About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

We broke new musical ground with two innovative programs, CenterStage and OneBeat. CenterStage brings performing artists from Haiti, Indonesia and Pakistan to perform in 60 small and mid-sized cities, giving Main Street America a chance to experience international culture without stepping on a plane. Meanwhile, OneBeat brings 32 musicians from 21 countries — including the United States — to eight East Coast cities to collaborate and make new music together.

That tradition continues with this year’s American Music Abroad, which will send twelve American musical groups to travel abroad to over 40… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
October 2, 2012

The U.S. Department of State announced today that 68 American teachers and 19 international teachers will be honored on UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day in Washington, D.C. on October 5. The U.S. teachers participated in theBureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Teachers for Global Classrooms program, and the international teachers are currently participating in the Bureau’s Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching Program. The teachers are gathering for a two-day symposium to discuss how they will integrate global content and practice into their classrooms.

U.S. secondary teachers from 32 American states took part in the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, which sent them to Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, or Ukraine for several weeks to globalize their U.S. schools and classrooms. U.S. teachers learned with, and from, their colleagues in other countries to develop international knowledge and skills.

On Friday, the U.S. teachers will be joined by 19 international teachers from Argentina, Finland, India, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Singapore, and South Africa who are currently studying and conducting research at the University of Maryland for a semester under the Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching Program. This Program sends U.S. primary and secondary school teachers abroad for three to six months and brings international teachers to the United States for a semester.

World Teachers’ Day, designated by UNESCO in 1994, is held annually on October 5 to celebrate teachers worldwide, mobilize support for teachers, and ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs promotes international mutual understanding through a wide range of academic, cultural, private-sector, professional, and sports exchange programs. These international exchanges engage youth, students, educators, artists, athletes, and emerging leaders in many fields in the United States and in more than 160 countries. Alumni of these exchanges comprise over one million people around the world, including more than 50 Nobel Laureates and more than 350 current or former heads of state and government.

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The inaugural Youth TechCamp Bangladesh launched on September 16, and Dhaka has been buzzing ever since! Youth TechCamp Bangladesh was the latest in a series of interactive trainings around the world for alumni of State’s youth exchange programs. In Bangladesh, 30 alumni (ages 17-19) from our Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program participated, learning how to use technology and social media to impact their communities for the better.

Organized in collaboration with U.S. Embassy Dhaka and iEARN,… more »

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

This month, the State Department welcomed 25 chefs and foodies from all over the world to Washington, D.C., as part of an exciting new International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). From Brazil to Vietnam, every country in the world has a unique food culture, and the United States is no exception. Throughout this IVLP, participants are meeting with high profile chefs to discuss the influences of food and culture on American communities. 

Their U.S. exchange coincides with the Office of the Chief of Protocol’s launch of theDiplomatic Culinary Partnership, which seeks to elevate the role of culinary engagement in America’s formal and public diplomacy efforts. At the… more »

Girls Rule the (Sports) World: Mentoring the Next Generation of Global Women Leaders in Sports

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

On Thursday, I met with 17 inspiring women from Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Macedonia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Individually, they’re up-and-comers in the world of sports — as athletes, coaches, reporters, and managers. Together, they’re the inaugural class of the U.S. Department of State and espnW Global Sports Mentoring Program. The group arrived at the State Department this morning for an orientation to kick off their month-long mentorships with leading American women in sports-related fields. 

For the next four weeks, these emerging leaders will work alongside their American mentors from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut,… more »

About the Author: Lee Satterfield serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional and Cultural Exchanges in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Yesterday, the 2012 class of TechWomen arrived in San Francisco to participate in an international exchange that leverages technology as a means to empower women and girls from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen. Forty-one female emerging leaders in the technology field from the Middle East and North Africa will be paired with American counterparts for a five-week mentoring program. Click here to learn more.

Launched by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2011, TechWomen builds on her vision of “smart power.” It embraces the full range of diplomatic tools, in this case technology, to bring people together for greater understanding and to empower women and… more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 24, 2012

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs welcomes 21 youth and three educators from Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia to the United States on August 24, to participate in a three-week Youth Leadership Program focused on the theme of Media Literacy. The participants will learn about leadership development, civic education and community service through engagement with students in local high schools, encounters with civic, youth, and governmental organizations, and participation in community service activities and leadership workshops. The program is implemented by nonprofit organization World Learning.

The exchange program begins with a leadership and team building camp at World Learning’s School for International Training Graduate Institute campus in Brattleboro, Vermont. After the camp, the students will break into groups and travel to either Louisville, Kentucky or San Diego, California. In each of the cities the students will meet with local organizations to learn about civic engagement and media education initiatives. They will also live with local host families, perform community service, and attend cultural events.

The group will reunite in Washington, D.C. on September 12, to learn how the State Department interacts with media at home and abroad, and to draft plans for service projects they will implement in their home communities.

For more information, please visit http://exchanges.state.gov/youth/programs/ylp.html and or contact: Anna Griffin at ECA-Press@state.gov.

About the Author: Benjamin Baird serves at the U.S. Embassy in London.

NBA superstar, and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, Dwyane Wade set aside some time last week, to coach UK kids. Wade is mentoring the London-area kids to teach them how to succeed in life through sport. Lessons he teaches his own sons. Since 2011, the Miami Heat guard has taken part in U.S. President Barack Obama’s Fatherhood Initiative. Wade says the London 2012 Games are a chance for parents to use athletics to show their kids how diverse the world can be.

“The great thing about Olympic Sports and Olympic time is that you get the opportunity to watch sports that you might not have known nothing about or you might not have watched before…I know my kids love sports so it just makes it a little bit easier to say you don’t like this one try this one. You don’t like this one try this…more »

About the Author: Dawn L. McCall serves as Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs.

On a recent trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh, I visited Dhaka University to see a Banyan tree that Senator Edward Kennedy planted there in 1972 to commemorate Bangladesh’s independence. At the time of Senator Kennedy’s historic visit to Bangladesh, he was the most senior U.S. government official to ever visit the newly independent country. More than 10,000 students attended the tree planting ceremony. They, and many more people in Bangladesh and around the world, were inspired by Senator Kennedy, the democratic ideals he embodied, and his personal commitment to public service and volunteerism.

From this visit 40 years ago, a deep bond between Senator Kennedy and Bangladesh developed and endured. The American Center of U.S. Embassy Dhaka, in partnership with the Liberation War Museum, recently launched the Edward M. Kennedy Center for Public Service and the Arts (the EMK Center),… more »

About the Author: Justin Teitell serves as an intern with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Ethiopia Outreach Program.

August 12 is International Youth Day, and this year’s theme is “Building a Better World by Partnering with Youth.” As an intern with USAID’s Outreach Program in Ethiopia, I recently spent a week working with 560 young people between ages 13 and 20 doing just that. I helped the U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Team run a weeklong soccer camp co-sponsored by Sports United and featuring two sports envoys from Major League Soccer: Tony Sanneh and Kate Markgraf.

The State Department’s… more »