“A Golden Opportunity: The 2016 Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program” by Karima Lakouz, A Moroccan Let Girls Learn Participant

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

Karima poses with Ambassador Dwight L. Bush, U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, Mrs. Toni Bush, and her fellow Let Girls Learn participants at the White House on International Day of the Girl.

During my high school life, I was always known as the social butterfly. I spoke to everyone, tried to engage in every social activity that is available, and hence I met a lot of people who told me about exchange programs. Thanks to them, I participated in English Access Microscholarship Program, Techgirls, and Let Girls Learn. I would like to shed the light on the latter. Let Girls Learn is an initiative started by the first lady of the United States of America Michelle Obama to help girls around the world get the education they deserve. This program had...

Continue  

PAYLP Through the Eyes of a Meridian Intern

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /
co-author:

PAYLP group photo after their presentations with panelists.

 “This program has offered me the opportunity to experience what I’ve learned in school, a lot of what I teach my pupils and read on the internet and books…. I am sure this will breed a group of young leaders with a hunger for success.” (Private Mchenga of Malawi, PAYLP Adult Mentor participant) Students will often look to adults, school, and friends to shape the things they do not know. When that is not enough television and movies fill in the gaps.  As it turns out, romanticized perceptions, movies, and television often steer us further away from the reality...

Continue  

Behind the Lens: Let Girls Learn

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program

Behind the Lens: Let Girls Learn First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative, is an effort to support girls around the world with education and opportunity. Currently over 62 million girls are without an education.  While interning at Meridian International Center as a Marketing and Communications Intern in the GlobalConnect Division, I was invited to photograph the girls during the Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program where girls from Morocco and Liberia were invited by the First Lady to come to Washington D.C. and watch CNN’s documentary “We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the...

Continue  

“How YLAI Improved My Health Care Company” by Maria Jimena Flores, YLAI Alum from Argentina

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

YLAI Fellows Learning

Maria Jimena Flores is the founder and CEO of Medical Salud. She is one of 248 fellows participating in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program, a presidential initiative that empowers entrepreneurs and innovative civil society leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean. YLAI focuses on strengthening their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities. During my YLAI fellowship, I have worked with five different people who were my “fellowship hosts” and mentors in ACCESS Healthcare network. This is because ACCESS is a...

Continue  

UNESCO’s Announcement of New Intangible Cultural Heritage Is a Great Chance to Think about New Steps to Protect the World’s Properties

Posted under: MCCD By /

New additions to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the addition of 16 new sites to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list on December 1. This gives us a great opportunity not just to celebrate new additions but to think about how to protect them. These 16 new sites are literally from all over the world: Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and Africa. As a Japanese intern, I was personally glad to see that “Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals in Japan” was on the list. This tradition encompasses 33 festivals in 18 prefectures throughout Japan, showing the...

Continue