AZURE - Local Alternatives for Sustainable Development

Локални алтернативи за устойчиво развитие - ЛАЗУР

На Български ◦ About us ◦ Goals ◦ Activities ◦ Contacts

About us

AZURE, in Bulgarian ЛАЗУР, stands for the Local Alternatives for Sustainable Development Association aims. It is registered in public interest in Bulgaria to uphold environmentally sustainable development, functioning democracy, human rights and application of progressive European values on local level.
Our vision is that with the participation of all citizens, local communities, businesses and institutions, we can achieve well-being, prosperity and healthy living in harmony with nature. AZURE was founded by the BlueLink Foundation and leading experts in various fields, united by the love for nature and traditions in the area of the village of Goritsa, in the Byala Municipality, Varna region.

AZURE Goals

The AZURE Association aims:
• to create and implement solutions for environmentally friendly sustainable development;
• to inform and unite citizens, non-profit organizations, businesses, local and state authorities, international organizations and other participants in public processes to achieve environmentally sustainable development;
• to contribute to the protection and preservation of the environment and human health;
• to defend and develop democracy and citizens' participation in decision-making, individual and collective human rights; and
• to contribute to the fulfillment of the fundamental values of the European Union: human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law and human rights.

News and Activities

The members of AZURE promote the natural values, culture and traditions of the central coastal area, in which the village of Gorica and the municipalities of Byala and Dolni Chiflik are located. They initiate analytical, promotional, educational, community-building, cultural and other actions, with the participation of local people and guests from the country and abroad.
Selected activities include:

In August 2022 AZURE hosted in Byala the meeting of the Bulgarian Coalition for Climate, organised by BlueLink, and connected the participants to the Local Initiative Group in Byala, to define local dimensions of climate change and ways to address them.
In 2021 - 2022 AZURE offered expert knowledge and shared experiences with the DANUrB+ project of the INTERREG’s Danube Regional Programme by the European Commission, as part of BlueLink’s support for the Danubean municipalities of Gulyantsi, Nikopol and Belene in Bulgaria.
AZURE members, BlueLink team and green activists participated in the annual cleaning of the Karadere Beach - one of three designated environmentally sustainable beaches in Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast.
The team of the BlueLink Foundation held an expert open-air meeting in the village of Gorica on August 2-4, 2018. During meetings with the mayors of Byala and Dolni Chiflikt, representatives of the Local Initiative Group, active citizens and nature lovers, ideas were exchanged for development of tourism and other forms of business and eco-friendly livelihoods to ensure prosperity and employment for local people.
Within the SPECIES project in 2015 - 2017, the BlueLink Foundation and some of the co-founders of LAZUR initiated initiatives for the sustainable use of ecosystem services along the Black Sea and established a partnership with Byala Municipality.
In the fall of 2015, BlueLink held a three-day workshop for civil activists from all over Bulgaria in the village of Gorica, to improve their skills in the strategic use of the Internet and communication technologies. Direct inclusion in the national initiative of the Forum "Civic Participation" was carried out.

See more news in AZURE's proifile on BlueLink profile - in Bulgarian.