Antoaneta Nenkova – fellow from Bulgaria

toni_passportAntoaneta is born in Pernik, located 30 km south of Sofia. Since 1988 she is living in Sofia. Antoaneta is a Journalist, a Member of the General Assembly and of the Board of Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

She has 15 years of experience as a correspondent of the Bulgarian service of Deutsche Welle (DW) Radio in Sofia. She received her master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Sofia University. From 1992 she is a part of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee – a non-governmental organization for the protection of human rights. Nenkova’s  main  responsibilities as a senior researcher and coordinator of the Children in Institutions Projects of the BHC include  monitoring, analysis and reporting on a variety of human rights issues. Related activities: organization and participation in a series of focus groups, conferences, public debates & events, seminars & trainings, exchange of experience, cross-border cooperation and consultancy. Mrs. Nenkova is also a member of the Working Group “Family and Deinstitutionalization” of the National Network for Children.

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Sofia

Most of her work as a researcher is on the field, where she meets (un)ordinary people. They are residents of psychiatrics, homes for abandoned children, social homes for adults, refugee camps and Roma ghettos. The core goal of Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is to promote respect and protection of human rights, to lobby for legislative changes aimed to bring Bulgarian legislation in line with international human rights standards, to encourage public debate about human rights’ problems and to promote the concept of human rights among the general audience. Antoaneta Nenkova places a special priority to the rights’ protection of the most vulnerable groups which live in Bulgaria: ethnic minorities, underprivileged groups, persons deprived of their liberty, children and women.

The topics Antoaneta Nenkova has strong expertise are:  Child Care Policy; Minority rights; Immigration; Integration and Educational Inclusion; Media Freedom; Hate speech, Cultural Diversity. In 2014 she agreed to serve as a country expert for the Varieties of Democracy Project which advances the understanding of the historical process of democratization. “Varieties of Democracy” (V-Dem) aim to produce better Indicators of Democracy and is collaboration among the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame, USA.

chicago-skycrapersAntoaneta Nenkova is author of several publications amongst which is Children in institutions, volume 5: Homes for Children with Special Needs. Nenkova is also author of many articles in the Bulgarian printed press and Radiobroadcasts (Bulgarian National Radio, Deutsche Welle) on the Minority realities and Human Rights of the Disadvantaged Minority Groups in Bulgaria.

Antoaneta Nenkova speaks German, English and Russian. Antoaneta Nenkova has been awarded with numerous prizes. Among them: prize winner of the USAID Media competition; Paniza Prize for Bulgarian Journalists. In her free time Antoaneta enjoys the beautiful piece of Albinoni – The Adagio in G minor and extreme sports. Her family enjoys the time together. Her two daughters are students in Netherlands. When they are in Bulgaria the family enjoys skiing, snowboarding, surfing, paragliding. Antoaneta will have her internship at Community Renewal Society (Chicago).