• Civil Society and Governance
  • Civil Society and Governance Overview
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Civic Education
  • Citizen Participation
  • Advocacy
  • Democratic Governance
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Women's and Minority Rights
  • Disenfranchised Groups
• Education
  • Education Overview
  • Basic Education
  • Higher Education
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
  • Education for Vulnerable Groups
• HIV/AIDS
  • HIV/AIDS Overview
  • HIV/AIDS Prevention
  • Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
  • Grants Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Institutional Capacity Building
• International Visitors Exchanges
  • International Professional, Academic, and Cultural Exchanges Overview
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Professional Exchanges
  • Youth Exchanges
• Capacity Development and Training
  • Capacity Development and Training Overview
  • Participant Training
  • Institutional Capacity Building
  • Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Exchanges
  • Grant Solicitation and Management Capacity
  • Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Youth Exchanges

Serbia Youth Leadership Program

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World Learning is administering the Serbia Youth Leadership Program (SYLP), an exchange program for Serbian and American students and adult youth leaders along with partners Civic Initiatives (CI, a Serbian NGO) and National Council for International Visitors member organizations.  Through three one-month exchanges to the US, one two-week exchange program to Serbia, and in-country follow-up activities, Exchange 1 will emphasize grassroots activism; Exchange 2, ethnic tolerance and living in a multi-ethnic society; Exchange 3, rule of law and the judiciary; American Exchange to Serbia, youth activism.

The Program consists of three phases: pre-departure activities, the US exchange programs, and follow-on activities.  Each exchange group of an estimated 18 students and 4 adults will begin the US program with a weeklong Orientation and Leadership Camp at World Learning's School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.  Each group will then divide into two subgroups of 11 participants (9 students and 2 adults) to visit several cities across the US.  The community programs will focus on program themes, civic participation at the community level, and community service learning.  Highlights will include high school attendance, home stays with local families, and a day trip to a nearby state park or capital city.  The final program segment, a Re-entry Camp in Washington, DC, will reunite each group for debriefing, follow-on activity planning, and evaluation.  The follow-on program will provide minigrants for student-led community service activities, and will include several workshops integrating all of the program components.  A group of an estimated fifteen American students and adult educators will travel to Serbia for a reciprocal two-week exchange.

The goals of the program are to:

• Develop a cadre of young adults in Serbia who have a strong sense of civic responsibility, a commitment to community development, an awareness of current & global issues, and strong interpersonal leadership skills;
• Foster relationships among youth from different ethnic, religious, and national groups in Serbia; and
• Promote mutual understanding, respect and collaboration between the United States and Serbia.