The Community Solutions Program (CSP), a professional leadership development program for persons who are striving to better their communities, is now accepting applications from qualified applicants.
Candidates will undergo a four-month fellowship in the United States as part of the program, where they will get leadership training and real-world professional experience to advance their managerial and leadership abilities.
The program aims to develop the leadership potentials of individuals working to improve their communities by addressing issues related to the environment, peace and conflict resolution, transparency and accountability, and women and gender. The program will afford the candidate the opportunity to design and plan a community development initiative or project to carry out after they return home and lots of other opportunities. The program comes with financial support to assist the successful candidates.
Benefits:
The program covers the cost of expenses to include:
- J-1 visa support Round-trip travel from participants’ home city to the U.S.
- Monthly allowance to cover housing, meals, and other living expenses while in the U.S.
- Accident and sickness health coverage.
- Accessibility accommodations, such as ADA accessible rooms for in-person training, software such as JAWS, and community assistance and community training.
Eligibility:
To be eligible for the IREX Community Solutions Program 2024, applicants must meet the following requirements listed (below):
- Must be between the ages of 25 and 38 as of January 1, 2024
- Citizen of an eligible country.
- Living and working in your home country. Individuals with refugee status working on behalf of their home community may be given special consideration.
- Possess at least two years of experience working in community development, either as a full-time or part-time employee or volunteer.
- Possess high level of proficiency in spoken and written English.
- Not currently participating in an academic, training, or research program in the U.S.
- Available to travel to the U.S. for four months from August to December 2024.
- Not a citizen or permanent resident within the past three years.
- Eligible to receive a U.S. J-1 visa.
- Committed to return to your home country for a minimum of two years after program completion.
- Not currently an IREX employee or consultant, or their immediate family member.
Eligible Countries:
- Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
- East Asia and the Pacific: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam
- Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, and Ukraine
- Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank/Palestinian Territories
- South and Central Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
- Western Hemisphere: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Application:
Interested applicants for the IREX Community Solutions Program 2024 should only submit an online application on or before the application deadline. Applications that are mailed, faxed or emailed to IREX will not be accepted. Only direct further questions via email to: apply.csp@irex.org
