3RD SECTOR IN POSTCOMMUNIST BULGARIA AND ITS SUPPORT FOR YOUNG-PEOPLEIN THE LABOR-MARKET

The expanding third sector with its multiplicity of organisational for ms and activities addresses a wide range of social problems that arise in the course of the economic and political restructuring in post-com munist Bulgaria. This article discusses the support offered by nongove rnment organisations (NGOs) to young people in their transition from s chool to work. it analyses results from research into two local labour markets in Bulgaria involving a survey of young people's experiences and case-studies of NGOs. The organisations active in both labour mark ets were predominantly new entities, often understaffed and with poor material provision. The foundations built around a legal property had more financial resources than the associations which relied mainly on voluntary labour. The non-profit organisations were free from ossified structures but suffered from a lack of professional expertise. There was little co-operation among the studied NGOs. The third sector in th e two regions had mainly vertical links with organisations in the cent re rather than pluralistic and horizontal relations among the local gr oups and foreign support was largely monopolised by central NGOs in So fia. The hard economic situation in the country, the unwillingness of state agencies to cooperate and the widespread public suspicion to org anised activism erected serious obstacles. The voluntary associations in our sample had a wide range of activities to support young people, typically offering advice, information and contacts. They were most ef fective in launching educational programmes and training Courses but c ould rarely improve significantly the situation of the young unemploye d by making them more employable or ready for entrepreneurship. The th ird sector in Bulgaria had not yet effectively filled in the social ni che emptied after the withdrawal of the state from pervasive authorita rian intervention.