BUILDING NATIONAL RESILIENCE IN BULGARIA - Defense Security Cooperation University

In partnership with United States European Command (USEUCOM) and the Government of Bulgaria, ISG recently convened a workshop in Sofia to fortify Bulgaria's public-private partnerships (PPPs) in support of national resilience. The collaborative event – hosted by the NATO Crisis Management and Disaster Response (CMDR) Center of Excellence (COE) – gathered key stakeholders from Bulgarian national ministries and institutions as well as international partners to engage in strategic planning and Institutional Capacity Building (ICB).  

As the U.S. Department of Defense’s leading implementer for ICB, ISG’s Emergency Management and Resilience (EM&R) team of experts was uniquely suited to facilitate this workshop, focusing on the development of actionable strategies to transition from theory to practice in building more resilient societies. The workshop was closely aligned with U.S. strategic priorities by focusing on resilience – a core aspect of strategic competition. Discussions targeted not only military enablement, but also “whole of government” and “whole of society” approaches to enhance overall societal resilience. As such, the event underscored the necessity of integration of the private sector into larger national resilience efforts, beyond just preparedness and response.  

Targeted case studies were employed during the engagement to provide context and understanding for how to engage and implement public-private partnership programs. Discussions culminated in a commitment to align Bulgaria’s resilience goals with NATO standards and to integrate these efforts into large-scale exercises and national strategies. 

This synergy serves U.S. interests in fortifying NATO partnerships and enhancing international security infrastructure, as well as overall Bulgarian national resilience in a changing security landscape and high dependency on private sector capacity and infrastructure.  

ISG’s collaboration with this high-caliber cadre of partner and international stakeholders during this engagement will not only serve as a critical building block for the upcoming iteration in the Spring but will bring Bulgaria one step closer to enhancing national resilience goals and aligning with NATO resilience baselines and objectives.  

For more insights on the intersection between Institutional Capacity Building and national resilience from the perspective of a Department of Defense component, please reference the Institute’s ICB Smart Sheet on Building Resilience for National Defense.  

For further insights into NATO Resilience and the importance of resilience to the Alliance, please visit the NATO website.