POLICY BRIEFING 4 - HEALTHCARE
May 27th 2005, US Embassy in Bulgaria, Sofia

The final policy briefing, which took place immediately before the official start of the 2005 election campaign, focused on another key issue presenting a challenge to most Bulgarian politicians.
The topic, Healthcare as a reforming system, was formulated and presented by Dr Boyko Penkov, Director of Health Insurance at the International Healthcare and Health Insurance Institute (IHHII) and former Deputy Director (1999-2000) and Director (2000-2001) of the National Health Insurance Fund.
The medical background of some participants facilitated a fruitful discussion which went both ways to discuss consequences of the reform affecting all clients of the system as well as some particularly relevant to the large number of people providing in healthcare services.
The medical background of some participants facilitated a fruitful discussion which went both ways to discuss consequences of the reform affecting all clients of the system as well as some particularly relevant to the large number of people providing in healthcare services. The briefing has concluded the pre-election stage of the Program for Enhancing Women's Participation in Politics while laying the beginning of in tenser cooperation between women politicians across parties as negotiated within the participants network formed during the trainings.

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POLICY BRIEFING 3 - DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY
May 26th 2005, US Embassy in Bulgaria, Sofia

The third out of four policy briefings meeting women politicians with experts to discuss key issues for Bulgarian voters had a focus on defense and national security.
Apart from raising awareness, choosing the topic has been an attempt to counterbalance a popular opinion that this is among the topics in which women politicians take little interest or hold limited competence.
Guest speaker Dr. Lyubomir Ivanov, Chairman of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, presented the topic Bulgaria of the 21st century in NATO and the EU: Defense and National Security within the larger context of global security policies, supporting a view that all national defense and security policies are necessarily also international policies in terms of both their definition and implementation. Furthermore, Dr Ivanov commented on opinion expressed by the participants on issues such as current and future reforms in the Bulgarian army, the role of secret services, NATO involvement, etc.

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POLICY BRIEFING 2 - TOURISM
May 19th 2005, US Embassy in Bulgaria, Sofia

The second policy briefing organized by NDI introduced women candidates to the perspectives of three key actors in formulating and implementing policies or providing services in the sphere of tourism. The intense discussion mirrored the diversity of opinion and challenged both speakers and participants to seek indepth understanding of how to coordinate efforts to further promote tourism as a major national asset. Issues discussed referred to the need for negotiating national tourism policies among actors, reconsidering budget funding, advertising tourist service abroad, the future of alternative forms of tourism etc.
Guest lecturers Ms Rozelina Russenova, Deputy Mayor of Troyan, Ms Silvia Hinkova, Chairperson of the tourist branch organization for the region of Stara Planina, and Ms Radostina Ivanova, expert with the State Agency on Tourism, contributed to forming a better understanding of what is successful as well as what requires more effort to change in coordinating action among national government, local authorities, and the non-governmental sector.

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POLICY BRIEFING 1 - AGRICULTURE
May 12th 2005, US Embassy in Bulgaria, Sofia

The first of a series of policy briefings received positive response from participants who once again confirmed their interest in agriculture and current policies in the sector for both their successful campaigning at the forthcoming parliamentary elections and the further development of their political skills and competencies.
The briefing focused on agriculture and related funding opportunities, presented by guest speaker Ms Alizan Yahova, Deputy Executive Director of the State Agricultural Fund and expert working at the Fund since 2002. Ms Yahova provided an overview of the major programs of her institution, among which the Animal Welfare Program, the Plant Growing Program and the Technological Program, together with comments on the implementation of the EU SAPARD Program. Although coming from diverse professional backgrounds outside politics, all participants received the presentation with great interest and complimented the speaker for her presentation skills. Ms Yahova shared her enthusiasm about NDI's activities to promote women's participation in politics and wanted to become more actively involved.

Guest speaker Ms Alizan Yahova, Deputy Executive Director of the State Agricultural Fund


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