IVLP Alumni Spotlight: Volunteering from Oklahoma to Kazakhstan

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Amina and fellow IVLP alumni with TGA Board Member John Harper at their Toast the Travelers Reception

The following was written by Bob Lieser, Vice President of Program at Tulsa Global Alliance. In October 2018, Tulsa Global Alliance (TGA), a Community-Based Member of Global Ties U.S., collaborated with Meridian International Center to host a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) from Kazakhstan titled “Volunteerism: Charity and Civic Action.” Their schedule included tours of the Little Light House, a faith-based non-profit providing free educational and therapeutic services to children with special needs, and Jenks High School, where they learned about special needs education at a public school district. The visitors also volunteered at Iron Gate,...

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IVLP Alumni Spotlight: Creating Jobs for Women in Rural Côte d’Ivoire

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Antoinette Botti (in green shirt), founder and owner of ASSÔWÔ (meaning Stand Up), a cooperative that involves every woman in her village in Cote d'Ivoire

IVLP Alumni Spotlight features U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumni as they reflecton the impact of the program and how it has affected their work and lives. Here we spotlight, Ms. Antoinette Botti from Cote d’Ivoire, whose work focuses specifically on empowering women in rural environments. Ms. Botti participated in a large group project on volunteerism, and she recounts below the impact that this program had on her, both personally and professionally.

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Meridian celebrates its Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Danielle Nicolai teaching a two-day Income Generating Activity course to a women’s group

Its national Peace Corps Week, and everyone from former volunteers to President Obama have celebrated the occasion. Here at Meridian, we think there’s no better way to celebrate than by recognizing the members of our team who have served as volunteers across a diverse range of sectors and regions. While it may have been many years since they served as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV), there is no doubt that the experience impacted their lives and has allowed them to relate to the more than 4,000 international visitors who have walked through the Meridian House doors in 2015 alone. Yesterday,...

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Mapping IVLP Volunteer Service

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IVLP Volunteer Participation in Fiscal Year 2015

The spirit of community service has grown stronger every year since Congress enacted the National and Community Service Act of 1990. From President Bush’s Points of Light Award to President Obama’s United We Serve initiative, successive presidents have helped to strengthen this part of the American cultural fabric. After Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated as a national day of service in 1994, Americans everywhere worked to make it not a day off but a day on. Continue  

Three Months Out

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Al-Amir Mohssen, second from left, leads volunteers in a clean up day as part of Let's Do It Egypt.

In his capacity as Project Manager of the Sustainable Development Program at the Industrial Modernization Center in Cairo, Mr. Al-Amir Mohssen manages projects that focus on entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprise development that support young entrepreneurs working across Egypt. He frequently volunteers for youth initiatives and is interested in learning about a broad variety of youth engagement strategies in the U.S. in addition to programs to encourage young entrepreneurs.

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