Mission:
The Association of Young Psychologists in Bulgaria “4th April” (AYPB) is a voluntary organisation of psychology students, psychologists and young people interested in the field.
AYPB’s mission could be summed up in two main points:
- To help the career development and academic enrichment of young professionals in the field of psychology and social sciences.
- To fully utilise the young students’ potential and psychological knowledge for the overcoming of considerate and problems in the social, educational and civil areas.
AYPB’s main goals are:
1. To support the career development of young people in Bulgaria, through support of their professional growth and realisation.
2. To defend the professional interests of psychologists and psychology students across the country and attribute to their learning and career development; to help the reaching of solutions regarding the professional field’s issues.
3. To enrich and raise the quality of the collective image of psychology across the academic communities in Bulgaria. Special emphasis is put on the psychology students in the different universities. They are given information, career and project-writing support, along with providing chances for cooperation with other student communities.
4. To optimise the communication and contacts between psychologists both in domestic and foreign terms.
5. To affirm the positions of psychology as a fundamental scientific field in service to society.
6. To provide expert and methodological help in different fields of public life, where psychology is involved: social, business, educational, health care, culture, sport, political fields.
7. To support the publishing activity of young psychologists through our own publications and website.
8. To bring together the Bulgaria’s young specialists’ potential for the sake of development and society support.
9. To maintain European standards in the social, educational and cultural fields of public life in Bulgaria.
10. To work together with different NGOs, both nation-wide and abroad, which strive to help society, and which do not go against the set laws in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Structure of the association:
AYPB “4th April” is a national organisation and has the following structure:
1. General Assembly – The General Assembly is the supreme authority of AYPB and consists of all the association’s members. It gathers at least once a year. A General Assembly is called by the Board of Management or after a request from 1/3 of the members.
2. Board of Management (BM) – Consists of five elected members: president, vice-president, secretary, and two other members. The BM represents the Association, coordinates and guides AYPB, its structure and members according to the tasks, aims and goals of the Association. The BM controls the financial activity of the Association.
3. Regional branches – Regional structures of AYPB in 7 cities across Bulgaria. Each branch is controlled by a representative (regional president), and a regional BM.
4. “Young Psychologist” clubs – Local structures of the Association; clubs, which bring together the members from the same university, school or interest groups.
5. National Assembly – the body of AYPB; coordinates and directs the function of the main bodies in AYPB: the BM, regional branches and clubs. The National Assembly consists of the members of the BM, and the presidents of the regional brunches of AYPB.
6. Work groups – formed by the Association’s members; the groups help the governing body’s work, and are formed according to the different activities in AYPB. Each group has a coordinator, who oversees the work process and communicates with the BM.
The current functioning work groups are:
- International activities
- Project work
- PR and advertisement
- IT
- Youth activities and politics
- Scientific and publishing activities
- Trainings
Management of the Association:
The BM manages the Association on a national level, and regionally that is taken by the local branches of AYPB. The BM gathers for a board meeting at least once a week; the meetings are open to all members and the work groups’ coordinators take part without being able to vote. At least once every six months a National Council is called, where members of the BM are present, along with regional branches representatives.
Membership in the Association:
The following can become regular members in AYPB: psychology students or graduates (BA, MA, PhD), people with interest in the field of psychology, students in other fields, related to psychology, journalists working closely with psychology materials, young people with interest in the field, following the aims and goals of the Association. Students are required to be 14 years or above old. New members are approved by the BM.
Decision-making:
Each of the groups in AYPB’s structure is allowed to generate and offer ideas for the Association’s advance. Each offer is discussed and approved by the BM. Every member could take an active part of AYPB through the work groups, give and defend ideas and offers in front of the BM.