ASSOTSIATSIA ZA RAZVITIE NA SOFIA

Their core work

The Sofia Development Association (SDA) is a Bulgarian NGO focused on urban governance and civic participation in the city of Sofia. They specialize in bringing citizen voices into policy-making processes — through co-creation workshops, citizen science campaigns, and responsible research and innovation (RRI) frameworks. Their practical contribution to EU projects centers on engaging local communities, collecting socio-economic and environmental data from citizens, and translating grassroots insights into actionable policy recommendations for municipal authorities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SDA's H2020 involvement began in 2018 with a circular economy project (CICERONE), suggesting an initial entry point through environmental policy. By 2021, their focus shifted decisively toward citizen participation and governance — both RRI-LEADERS and CompAir center on co-creation, citizen science, and behavioural change. The trajectory shows a clear move from contributing to broad environmental agendas toward owning a niche in participatory urban governance.

SDA is consolidating around participatory governance and citizen science — expect them to seek projects where cities need structured citizen input for environmental or social policy.

How they like to work

SDA participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator, which is typical for an NGO contributing local engagement capacity to larger European consortia. With 47 unique partners across 18 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia — indicating comfort working within complex multi-country setups. Their value to consortia is likely as the organization that delivers on-the-ground citizen engagement in Sofia and Bulgaria.

Despite only 3 projects, SDA has built connections with 47 partners across 18 countries — a broad European network relative to their project count. This breadth comes from participating in large CSA and IA consortia rather than small focused teams.

What sets them apart

SDA offers something specific that many consortia need but struggle to find: a credible local organization in a Bulgarian capital city that can mobilize citizens for research and policy co-creation. For projects requiring pilot cities or citizen engagement in South-Eastern Europe, SDA fills a geographic and functional gap. Their combination of municipal-level connections and RRI methodology experience makes them a practical partner for urban living lab or smart city proposals targeting the region.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CompAir
  Largest funding (EUR 177,500) and most applied project — citizen science for air quality combines environmental monitoring with real behavioural change goals.
• RRI-LEADERS
  Positions SDA in RRI governance methodology, a growing requirement in Horizon Europe proposals that need to demonstrate responsible innovation practices.