Health & Social Development Foundation – HESED 

HESED from Bulgaria was founded in 1998 with the mission to promote opportunities for personal and community development, health and social well-being, as well as to create and popularise effective approaches for the successful integration of socially excluded communities. The team of the organisation is multi-ethnic (Roma and Bulgarian) and multi-disciplinary, consisting of more than 75 persons including specialists in the fields of pedagogy, psychology, social work, medicine, human rights protection, PR, management, accountancy, and Roma community workers.

The foundation develops and implements successful programmes in three main areas which break the vicious cycle of poverty and social exclusion: Roma community development; health promotion for vulnerable groups; research in the field of behavioural change. During the 25 years of experience, the professional team of HESED has implemented many successful projects targeting Roma children, youths and their families in the field of education and health promotion and has set good-practice examples for work with this target group.