My name is Iva Ferlež, I just turned 20 and I come from Niš, the biggest city in the southeastern part of Serbia. Growing up in a very local community, with a diverse family background has led me to have a better understanding of common difficulties people experience in this region – the Balkans.

Throughout my education, I felt the need to help my community grow better; by volunteering, joining local NGOs and going on intercultural exchanges abroad I felt privileged to obtain such knowledge which enabled me to spread it back home. Helping and working with people whose voices are not heard often in the media like children with disabilities and minorities opened my eyes, and led me on the path to explore more about human rights and social justice. These after-school activities at the time introduced me to the major I am currently enrolled in – International and Diplomatic Studies in Prague. Having the chance to go through European School of Debate in a EU Info Point in Niš expanded my knowledge about european values and views, Intercultural exchange in Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation in Switzerland broaded the importance of acceptance and tolerance of other cultures, volunteereing actions I conducted with NGO “AzBuki” from Niš, became regular part of my life and I believe this is only the beginning. YEA appears to be the perfect opportunity to be even more in-depth with the field I am interested in, and correlates with my primary goal and that is to help my community grow better.