Raising Educational Awareness & Literacy Rates in Bangladesh: SUSI Alumni Create Change

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Students gather for International Mother Language Day

This post is part of a recurring series about alumni of the Study of U.S. Institutes for Student Leaders for Public Policy and Government Leadership Program (SUSI) that is run by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Meridian International Center. For other posts about progress SUSI alumni are making in their communities, click here. Thanks to governmental reforms, education in Bangladesh has continued to improve over the past ten years. However, this uplifting progress comes with some disheartening figures: according to a World Bank report, in 2004 almost 1.5 million students were not...

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Creating Africa’s Future Leaders – PAYLP Participants Convene in D.C.

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Participants with Meridian staff

The Pan-Africa Youth Leadership Program, Meridian International Center’s newest youth leadership initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is already proving to be a success. The 24 participants, who range in age from 15-18 and represent eight different African nations, arrived in the U.S. on Sunday, April 6th. Over the next couple days, the participants were then given the best D.C. had to offer: a tour of the Capitol Building; a meeting with the staff of Senator Jeff Flake; a briefing and visit to the National Museum of African Art with the director, Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole; an...

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Exchange Behind the Scenes in Dakar

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Young African Leaders discuss importance of mentorship on Goree Island

As the 44 alumni of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) trickle in to a hot and unpredictably rainy Dakar, Senegal, many for the first time, it is still a day until the seminar and the exchange has already begun. From late night political discussions over a bottle of wine, to breakfast rendez-vous over French pastries and jus de bissap, and a cultural excursion to Goree Island, a place full of history and painful remembrance, these dynamic young leaders don’t waste a second sharing their stories, ideas and plans – big plans – for the future with one another. Continue