The Black Sea Fellowship Program is organized by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) with the financial support of the Open Society Institute – East East: Partnership Beyond Borders Program.

The purpose of the Program is to increase the capacity of the participants and to share knowledge and experience in the area of the NGO legal framework. The fellows will spend 4 weeks at the BCNL office in Sofia, Bulgaria. The program will consist of discussions on topics concerning the NGO legal framework (international principles of freedom of association, registration, taxation, public benefit status, etc.), review of materials related to the NGO legal framework in Bulgaria and other countries from Central and Eastern Europe, important EU court cases on issues concerning NGOs. We will organize meetings with different state institutions (Parliament, the court) and leading Bulgarian NGOs in order to share experience.

During his/her stay, the fellow will prepare a research of the NGO legal framework that is in his home country. It will be published on a special section on our site.

In order to participate in the Fellowship program, the applicants:

1. shall be citizens of Ukraine;
2. shall be nominated by a local NGO;
3. must know spoken and written English;
4. shall be able to spend the time from August 30 to September 26 as a fellow at the BCNL office in Sofia, Bulgaria;
5. shall be practically involved with NGO legal reform.

The documents that must be submitted to apply for the fellowship program are:

1. Application form;
2. CV of the fellow;
3. Letter of support from the nominating NGO.

All the above documents must be written in English. Incomplete application forms will not be considered.

The completed application package must be sent to the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL), www.bcnl.org no later than 4 p.m. on June 22, 2009 at the following address: [email protected]

For questions and additional information you may contact directly the Fellowship Program Director Luben Panov ([email protected]) or the East East: Partnership Beyond Borders Program Coordinator Tetyana Kukharenko([email protected] , tel.: 044 486 9500).

The program will cover the following expenses of the fellow:

1. One two-way airplane ticket from Ukraine to Bulgaria;
2. Accommodation for the period of the fellowship;
3. Modest per diem (15 USD)
4. Expenses for acquiring a visa (i. e. visa taxes and medical insurance).

The selected fellow will be notified no later than July 31, 2009.