Emiliana helps herself by helping the elderly in Bulgaria

“Don’t take her away,” urged Emiliana, a Bulgarian social assistant who provided personal care to an 87 year-old woman in Pravetz municipality. The elderly woman had lost two of her three sons and was living alone with arthritis and diabetes until Emiliana intervened.

Emiliana kept the woman company, prepared meals for her, cleaned her home and did the shopping. Most importantly, she prevented the woman from having to live in one of the Bulgaria's specialized institutions, which often lack minimum standards of care due to insufficient local government funds.

Until recently, such institutions were the fate of many elderly in the country who were unable to take care of themselves.

However, in 2002, the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy approached the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with a proposal for a community-based project that would tackle both the lack of social services and the widespread unemployment in the country. Over 3,000 people like Emiliana - unemployed and in the vulnerable, over-50 age group - were trained as social assistants.

The trainees learned first aid, techniques for providing emotional support, and best practices for caring for the ailing elderly or disabled children. These unexpected social assistants learned how to provide services to the disenfranchised in their own homes.

Emiliana admits that, at first, becoming a social assistant was simply her only means of escaping unemployment. But as she gained practical work experience and became educated in social work, she came to understand the importance of supporting her community and fully embraced the spirit of her profession.

Being a social assistant was recognized as an official profession in 2006, encouraging Emiliana and her colleagues to think of themselves as professionals, and thereby ensuring long-term support for disenfranchised people in the community.

Following its initiation, the project was progressively expanded to cover additional municipalities and to reach more of the marginalized population. By 2009, 7,346 people from vulnerable groups had access to community-level care.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is now applying the model in all 264 municipalities in Bulgaria.

Equipped with highly marketable skills and confidence that she can make a difference in her community, Emiliana looks forward to the future: “People accept me, they trust me and I feel satisfied.”