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SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF DISCHARGED MILITARY IN BULGARIA
Colonel Assoc. Prof. Neno Hristov, Ph.D. D.Sc.
Rakovski National Defense Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria
Analyzing the significance of the changes that have occurred in the social, political and economic development of Bulgaria after 1989, the author draws our attention to a monograph on the social integration of discharged military in Bulgaria. The monograph analyzes the role of social policy in the economic development, the theoretical foundations of social programming and its effectiveness. The author presents in detail the foreign experience in establishing criteria of social development and makes an attempt to analyze the effectiveness of social programming in the system of social protection of the population in Bulgaria.
The main part of the research is related to the triad socialization-upbringing-identity, as a basis of social adaptation. The author presents: social integration and education as a process; socialization of the personality and its identity; social adaptation and its aspects; social adaptation and socialization process.
Making a theoretical study, the author provides practical model of the social adaptation of servicemen discharged from military service and the members of their families. He examines the theoretical and methodological foundations of the socio-psychological adaptation and the ways of implementing the process of social adaptation of servicemen discharged from military service and the members of their families. Professor Dipl.Eng. Venelin Terziev, Ph.D, D.Sc. makes a rigorous analysis of the Bulgarian experience in the development of social adaptation of this social category.
One of the major contributions of this monograph is a pattern of increasing efficiency of the social integration and adaptation of discharged military and the members of their families, by developing an integrated model for social and psychological support and, at the same time, a version of a competency schedule.
Understanding the depth and importance of the problem, the author, based on research and analysis of social programming and social programs, poses as a dissertation thesis the development of a reliable and viable model of a national strategy or a national program for successful social adaptation of discharged from the army servicemen and the members of their families. He examines traditional and specific approaches and models in order to execute this process in the most effective and efficient manner and also to find appropriate methods for evaluating its effectiveness- economic, social etc.
The author achieves the aim of his research as a result of creating and verifying a theory of effective social adaptation of servicemen discharged from military service and the members of their families - a theory, which serves as the basis of the practical implementation of a complex model of social adaptation of the analysed social category, in which models for social-psychological and social-pedagogical adaptation will be adapted and also to develop and justify a competence pattern for increasing the efficiency of the process of adaptation in a dynamic social environment.
Creating a competence model for increasing the efficiency of the social adaptation of discharged military, the author provides an opportunity to people at high risk of social exclusion (as the above mentioned category) by improving their basic skills and thus using lifelong learning to build a path to a sustainable income and a meaningful life.
The direct beneficiaries of the model are, generally speaking, these servicemen discharged from military service and the members of their families. The results of the project are indirectly beneficial to the providers of adult education (centers for adult education, service training, initial vocational training and its continuation, trainers, teachers and managers of educational institutions) and all those institutions related to the provision of social services, services related to the implementation of recruitment etc.
The main result of the application of this pattern is the establishment of a specific methodology and key teaching skills training. This may include: a set of teaching modules for training in the eight key competencies for lifelong learning, methodology of combined teaching, learning tools for internal and external evaluation of the training, web portals and on-line training, tools for information exchange and results dissemination, news, links etc. Also includes an innovative method of learning, addressing the issues, common to the majority of the target users. These includes: insufficient education and learning motivation and lack of cognitive abilities. The methodology enables flexible training such that, both young people and adults can start, stop and restart their own career path in order to achieve an improvement in the learning process and their career development.
The created and verified theory of effective social adaptation of servicemen discharged from military service and their families in a dynamic social environment can find application in:
§ goal setting, planning, programming, budgeting, analysis and control of the program „Social adaptation and economic integration of the military personnel discharged from the armed forces in civil society”;
§ development, approval and updating of departmental regulations relating to the rationalization of management decisions regarding the social adaptation of servicemen discharged from the BA and their families;
§ development of efficient, complete and feasible models for effective social adaptation of servicemen and their families;
§ development and improvement of the competence pattern upon the selection for a free job position as part of the program of social adaptation of servicemen discharged from the army.
The research results can be successfully probated in the implementation of a national strategic or policy documents on the social adaptation of servicemen discharged from the army and the members of their families, and the specific developed models can be implemented as separate social projects.
[1]VenelinTerziev, SOCIALI NTEGRATION OF DISCHARGED MILITARY SERVICE MEN IN BULGARIA, Institute of Management and Knowledge, Skopje, 2017.