Desislava Tencheva

Desislava Tencheva is an expert in regional development, public policy and territorial cooperation with more than 20 years of experience in the public and non-governmental sectors. At the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, she is involved in the development and implementation of Bulgaria’s Interreg programmes with Serbia, North Macedonia and Türkiye and leads their preparation for the post-2027 programming period. Her professional career has focused on local and integrated development, decentralisation, building local partnerships and citizen participation. In her work with Interreg, she develops approaches that enable local stakeholders to move from being consulted to becoming partners in decision-making and the co-design of investment interventions. Desislava holds an MA in Public Policy, with a specialisation in Decentralised Governance, from Central European University. She is also an alumna of the Advocacy Academy, organised by the American University in Bulgaria, the Center for Information, Democracy and Citizenship, and BESCO.