By BlueLink

SOFIA, BULGARIA, 25 December 2004

On 15 December 2004 BlueLink -the APC member in Bulgaria- officially launched Civil Society Information Portal in Bulgaria (www.bluelink.info).

The portal aims to create a virtual community for discussions, support and common initiatives of civil society organisations ("What is civil society?", initial working definition adopted by the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics">CSOs

) in Bulgaria in order to facilitate the exchange of information, partners’ collaboration and on-line campaigning. The site offers free electronic services to CSOs active with youth, volunteers, women, community development, among other fields. The project is supported by Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The event gathered representatives from various civil society organisations (CSOs), institutions, business organisations, donors and media.

During the event the traditional BlueLink Internet Teahouse was held. It attracted visitors with free Internet access, questions about the BlueLink’s activities and services, and more information on the development of electronic The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English on Encyclopedia.com">networking

among civil organisations in Bulgaria. Aromatic herbal tea was also served to the guests.

BlueLink also presented a newly-issued manual on “Strategic use of Internet for CSOs”. The manual follows the curriculum developed by BlueLink’s team for its trainings with CSOs. It is designed to educate them on how to work effectively in an electronic network, and how to improve and optimise significantly their work using information and communications technologies. The manual will be available for Style information: N/a

Source: Learn the Net Glossary, cited on TechSoup Glossary ">download

.

Photo: BlueLinks

(END/2004)