• 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

FORECAST - MENA Peace Scholarships Program

The MENA Peace Scholarships Program is helping to foster a new generation of leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by developing leadership skills, US linkages, and academic excellence. The program provides youth from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza, with one year of undergraduate study in the United States. Leadership training, community service, regional networking and other skill-building opportunities help provide these future leaders with the potential to contribute to the social and economic development of the region and strengthen ties with the United States.

Scholars are enrolled as full-time students at US     institutions where they interact with American faculty and fellow students.  Immersed in US life and culture, scholars learn how to develop innovative approaches and solutions to meet the needs of their communities when they return home.

The MENA Peace Scholarships Program is open to all academic fields of study. Competition for the program is merit-based and finalists are selected on the basis of academic excellence, leadership potential, knowledge of English, and their preparedness for study in the US. In the past two years, 48 scholars were placed into eight universities across the US.

Scholars from the first MENA Peace Scholarships   Program cohort returned to their home countries in May of 2009 and significant program accomplishments have already been made.

World Learning is the prime contractor for this project, subcontracting the Institute for International Education (IIE) for the region-wide student outreach, recruitment, selection and alumni activities, as well as the leadership development components of the project that include the one month Pre-departure Orientation and Leadership Program in Cairo managed by the IIE MENA Office and a mid-year Leadership Institute managed by IIE Denver. World Learning conducts all U.S. based placement, monitoring, and program administration, fulfils USAID reporting requirements, and ensures that the program objectives are met on both a professional as well as personal level for each participant.