My name is Desislava Vasileva from Bulgaria.

Till now life has given me the chance to live both in small towns called Teteven and Pravets in the heart of the Balkans in southeast Europe, where people from different ethnic backgrounds live together and try to build sustainable relations and mutual understanding every day, and in the two biggest cities in Bulgaria – the capital Sofia and the magnificent maritime Varna where different religious groups and nationalities are widely presented. I have had the chance to visit 34 countries on 5 continents, to meet friends all over the world, to realize and accept the power of peace, mutual understanding and friendship without borders.
I was born in Teteven in 1989 at the beginning of the democratic transition of Bulgaria from the communist period. There I lived until the age of 14 when I was sent to an English-language high school in Pravets for 5 years. For my dedication to different social causes in the region and activeness in school national and international projects focused on peace and understanding when I graduated in 2008, I received special awards for social activism and youth engagement and the title Student of the Year as well as a national diploma for active citizenship of students. Then I passed to Varna Free University “Chernorizets Hrabar” in Varna, Bulgaria where I studied part-time and got a Bachelor’s in Counteraction of Crime and Public Order Protection in 2012 graduating as Student of the Year in my specialty. Later, in 2018, I obtained a Masters in Law, LLM, at the same university and received an honorary diploma for excellent results. In 2019 and in 2021 I passed 6-month non-credit online specializations, financially granted from Coursera.org – the first in Marketing Mix Implementation in the IE Business School of Madrid (Spain), and the second in Improving Leadership and Governance in Nonprofit Organizations in the State University of New York (USA). In 2021 I gained a Masters in Social Pedagogy with Sociopedagogical Prevention and Probation Work in Veliko Tarnovo University “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” (Bulgaria). In connection with my constant social work involved with sports and my dedication to volleyball, for the period 2012-2018, I have passed 3 of the 4 national levels of volleyball refereeing in Bulgaria and for this period I have been participating in the national competitions of all ages as a scorer-referee.

I have been working and volunteering in the NGO sector strengthening tolerance, ethnical diversity, and encouraging human rights and values since I was a teenager. At 19, I became the youngest cofounder of a volleyball school and club in Bulgaria – Teteven Volley – an NGO focused on sport for kids and active citizenship in the specific multicultural region of my home town Teteven. For the time from 2012 to 2016, I have been a board member of this NGO and event and project coordinator, social worker and PR specialist of the club. This amazing project called “Teteven Volley” gave me to opportunity to implement local projects focused on sports values, sports and society, mutual understanding, piece and tolerance through sports of the different ethnical and cultural groups in the town and the villages around it. Kids from all minorities were successfully involved in sports activities and encouraged to communicate and become friends and teammates. They opened their hearts to kids from different nations with which we had connections and became friends with them. For several years the NGO was the only volleyball club in Bulgaria – ambassador of the European Week of Sports – well known as Move Week. This was due to initiatives that I developed with sportsmen, kids from the sports school, and disabled children who played together and participated in special workshops. For these initiatives the NGO and personally I were congratulated by many international and national sports and social organizations as at the period 2012-2016 in Bulgaria volleyball was still not socially oriented to disabled kids and kids from different backgrounds in general. I believe this example gave inspiration to many international partners and national clubs to orient sports to society as a strong tool for peace, human rights recognition, social development, and tolerance.
Meanwhile, I have been a peer of People to People International (PTPI), an NGO established by US President Eisenhower in 1956 to enhance international understanding, peace, and friendship through educational, cultural, and humanitarian activities involving the exchange of ideas and experiences directly among peoples of different countries and diverse culture. Being a part of this world-wide cross-cultural network of engaged and knowledgeable everyday citizen leaders I was proud to help young people in Botevgrad and Pravets Chapters in Bulgaria to be active forces in creating and sustaining a more peaceful world. From 2012 till now I have supported the PTPI activities held by youth groups and led their social activities. We have made together strong relationships and realized many projects with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Northern Ireland, Romania, Greece, Ireland, Germany, etc. They were all focused on human values, peace through understanding, education for all, inclusion of disabled kids, and strengthening human rights.
Currently, I am leading also a non-formal youth group “Chances” in my home town Teteven which collaborated with the National Youth Red Cross, local authorities, educational and cultural institutions, and partners. The group consists of young professionals in different fields who dedicate their time to teenagers and guide them in educational possibilities. The older group members motivate youngsters from different backgrounds to seize chances, encourage them, and make their success visible.
Since 2012 I have been a lector in several projects on the topics of human rights, social inclusion, youth engagement, prevention of youth crime, prevention of segregation in school environments, education, and sports for all.
My professional full-time work has always been related to public relations, since 2012. 2012-2016 I was a sports PR expert in the Teteven Volley NGO. For the period 2015-2018 I was a chief PR expert in the Bulgarian Worker’s Sports Federation “Sports and Health” a national NGO focused on workers’ and corporate sports and sports for all. For the time spent in the federation, I had the honor to represent and lead the sports delegations of Bulgaria on several world forums as the World Sports Games of CSIT and different world championships in different sports which unite people from all over the world and build and spread peace. In 2019 I worked for the best PR agency in Bulgaria M3 Communications Group and passed to Teteven Municipality where for a year I was the chief expert responsible for Information Security and Policy and social and political PR in the state institution and had the chance to realize several social projects focused of social inclusion of disabled kids, sports for all, twinning projects, social inclusion of orphans and roma kids. Being an expert in Teteven Municipality in my home town, I have worked on actions for ethnical solidarity, conflict resolution between different minorities, strengthening tolerance and mutual support for better common life, encouraging people of different backgrounds to attend school and develop social life and human values strengthening peace, acceptance, and tolerance at any level in global and local society. Currently, I am still working in the NGO sector as a content editor/PR of the Bulgarian Trade Union of Teachers, the biggest trade union in my country. Every day I am blessed to see and support the efforts of teachers in Bulgaria to provide quality education for every kid, to realize social inclusion, and to build a future for all.
I must say that I strongly believe that every person should recognize the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals and try with his own possibilities and power to influence the process of taking them to reality soon. I strongly believe that every kid and every person, no matter where, no matter the background or the social status, deserves a chance, a hand, support, and education to fight prejudices, poverty, family struggles, conflict resolution, etc. This has led my support to social institutions where orphans are bred. I am happy that my constant social work in different fields was valued and for the years 2022 and 2021 I have received the National award Virtue (Doing Good) – for supporting orphans and social activities on a national level which give them social knowledge, strengthen their place, visibility, and presence in society and encourage them to develop and emphasize equality for a peaceful world.