Rumiana Decheva

Rumiana Decheva is an experienced international affairs expert with 20 years of electoral and managerial experience with a wide range of European and United Nations missions. In 1996 she was an elections officer and head of field office with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996-1997). In 1999 she was in East Timor as a district electoral officer for the Popular Consultation (referendum for independence) and then worked on electoral assistance projects in East Timor with UNDP on national observer mobilisation (2001) and on operations management (2002 and 2007). Rumiana has also observed elections with the European Union in Guinea-Bissau (2009), Mozambique (2009), Ethiopia (2010), Tanzania (2010), Nigeria (2011), Nicaragua (2011), Algeria (2012) and Libya (2012). Rumiana has been seconded by the Bulgarian foreign ministry to the OSCE in 1996/7; served as head of office with UN political and peacekeeping missions (2000 – 2002) and UNESCO (2002-2006). Her other roles include being a researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Assistant Professor at International University College, Sofia (1986-1996). She was a researcher and project field coordinator of applied social sciences for the Norwegian University for Science and Technology, NTNU (2007-2010). In 2010 she was elected as President of the European Association for the Defence of Human Rights – Bulgaria. Recently Rumiana was part of the EU elections expert team in Libya (2012).

Thematic Areas of Expertise