IYLEP High School Alumni Inspire Youth Volunteerism in Baghdad

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

IYLEP 2013 High School Alums Abdulaziz A. and Khalid A. collaborate with the Iraqi Army to distribute food and supplies to poor areas across Baghdad.

Written by Abdulaziz A.

Alumni of the 2013 Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) reconnected this past February in Erbil. Alums from both the High School and Undergraduate programs gathered to reflect on their experiences and participate in workshops and panel discussions that built upon the skills students developed last summer in the United States. Meridian invited IYLEP alumni to submit a blog post describing their personal experience and growth with the program. We selected the winning entries to post on The LEAD. Abdulaziz was selected as one of the winners for the IYLEP High School group.

When Khalid, Maryam and I returned to Baghdad after the 2013 Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) in the United States, we decided to start a project to help poor people in Baghdad. We looked for students in our schools that had the same interests.  We were really surprised to get support from a lot of the students. We collected used clothes and contributions from neighbors, friends and family in a 2-week period. We chose a neighborhood where poverty is really high. In order to distribute the goods, we had to get permission from the police and be escorted. Unfortunately, distribution points, where many people gather to receive charity, are often the targets of terrorist groups.  The police were not helpful, but one of our cousins recommended we approach the Iraqi army.  The army wants to build up and encourage more civic action, so we made a search for the areas in Baghdad that are under control of the army.  We found really poor families living in houses made of mud.

Continue  

IYLEP Blog Contest: Turning Exchange into Action

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

Sara visits the Native Little Feathers Dance Group.

Alumni of the 2013 Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) reconnected this past February in Erbil. Alums from both the High School and Undergraduate programs gathered to reflect on their experiences and participate in workshops and panel discussions that built upon the skills students developed last summer in the United States. Meridian invited IYLEP alumni to submit a blog post describing their personal experience and growth with the program. We selected the winning entries to post on The LEAD. Sara A. was selected as the winner for the IYLEP High School group.

Continue  

18 Inspiring Messages From Young African Leaders

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program participants spell out their vision for Africa.

Listen up. Young African leaders have a few things to say about youth leadership.   These 24 incredible changemakers from Togo, Senegal, Chad and Mauritania traveled to the United States to learn and discuss social entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and community building.   The leaders were here last month as part of our second cohort of Pan-African Youth Leadership Program, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.   Each student developed a community service project or small enterprise to implement upon their return home. Projects ranged from jewelry-making ventures to new libraries to school clean-up initiatives. We’re excited...

Continue  

Small Footprints, Quantum Leaps: A Zimbabwean Fellow’s U.S. Experience

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

Gerald visits the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Written by Gerald Mangena, Founder of Great Mountains and Spring 2014 Professional Fellows from Zimbabwe As many people and organizations continue to seek refined and more effective ways of contributing to the development of the continent as a whole, quite a high number of varied exchange programs almost everywhere in the world have sprung but the Meridian International Center’s Business and Entrepreneurship Exchange Program (BEEP) is in a league of its own. There could not have been a better way of empowering emerging business leaders than through an exchange program of this caliber. The greatest part about this program...

Continue