On September 15, 2025, the first competition for funding parent groups was launched, aimed at informal groups of at least five parents who are motivated to work to support families at risk and to prevent separation between children and parents. Proposals for initiatives should have been aimed at families in difficulties – for example, with children with disabilities, single or large parents, families in poverty and representatives of different ethnic communities. The competition ended on November 3, 2025, after which the process of administrative verification and evaluation began.
How the project proposals were evaluated
The evaluation of the proposals received was carried out in line with the Participatory Grantmaking model , a key principle of the Parenthood 2.0 programme. The process went through two main stages: administrative verification and qualitative assessment. The administrative check was carried out by the WCIF team and included a review of the completeness of the documentation, the eligibility of the applicants and the compliance of the budget with the conditions of the competition.
The qualitative assessment included the active participation of parents-activists with personal experience in the child protection system, united in a Council of Parent-Activists, who made an initial ranking of the projects. The final decision was made by a three-member commission with the participation of an activist parent, an external expert and a representative of WCIF Foundation.
Among the key evaluation criteria were the relevance of the projects to the objectives of the programme, the clarity of the objectives and expected results, the realism and sustainability of the activities, the motivation and personal experience of the groups, as well as the adequacy of the budgets. Projects that did not directly address the main objective of the programme could not be qualified for funding.
Results
Within the framework of the competition for funding of parent groups under the program, 18 parent groups from settlements throughout Bulgaria took part. The interest in the invitation clearly showed the existing motivation of parents to work to support families in vulnerable situations and to improve the environment in which children grow up.
Despite the active participation, only one parent group was approved for funding. The main reasons for this result are related, on the one hand, to the non-fulfillment of the administrative criteria by some of the applicants (6 applications were not administratively approved), and on the other – to the discrepancy between the proposed project objectives and the main focus of the program. In a number of applications, the planned activities were not directly aimed at preventing the separation of children from their families, which is a top priority of Parenthood 2.0.
What’s Next
Despite the limited funding in this competition, the Parenting 2.0, More Than Care program continues to actively support initiatives aimed at preventing children from separating from their families. Two new competitions under the program will be announced soon – one for parent groups and one for civil organizations. They will provide new funding opportunities for ideas and projects that put at the center support for families in vulnerable situations, the development of parental leadership and sustainable community solutions. We expect the new competitions to build on the lessons learned from previous editions and promote better alignment between the objectives of the program and the initiatives proposed.
The “Parenthood 2.0, More Than Care” Program is an initiative of the Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (WCIF) with the support of the “Tanya’s Dream” Fund. The main focus of the program is the prevention of the separation of children from their families, by supporting parenting initiatives, advocacy, developing parental leadership and building sustainable communities. Also, the program aims to establish the role of parents as active participants and leaders in the community. More about the program can be found here.