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 happy to announce the 2024-25 launch of our Refugee Leadership Program! In January, we will select a small group of students from U.S. high schools to join us for a 3-month series of practical leadership exercises, listening sessions with refugees, workshops with world-class scholars and respected practitioners in the field of global refugee work, insight into the field of refugee-led NGOs, and a community of young leaders committed to change.
For the 2024-25 school year, student chapters will research and support students from the three largest refugee camps in East Africa.
The Refugee Leadership Program is designed to be integrated into the school year. Students will meet together every Saturday from February - April and develop an action plan for building awareness of refugee issues in their school community.
The total cost for the program is $1,950 USD* (tax deductable). Half of this amount will go directly to refugee scholarships. The other half will be used to cover programmatic and administrative costs.
“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 open now and due before January 5, 2025
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 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.