Innovative crowdsourcing in Bulgaria reveals where digitalisation fails many of its citizens

An innovative crowdsourcing initiative in Bulgaria sheds light on a critical gap in Bulgaria’s digital transition: while investment in technology has accelerated, citizens continue to face barriers rooted in skills, institutions, and everyday usability. Hundreds of Bulgarian citizens point to the same issues: lack of practical digital skills, public services that are difficult to use, and insufficient local support — problems that continue to exclude elderly people, rural communities, and vulnerable groups from the digital transition.

The findings come from IDEU – Inclusive Digitalisation in the EU, a Europe-wide crowdsourcing initiative in which Bulgaria achieved the highest level of citizen participation among all partner countries. By collecting real-life experiences and solutions directly from citizens, the process generated one of the strongest evidence bases in the project and turned everyday problems into concrete policy proposals.

IDEU brings together citizens, civil society organisations, experts, and policymakers across six EU countries to ensure that digital policies are shaped by real needs, not assumptions. Citizen input gathered in Bulgaria and across Europe is translated into actionable policy recommendations and shared with decision-makers at local, national, and EU level — so that Europe’s digital transformation works for people, not just for systems

Read more

Resilient Voices: When civil society is under fire, “business as usual” is not an option

A man under stress, gathering strength to fight back

Being good at what you do—and working in the public interest—is no longer enough. Civil society organisations in Bulgaria are facing a wave of disinformation, smear campaigns, and institutional pushback that seeks to marginalise their voices, not their expertise.

Resilient Voices, a joint initiative by ProInfo and the Citizen Participation Forum (CPF), funded by ECAS, offered tailored mentoring, strategic communication support, and a live hostile-debate simulation to help CSO leaders respond with clarity and confidence.

The result? Better skills to hold your ground under pressure—and speak up when it matters most.

Read how citizen organisations are learning to turn pressure into opportunity.

Creating Positive Citizen Narratives


At a time when divisive rhetoric and negative stereotypes dominate public discourse, fostering a shared, positive vision for Europe and Bulgaria’s place in it is more important than ever. #PositiveCitizensNarrativesForEurope ProInfo (realised in 2024) was an initiative that addressed this challenge by empowering citizens and organisations to craft narratives that inspire unity, engagement, and action.  

Read more

Impactful storytelling and digital marketing against disinformation (#YouImpact)

The project “Impactful storytelling and digital marketing against disinformation (#YouImpact)” was carried out in 2023 and helped enhance the capacity of civil society organisations in Bulgaria to promote democratic citizen participation as a fundamental European value. The project helped equip them with the necessary skills to employ innovative digital marketing methods, create impactful video content, and conduct effective online campaigns. These efforts aim to counter anti-CSO and anti-democratic disinformation, fostering a more supportive environment for the work of civil society organisations.

Read more

CODE Europe: E-participation for Good Governance and Active Citizenship

Co-Deciding Europe: Civic Tech for Good Governance and Active Citizenship (CODE Europe), a project implemented in 2021 -2023, piloted the use of crowdsourcing to improve legislation in the EU. Using advanced IT solutions and tailor-made digital tools and platforms, the project aimed at developing a culture of digital democracy and empowered citizens and public authorities to use modern means of interaction in the decision-making process on the subject of air quality.

CODE Europe was carried out by a consortium of organisations from Hungary, Iceland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia. The actual crowdsourcing took place in Athens (Greece), Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Lisbon (Portugal), Burgas (Bulgaria) and Budapest (Hungary).Besides implementing the crowdsourcing activities in Burgas, ProInfo developed the communications and citizen engagement strategy of the entire project TCODE Europe was carried out with financial support from the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation.

Continue reading

DigiDEM: Digital Democratic Empowerment and Mobilisation for a Stronger EU

In February 2023, with a final event in the Bulgarian port city of Burgas, we completed the DigiDEM project, which complements CODE Europe and applies the collaborative methods of crowdsourcing legislation and ‘social listening’ in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Montenegro on the subject of air quality. DigiDEM is funded under the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Commission.

The main results achieved by ProInfo in DiGiDEM project were the creation of the overall communication strategy, and methodological assistance provided to the project partners in the implementation of the communication activities related to engaging citizens in the crowdsourcing pilots in the respective cities. At the end of the porject we also organised a one-day workshop in Burgas, where the crowdsourcing on air quality had been carried out in 2022. The event was co-hosted by the Burgas University Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov, one of the official partners of ProInfo in the implementation of the project. 41 people from a variety of backgrounds – campaigners, journalists, students, environmental scientists, and representatives of local government took part in the event.

Find out more about DigiDEM here.