Let’s harness the intellectual vitality, authentic curiosity and boundless passion of young people to help refugees.
We are happy to announce the 2024-25 launch of our Refugee Leadership Program! In August, we will select a small group of students from U.S. high schools to join us for a 10-month series of practical leadership exercises, access to world-class scholars and respected practitioners in the field of refugee work, insight into the world of community-based organizations and NGOs, and a community of young leaders committed to change.
For the 2024-25 school year, student chapters will research and support the three largest refugee camps in East Africa.
The program is designed to be integrated into the school year and take no more than 5 hours a week (September to June). Applicants will be interviewed and selected in September.
Pilot year cost (tax-deductable) = $900 USD*
* Scholarships are available (please don’t let the fee prevent you from applying)!
“Our mission is rooted in the belief that a deeper understanding of refugees will improve global policies, education and health outcomes for everyone.”
The Leadership Program will address three major challenges:
Challenge #1:
There are huge threats to a peaceful planet and future that youth want the opportunity to better understand and address: poverty, extremism, climate change, gender inequity, child labor, human trafficking and more. Refugees are at the nexus of so many of these issues.
Solution:
Provide students with an inquiry-based curriculum that is well-structured and flexible. Provide students with the courage and know-how to connect with existing, high-impact non-profit organizations (locally and globally). Give students themselves the tools they need to listen to and work with the refugee community.
Challenge #2:
Students are too often left to figure out how to fulfill community service requirements on their own, resulting in ad hoc, one-off engagements. This is a missed opportunity to build key leadership skills. Students deserve real-world challenges worthy of their time, attention and intelligence and most U.S. high schools are too overwhelmed to provide this.
Solution:
Offer students guidance on a complex issue (refugees) and help them partner with their local community. Expose them to global leaders and NGOs. Recognize their accomplishments through credits (in discussion), certificates of program completion and letters of recommendation for their university applications.
Challenge #3:
Many community service projects assign tasks that a) don’t provide contextual background to inequalities, b) actually take work away from local people and c) can be harmful to the planet.
Solution:
Provide students with a curriculum that is comprehensive and nuanced about refugee issues. Focus students on what is already out there and how funds are distributed and used. Attend to the adage: seek to understand before being understood.