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Smolyan Municipality
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Territory: 88,852 ha
Population: 48,215
Population density: 56.8 inhabitants/sq. km
Economically active population: 23,326 (48.4%)
Number of settlements: 86
Level of unemployment: 15.71%
Mayor: Dancho Kirilov Kiryakov
Municipal Council: 29 members
Municipal Council Chairman: Ludmil Tsolov
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Smolyan Municipality is located in the heart of the Central Rhodope Mountains. The agricultural land stock comprises 21,631 ha. Potatoes are the main crop. The woodland stock comprises 62,101 ha. Smolyan is a well-established industrial centre in the region, with a developed light industry, represented by textile enterprises such as Rodopska Tukan, a tailoring industry represented by the state-owned company Sluntse, dairy and meat-processing companies, enterprises for the production of bread, bread products and confectionery, etc.
The development of tourism, too, occupies an important place. Twelve private hotels offer 1,300 beds. The resort of Pamporovo is undoubtedly the main tourist centre. There are also several historic monuments and architectural landmarks, such as the Agushev house in the village of Mogilitsa, and Shiroka Luka architectural reserve.
The municipality has 28 children's establishments, 14 primary and 12 secondary schools, including five vocational schools.
The largest observatory in the Balkans - Rozhen National Observatory where Bulgarian astronomers work - is located near the town. Bulgaria's finest Planetarium - a member of the Planetary Community International Organisation founded by Carl Sagan, is also located here.
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Local partner of Coalition 2000
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Stefan Stambolov Bulgarian Youth Legion 14, Bulgaria Blvd., P.O. Box 128, Business Centre, Office 516
Tel. 0301 2 10 48, fax: 0301 2 4601,
å-mail: byl@sm.unacs.bg
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The Stefan Stambolov Bulgarian Youth Legion - Smolyan is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Foundations and Associations and the founder of the Centre of Non-profit Organisations - Smolyan.
Basic goals: To uphold the great principles of democracy, the natural and irrevocable rights and freedoms of youth and of man in general.
Basic priorities: protection of human rights, development of civil society and establishment of democracy.
Implemented projects:
1. Under the "PHARE Democracy - Microprojects 1997" Programme of the European Union: "The European Union - Our Home and My Civil Rights".
2. Under the Coalition 2000 Program: "Civil Society against Corruption".
Description of the project
Name of project: Clean Future public awareness campaign
Duration: 9 months
The project is implemented in six municipalities on the territory of Smolyan region (Smolyan, Roudozem, Madan, Banite, Devin and Dospat).
Project goals: Establishment and development of the Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption, mobilising young people and the public in the fight against corruption, fostering adequate societal counteraction to this phenomenon, restricting corruption and its destructive consequences to the maximum possible extent, organising courses and seminars to make citizens aware of their rights, the obligations of the municipality and the region, and the functional distribution of services on a municipal and regional level, involving young people in the fight against corruption, constructive interaction between the Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption and state and municipal institutions.
Need for project: mobilising the public in the fight against corruption by influencing people's system of values. Restoring people's confidence in institutions and civil servants. Informing citizens about their rights, the obligations of institutions, civil servants and others on whom the solution of their problems depends. The Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption will be firmly established and developed further to help people overcome their fear through the Clean Future public awareness campaign.
Project activities
1999
December - the "Transparency of Incomes" initiative is launched, open meeting of the Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption.
2000
11 February - meeting of the Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption with the participation of the regional governor, mayors of municipalities, experts, the media, state organisations and NGOs. Public awareness seminar held in Nedelino.
17 March - discussion about the introduction of the institution of Civic Observer, its status and impact, with the participation of the leadership and members of the Regional Public Council for Fight against Corruption in Smolyan region, the mayor of Chepelare, etc.
April 6 - Youth Debate-discussion at Smolyan about corruption problems. There were 25 young people-college and high school students, youth teams from the debate clubs. The discussion made the following decisions: founding together with Stefan Stambolov Bulgarian Youth League, the Anti-Corruption Public Council - Smolyan region and the debate youth clubs, Youth coalitions for the fight against corruption with ten counties from the district and the choice for a youth civic follower; organizing a Happening with the message "I can't stand the corrupted ones"; organized Karl Popper's Regional Youth competition with debates theme "Clean future"; representative youth participation from the Bulgarian Youth League Stefan Stambolov organized by the Conference about the problems with corruption during May; formation of the Youth zone Clean Future during the National folklore gathering Rojen 2000 which was presented by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Peter Stoyanov; periodical organizing of the new youth debates - discussions about the problems with corruption.
May - sociological survey-studying the corruption problems
May - Session of the County council about the battle against corruption - Smolyan District - workshop of the memorandum and status of the local Ombudsman
June 9 - youth debate about the problems with fight against corruption in the Nedelino County, District of Smolyan. Guests of the event - Evgenia Licheva - deputy mayor of Nedelino County, Vera Balkanska - director of the Sofia University, Atanas Ganchev - assistant director, Rosen Svilenov - main expert in the municipal administration-Nedelino. During the discussion a new idea came up about the founding of a Defense Youth Council which has to respond to signals from young people and citizens about an apparent corruptive pressure as well as signals for violated human rights. In addition, the participants in the discussion expressed their positive opinion about the founding of the Local Ombudsman Institution. Deian Askov informed the public about the open anti-corruption address: hot telephone line - 0301 2 10 48 and 4700 Smolyan, P.O. Box 111.
June 28 - conference-discussion "Strategy and ways toward an effective societal involvement against the corruption" - Smolyan. Organizors were - Coalition 2000-Sofia, District administration -Smolyan, District public council for the fight against corruption and Bulgarian youth league Stefan Stambolov. Guests of the conference were - RDVR, Taxes Department, Regional Agricultural Department, Inspection over the education about MON, experts from Smolyan Municipality, public service for social aid, representatives of the political powers, nonprofit organizations, journalists and businessmen. One of the specific suggestions was done by Mrs. Radka Anastasova - expert for the Inspection about the education about MON. She offered the program against corruption of Coalition 2000 to be included in the next school year during the homeroom hour as well as in the schools at the Smolyan Municipality. Also, the published Anti-corruption book could be used for teaching and informative purposes. Young people would be aware about their rights, the ways to fight corruption and formulate an active living standard about those incidents concerning corruptive behavior.
The conference participants pointed out that it is also essential to improve the living standard of the state official as the basic preventive device against corruptive behavior. The participants anonymously agreed on removing the huge number of copyrights and "excuse notes" of the same nature. They took a standpoint about privatization transparency and transparency about the competitions for appointing scholarships.
The proposals made during the conference will be systematized and directed by Coalition 2000 toward the corresponding units and institutions.
Cases of corruption in Smolyan region (1999-2000)
Three former mayors of municipalities in Smolyan region were investigated by the special services of the Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs in Smolyan for illegally siphoning municipal budgets and diverting funds.
A total of 304 signals of crimes related to business and the economy were received in 1999; 185 of the cases have been completed and passed on to the Regional and District Prosecutor's Office for preliminary legal proceedings. The damages caused by these crimes are enormous and amount to 2,066,000 new leva. So far only 17,643 new leva have been resorted, i.e. a mere 0.85% of the total damages. The analysis shows that crimes related to documents - 38, and cases of fraud - 32, are most widespread. The biggest damage is caused by crimes related to documents, which amount to 1,325,000 new leva. There were 193 perpetrators of crimes related to business and the economy, mostly highly qualified employees in different economic units.
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