacities on preventing and addressing violence against children in South-East Europe. The platform is supporting regional networking, cooperation and exchange of good practices. As a community and resource centre, it became increasingly popular and demonstrates measurable impact on the quality of care delivered by professionals and impacts directly the lives of children.
- SOS Svetulka (2019-2020): Creating an innovative web-based tutorial and mobile app (sos-svetulka.net) – raising awareness amongst children on recognising and preventing the risks of child trafficking for sexual exploitation; increasing capacity of professionals for working with age-appropriate digital tools promoting higher engagement amongst children from high-risk groups.
- Regional study on school violence (2021) conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Serbia. https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/news/online-conference-violence-in-schools/
- Deinstitutionalisation – the Case of Bulgaria (2012-2021). https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/news/aktualizacia-na-plana-za-deistvie-po-strategists-za-di/ Three interrelated national studies of the process of deinstitutionalisation of child care in Bulgaria using the Participatory Action Research method. More than 900 academics, governmental and state institution representatives, social workers, psychologists, children and parents altogether participated through interviews, focus groups and surveys. These studies were carried out in different regions, selected so as to be able to highlight trends common to the country, despite the presence of specific contextual features. Articles and reports published are listed below.
PUBLICATIONS AND/OR RESEARCH/INNOVATION PRODUCTS
1. Percy-Smith, B., Markova, G., Toneva, E. (2018). Forgotten childhoods: Paradoxes and Politics of De-Institutionalisation in Bulgaria (JESP-18-0079to Journal of European Social Policy.
2. Markova, G. (2018). Addressing marginalization - addressing shame. Presentation at Social Work, Education and Social Development conference Environmental and Community Sustainability. Human Solutions in Evolving Societies.
3. Markova, G., Ganev, A. (2017). A Model for Roma Community Development. A presentation at Velux Foundation Roma Cluster Meeting. March 6-8, 2017. Central European University, Budapest.
4. Markova, G. (2017). Collecting Visual Data as a Relational Task in a Social Project. New Bulgarian University Publisher.
5. Filipova, A., Ganev, A., Lekov, V., Markova,G., Stefanov, G., Olegova, D., Dimov, M., Dimitrova, R. (2014). Factors Enabling Roma Community Children Finish Secondary School. Demographic situation and the development of Bulgaria. Bulgarian Academy Institute for Studying the Population and the Individual, Bulgarian Academy of Science. Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House.
6. Ganev, A., Markova, G. (2014). Strengths-based action research as a route to Roma integration? Presentation at Nothing about us without us?– Roma Participation in Policy Making and Knowledge Production. 11-13 October 2014. Budapest.
7. Bilson, A., Markova, G.(2012) Promoting strengths based change in social work: Family for EveryChild's Toolkit. IFCO's 2012 European Training Conference,21-24 October, Sofia
8. Bilson, A.,Markova, G. (2012). Alternatives for Institutions in Bulgaria and Brazil: Appreciating Best Practice. Promoting the rights of children in alternative care across Europe. EUROCHIL Conference, 24-26 October, Sofia
9. Markova, G., Gilligan, R. (2012) Not Victims but Activists - Children and Young People in the Face of Adversity. Presentation at the 12th International EUSARF Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 5-7 September 2012
- Digital map and online training in system thinking (2023): https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/digitalna-karta-za-sistemna-promiana-na-detskata-zakrila-v-balgaria/
- First national study and map of parental activism in Bulgaria report (2023): https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Родителски-активизъм-доклад.pdf
- First national study and mapping on child activism in Bulgaria report: (2023): https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/KHC-Finalen-doklad-detski-aktivizam-2022.pdf
- Key findings from a study on school violence in Bulgaria: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Насилие-между-деца-в-училище-в-България.pdf
- Deinstitutionalisation – the Case of Bulgaria:
• Children’s rights in Bulgaria between theory and practice: https://intersections.tk.hu/index.php/intersections/article/view/1126
• Protection as punishment: Alternative care for children in Bulgaria: https://iztok-zapad.eu/strukturno-nasilie-i-choveshko-dostoynstvo
• Bulgarian Deinstitutionalisation – failure or success?: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/balgarskata-deinstitucionalizacia-proval-ili-uspeh/
• Researchers and co-researchers in a different conversation about DI: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/edin-razlichen-razgovor-za-deinstitucionalizaciata/
• Between Autonomy and Tradition - Changing Attitudes to Family Values and Adult Authority in Roma Urban Communities: https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=1085757
• Report 2017: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Кnow-how-centre-DI-study-2017-final-report.pdf
• Report 2013: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Deinstitucionalizacia-Sluchaiat-Bulgaria-first-part.pdf
- The practice of child protection supervision in Bulgaria report: https://knowhowcentre.nbu.bg/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Supervision-of-multidisciplinary-teams-BG.pdf
- SOS Svetulka web-based tutorial: sos-svetulka.net
- SOS Svetulka child guide https://sos-svetulka.net/detska-kniga-osveti-mraka/unities.
Heads of research unit
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Research unit : Department of Health Care and Social Work
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Research unit : Know-how Center for Alternative Child Care
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Research unit : Know-how Center for Alternative Child Care
Members
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Research unit : Know-how Center for Alternative Child Care
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Research unit : Department of Health Care and Social Work
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Research unit : Know-how Center for Alternative Child Care
