Valentin Kehayov is the chairman of the Young Researchers for Youth Development Association, founded in 2015. Returning from abroad, he takes it as a personal mission to keep as many people as possible in town, especially young people. And by all accounts, it's working out pretty well for him. In the beginning, the youth's work was not recognizable among his fellow citizens. Gradually, it is the association that becomes an informal support institution for the people who more and more often look to Valyo and his team for assistance.
Sometimes just one sentence is enough to overturn our perceptions, to give us the needed dose of confidence, to motivate us to take the initiative and act „Either you change Smolyan and its people, or they change you“.These words were imprinted in the mind of a young and ambitious man when he decided to return to his native Smolyan after completing his studies in Italy.
Valentin Kehayov is the chairman of the Young Researchers for Youth Development Association, founded in 2015. Returning from abroad, he takes it as a personal mission to keep as many people as possible in town, especially young people. And by all accounts, it's working out pretty well for him. In the beginning, the youth's work was not recognizable among his fellow citizens. Gradually, it is the association that becomes an informal support institution for the people who more and more often look to Valyo and his team for assistance.
Gradually, he also got a youth space where the team and the young people who visit him channel their ideas, develop their potential and create a better environment for themselves. They work on different themes such as ecology, entrepreneurship and human rights, and develop non-formal education opportunities.
Valyo participated in the first edition of the WCIF Initiative. His participation in the training teaches him, as he puts it, "to network". Meeting other active people from the country provokes him to work even harder, to pursue his dreams. In the video below you will see an unusual but great example of a man who is not afraid to make his dreams come true.
The Project Initiative for building the next generation of civic leaders is implemented with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway under the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria within the framework of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The main objective of the project is an accumulation of knowledge, and skills and creating the conditions for transfer of experience to young leaders of civic organizations. The project is implemented by the Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation.