Щрак: where social enterprises meet the public

Щрак is the kind of place a city needs: a shop, café, workshop venue and meeting room where social purpose is part of ordinary daily life.

In short

At 3 Hristo Belchev Street in central Sofia, Щрак brings together products and food made by Bulgarian social enterprises. It was created by three civil-society organisations—the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, the Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation and JAMBA. The space helps people with disabilities and others facing barriers to work gain skills, experience and dignified routes into employment.

More than a charity shop

Щрак describes itself as a shared social space. You can drink coffee, buy a useful gift, attend a workshop or hold an event. Its shelves are a route to market for social enterprises that often make excellent things but lack visibility, retail space and stable sales.

Its shop is connected with ДарПазар, the online marketplace run by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Щрак says its shop represents work from 35 social enterprises; ДарПазар’s current public directory shows the 24 organisations listed below. The number can change as the network grows.

Who created Щрак?

Щрак was created jointly by Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation and JAMBA. Disability inclusion sits beside refugee support, mental-health care, opportunities for young people leaving care, women’s livelihoods, culture and biodiversity. The causes differ, but the economic idea is shared: people should have the chance to contribute through skilled, paid and respected work.

Disability, work and dignity

A social enterprise should not ask us to buy out of pity. The strongest make something useful or beautiful and build fairer participation into the way it is made.

For people with disabilities, work can mean income, routine, relationships, professional identity and greater independence. Conventional workplaces can be inaccessible long before an interview. Some people need adapted tasks, a patient learning period, flexible hours, clear communication, physical access or continuing support. None of those needs cancel talent.

Щрак creates a public place where that work is visible and valued. Its team and partner organisations use training, supported work and customer contact to build confidence and experience. People are not a decorative “cause” added to a product; they are makers, bakers, caterers, artists, colleagues and professionals.

Творилница: textile work and mental-health inclusion

Арт ателие „Творилница“ was created by Global Initiative on Psychiatry — Sofia. Its employment programme gives people living with mental-health difficulties a place to learn skills, develop working habits and gain real experience.

Творилница says 100% of its profit is reinvested in employment programmes and community mental-health education. Exclusion from work can compound isolation. A supported workplace cannot replace health care, but it can restore agency: a task completed, a skill learned, a product chosen because it is well made.

The social enterprises to know

This is the complete organisation list shown in ДарПазар’s directory when we reviewed it. Some directly employ people with disabilities; others support refugees, women, children and young people, culture, civic life or nature.

• Щрак — shared shop, café and training space
• Арт и Скок — young people with developmental disabilities
• The Sofianer — artists and public culture
• КаритАрт — young people with disabilities and women seeking protection
• Пекарна Радост — young people with additional support needs
• Неща с душа — jobs for people with disabilities and educational toys
• Център АЛОС — young artists and cultural education
• Операция Плюшено Мече — young people without parental care
• Дренко — SOS Детски селища — children and young people in vulnerable situations
• Нарисувай ми усмивка — employment for people with cancer in remission
• Работилница „Светове“ — people with intellectual disabilities
• JAMBA — disability-inclusive employment
• Направено с любов 21 — handmade work with a social purpose
• Социално бистро Каристо — food and inclusion
• Арт ателие „Творилница“ — mental-health inclusion
• Фондация „Рождество Христово“ — income for women in difficult circumstances
• Българска Природа — biodiversity
• Работилничка „Бисквитките“ — food and purposeful work
• Български център за нестопанско право — civil society and social enterprise
• Ателие „Конкордия“ — children, young people and families
• Кетъринг „Бон апети от Светът на Мария“ — supported hospitality work
• Институт за развитие на публичната среда — civic participation
• Български център за совалкова и шита дантела — cultural heritage
• Българско дружество за защита на птиците — conservation

How to support them well

Visit Щрак at 3 Hristo Belchev Street, buy through ДарПазар, or order directly. Businesses can choose social-enterprise gifts, catering and workshops for regular spending—not only a yearly charity gesture.

Ask the same questions as for any good business: Is the product useful and well made? Who benefits from the work? Is the claim specific? Does the organisation explain where income goes? Good social enterprises welcome serious customers, not lowered expectations.

Why Frogwise recommends this model

Щрак gives small organisations shared visibility and treats inclusion as part of local economic life. A better market is built not only by choosing different materials, but by widening who gets to participate in making, selling and earning. The social value is not an alternative to quality. It is part of the value.