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Why Youth?

World Learning and CIV Partnering to Boost Youth Exchange Opportunities

by Christina Thomas, World Learning

We have long known that exchange programs benefit participants in many ways. Exposure to a new culture, new language, and new ways of thinking, and communicating is a prime opportunity for developing new interpersonal skills. But, exchange programs are exceptionally well-suited to teach critical leadership skills such as public speaking, active listening, project management and teamwork. Add all these goals together and you get a powerful experience, one that will benefit participants for years to come. As part of a growing trend among government and non-governmental organizations to address the lack of opportunities youth have in transitional democracies and developing nations, World Learning and members of the NCIV network have partnered to implement youth leadership exchange programs sponsored by the Office of Citizen Exchanges, Youth Programs Division.

Why youth? In many transitional economies throughout the world, the fastest growing population is between the ages of 15 and 25, but opportunities to find good jobs are scarce. For example, the estimated unemployment rate for youth ages 18 to 30 in Serbia is 50%. Additionally, many of these countries experience a “brain drain,” where young people leave the country to be educated abroad and never return due to a shortage of opportunities at home.

World Learning has a long history of managing youth exchange programs. Its flagship program (now in its 76th year), the Experiment in International Living sends groups of American high school students abroad during the summer. Experiential education and intercultural learning is at the core of World Learning’s programs. This is why our budding partnership with CIVs with this new age group is an ideal match -- what better way is there for international teens to see examples of multicultural diversity and civic participation, as well as meet and get to know “real” Americans than with CIV member organizations? Youth programs differ from the normal IVLP programs in that they allow for more creative programming, and involve more community members and resources such as schools, parents, host families, local politicians, and non-governmental organizations. They raise the CIVs’ profile in the community and in the media. There may also be reciprocal exchange opportunities for American youth to go abroad and to gain critical skills. Last September American high school students from Seattle and Cleveland spent one week in Serbia, and another group from Seattle, Denver, and Huntsville will go abroad later this year.

Working on youth exchange programs is fun, rewarding, and educational. Youth are poignantly observant and apply what they learn almost immediately -- teens are never shy to tell you what they liked or did not like. For example, in Seattle, ethnic Serbian and Hungarian students from Serbia learned how to make documentaries with Native Lens, a non profit organization that teaches American Indian youth skills in film-making. Through this opportunity, the students were able to discuss multicultural diversity issues through the “lens” of film-making topics that would almost never be discussed in school, let alone in the community. Their film can be viewed on YouTube (see link in NCIV's online newsletter). And, as is the case with all spirited youth, the power of learning by way of having fun through outdoor and cultural events cannot be underestimated. In several of the host cities students also spend a day learning how to work as a team as they navigate through a series of ropes courses, ride a horse for the first time, canoe, hike or even attend a homecoming dance.

Through all the meetings and unique experiences in a youth exchange program, it is still critical to see how students take what they have learned and apply it on their own turf. A key element and requirement of these youth exchange programs is to have the students apply their skills in follow-on projects in their home communities. For example, in the town of Senta, Serbia, near the border of Hungary, exchange participants placed forty recycling bins in every classroom, meeting space and lunch room throughout their high school. Additionally, they created more than 200 posters educating students on the benefits of recycling and other facts about protecting the environment. While students have long been implementing these programs here in the United States, Senta is just getting started and participants were inspired by what they saw and learned from meeting with environmental organizations and youth clubs. In Rwanda, students created a peer-tutoring club and a newspaper to address issues about HIV/AIDS, the genocide, and the environment – yet another exchange-inspired success story.

Implementing youth programs may take extra effort, as it is a challenge to find enthusiastic schools and host families to host international youth for two weeks. But the relationships made and skills learned on both sides make long lasting impressions on the host schools and families as well as the exchange participants. More importantly, these programs empower youth to be effective citizens and role models for future generations through the implementation of their projects and their desire to help their communities.

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