The Refugee Leadership Program harnesses the intellectual vitality, authentic curiosity and boundless passion of young people to make a difference in their own communities.
We are now recruiting students to lead their own Refugees In Schools chapters at their schools. Student chapters are tasked with researching and raising money for student scholarships at the three largest refugee camps in East Africa.
RIS will provide direct support to student leaders throughout the school year by offering practical leadership guidance, opportunities to talk with refugee students, workshops with global scholars and respected practitioners in the field of global refugee work, and insight into the field of refugee-led NGOs.
The Refugee Leadership Program is designed to be integrated into the school year. We will help each leader launch and lead their own chapter by helping them develop an action plan for building awareness of refugee issues and raising money in their school community.
“Learning about refugee issues with Ann and The Refugee Leadership team was so eye-opening! Not only did the experience change the way I think about U.S. policy, it made me more interested in and able to discuss foreign policy work as a potential major in college.“ - Alex French, participant, Roosevelt High School, Washington
“Wow! I learned SO much through this program. Not only am I better able to facilitate meetings, I understand what it means for refugees to access educational support in and outside of their camps. This program has motivated me and my friends more than any class I’ve taken!” - A. Traina, participant, Stevenson School, California
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. You can apply any time.
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 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 refugee and asylum-seeking communities around the world..
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 learn more about what their local community does to support this issue. Expose them to global leaders and NGOs. Set personal goals and recognize their accomplishments.
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. We work with students to seek to understand before being understood.