This story was originally published on the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) website (https://www.icfj.org)
For journalist
Cindy Regidor, it started with an observation.
Hundreds of thousands of her fellow citizens from Nicaragua were living abroad, with more fleeing every day. Regidor herself had left the country in 2015. Yet no Nicaraguan news outlets were covering immigration issues consistently or deeply.
“Sometimes there were reports – something very particular like an accident, somebody being killed abroad,” Regidor said. “But we weren’t seeing any of their stories, their lives, where they lived, what their struggles were, what they wanted, what the successes were, too.”
Regidor pitched her Nicaraguan news outlet,
Confidencial, on a section devoted to covering the lives of migrants. Regidor wanted to tell the countless stories of people who have left their country. She recognized that this issue was much bigger than a headline. It deserved its own coverage and platform.
That’s when
Nicas Migrantes was born. The section provides reporting on migration, featuring topics ranging from human interest stories to investigations as well as data and information on immigration in Costa Rica, a major destination for Nicaraguans.
Starting something new
Before the sectio
n launched in 2021, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) had selected Regidor for the
Emerging Media Leaders program,
a Professional Fellows Program funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program provides Latin American journalists with media training, the opportunity to work closely with U.S. newsrooms, and mentorship for a project. Regidor was, most recently, a fall 2022 recipient of the
U.S. State Department's Alumni Impact Award for starting Nicas Migrantes.
The program training sessions as well as her media internship with
ThinkProgress helped Regidor gain practical skills that she later used to enhance her management of Nicas Migrantes, she said. The fellowship prepared Regidor not only to pitch her editor and funders but also to lead Nicas Migrantes confidently and strategically.
“The fellowship came right at the moment where I was experiencing this traumatic event for my country and for myself, and I felt like I could do something about it,” said Regidor, referencing the 2018 protests that gained international attention for
human rights violations from excessive use of force by pro-government groups.
A crackdown on free press
Nicaraguan journalists, activists and those perceived as opposing the Ortega regime continue to face many risks to their security and lives, including jail time and false criminal accusations. The reporters at Confidencial all currently work from exile. Most recently, CNN Español was cut from live broadcast television in Nicaragua.
“Since 2018, an estimated 200,000 Nicaraguans have fled the country avoiding the repression and persecution unleashed by one of the most violent regimes in the Western Hemisphere,” said Luis Botello, ICFJ deputy vice president of global impact and strategy. "At least 160 Nicaraguan journalists are exiled and many independent news organizations have been shut down or their newsrooms raided by the police.”
Since starting Nicas Migrantes, Regidor has not only continued to tell the diverse stories of migrants but also to grow the coverage.
“I think that we are demonstrating that we are not only surviving and enduring those attacks and reporting on that particular situation, but we are also growing and improving and evolving and we are still answering to the needs of our audience, and that includes the Nicaraguan migrants,” Regidor said.
Making an impact
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the team collaborated with several Costa Rican media outlets to report on cross-border communities. Their coverage revealed the effects of the Costa Rican border closure on these individuals and dispelled the false notion that Nicaraguan migrants were worsening COVID-19 in Costa Rica. They also reported on a femicide affecting the community, coverage that helped spur a congresswoman to advocate on behalf of the victim and her family.
“That was a small contribution to changing something in particular that was affecting these people’s lives,” Regidor said.
Together, the group won an award for this reporting series, signifying the strength of journalistic collaboration as well as storytelling through various mediums.
In 2021, Nicas Migrantes contributed to a study, led by the Inter-American Dialogue, on the lives of Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica. The research looked at assimilation, motives for migrating and more. For Regidor, the study was important to update and provide data to better understand the realities and stats on Nicaraguan migrants living and working in Costa Rica.
The content is uniting Nicaraguans both domestically and abroad. And more local media outlets have even begun reporting on Nicaraguan migration.
Within the last year, Nicas Migrantes reports user growth increased in Costa Rica (12%), the U.S. (9%) and Spain (8%) when comparing statistics from the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2022. These countries are also very representative to places where Nicaraguan migrants have fled.
Regidor wants Nicas Migrantes to continue growing and reaching more Nicaraguans. She recognizes the influence they have had and strives to continue providing a voice for migrants.
“We have this very big commitment [as journalists],” Regidor said. “I think the most important one is to fairly represent who we are and who we have been as [a] society as Nicaraguans.”
Image(s) courtesy of Cindy Regidor
Share the highlight of your experience and key learning points from the program that you participated in.
My key highlight from the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs program was the networking opportunity it afforded me. Before now, I never knew the relevance and impact of networking in business, but since I graduated from AWE, my net worth has grown immensely.
What is the most significant change that you have experienced in your personal and professional life as a result of participating in the exchange program?
I am happy to say the program has empowered me to become a relevant consultant for my business and other businesses. I have had a mind-blowing increase in my income. My six months income has increased from 2.5 million naira to 7 million naira, and that is incredible! The significant changes are countless, but the networking effect is the primary driver behind them.
How are you paying forward the impact of the USG exchange program on your personal and professional career?
Upon my graduation, I registered my NGO, DJ Electra Charity Organization. This NGO will be sponsoring an Epilepsy Awareness Course, the development of sports facilities in institutions and local communities, and humanitarian assistance, especially for the elderly. I am also currently having charity events themed, Electrified Energy. Funds raised from this event are donated to support projects done at the NGO.
What fun or unexpected thing did you experience during your exchange program?
The karaoke performance with fellow AWE women has to be one of my most memorable moments. I loved it!
List any awards, scholarship, recognition or promotion that you have received as a result of the impact of the USG exchange program on your personal or professional life.
The Committee members of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Alumni Association (AWEAA) commended me for my support during the first annual conference held in Lagos, where I offered musical services for free.
Brian Rashid joins MentorTalks to discuss his career as brand storyteller, messaging expert, and international speaker on Wednesday, February 8 at 12:00 p.m. ET.
In 2020, Brian visited Uruguay with the intention of staying for a month. A week before his flight back to New York, the airport closed, leaving Brian “stuck” in Uruguay for the rest of the year. It was during this time that Brian crafted a “Love Letter to Uruguay,” thanking the country for what he had witnessed and received while there. But, little did he know the letter would go viral – it was picked up by many major media outlets, including CNN en Español.
The success of his letter served as a springboard for Brian’s launch of his own multimedia platform, “Love Letters to the World and Its Keepers,” which combines short emotive films and long-form love letters to highlight everyday people, places that make the world so special.
How did Brian turn his passion into a successful storytelling business? How does he encourage others to find their voice, and to share their stories in a way they never have before? And, where does Brian see the future of branding and storytelling?
Tune in February 8 on Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube to find out answers to these questions and more. We’ll see you online!
Speaker Bio
Brian Rashid is the CEO of Brian Rashid Global, a modern-day branding, marketing, and communications company. He services clients like Intel, Credit Karma, Remax, KPMG, the European Union, United Nations,
Salesforce.com, the National Dry Cleaning Association, and more. He has advised more than 100 startup companies to help them raise hundreds of millions of dollars of investment funds. He also advises CEOs, small business owners, and cultural influencers.
Nationally and internationally, Brian is a highly sought-after public speaker, where he presents the future of personal branding, mastering modern-day marketing, and how to turn your passion into a profit. Brian has delivered two TEDx talks and has a Youtube and Facebook vlog Show, BTV, that gives an up-close and personal look to life as a CEO. His videos have been viewed millions of times.
Brian writes "Love Letters to the World and Its Keepers," several of which have gone viral, including his most recent letter called "One American's Unexpected Love Letter to Uruguay During a Global Pandemic," and "Why Everyone Should Live in New York City." In 2021, Brian turned these love letters into a digital storytelling platform that uses short emotive films and long-form love letters to shine light on everyday people and places making the world a better and a beautiful place to be. He recently completed, “Love Letters to New York City, Season 1.”
For ExchangeAlumni, Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) grantee, and Title I school teacher Nicole Jefferson, a lack of supplies and resources in her classroom in Mexico City, Mexico prompted her to get creative.
As an educator with the Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program, Nicole, or Nikki, was assigned to teach 280 elementary school children the basics of reading, writing, and math. But limited funding and resources, including a lack of stable internet, no electrical sockets, and no printing capabilities, posed a challenge to helping her students reach their full potential.
But Nikki was not one to give up, and so she looked to other ways of engagement. She paid for printing out of pocket and used a whiteboard for all of her lessons. Nikki also utilized less traditional ways of teaching – like sharing music via a battery-powered CD player and celebrating Mardi Gras with her students with beads her mother had sent. Slowly, she built up a curriculum that fostered soft skills built around hands-on, experiential learning.
On a personal level, working through these challenges helped Nikki to become more patient and resourceful. After her time teaching, Nikki wanted to stay involved and she became a volunteer at the library at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
It was at the library that Nikki began to forge connections with other ExchangeAlumni. Over the next few years, she continued to meet others and learn about opportunities through social media and through the Mexico Alumni Association.
In 2021, Nikki connected with Itzel McClaren, a Fulbright ExchangeAlumni from Panama whose work is focused around technology and education. Itzel invited Nikki to become involved with an organization called Hijas de Alkebulan, which mentors and trains Afro-Panamanian and supports them professionally and personally.
Over the next eight months, the program equipped participants with skills to strengthen their networks and communities and acclimate to Panamanian life. It was during this time that Nikki realized the ExchangeAlumni network was never far away: she had a full-circle moment at the end of the program, when she put it together that the leader of the program had completed a SUSI program and the young social worker she mentored over her eight week program had also ended up applying for a SUSI program.
In addition to her volunteer work, Nikki also applied and was selected to receive one of the U.S. Department of State’s AEIF grants. After her Fulbright exchange, Nikki was invited by a fellow ExchangeAlumni to collaborate on a business-English AEIF project in rural Mexico, helping with audio and video production. Through this project, Nikki was able to help provide better access to education and technology in the region.
In looking back on her experience, Nikki noted that it was a drive to volunteer that led her to build on her exchange and establish roots in Mexico.
“Any time I have the chance to volunteer or partner with ExchangeAlumni, I do it,” Nikki said.
Nikki’s experience is a testament to the long-lasting nature of exchange. While Nikki gained valuable skills during her program, it was the connections she made that shaped her path forward. After collaborating with other ExchangeAlumni in South and Central America, Nikki also recently attended Career Connections in Boston, MA in 2022, where she has continued to forge these connections.
“One of the main points of being part of this community is to partner with other ExchangeAlumni,” she said. “A lot of those who have gone through these programs don’t know this community exists and so I love getting to connect alumni with one another.”
Now, as a teacher at a Title I school in rural Mississippi, Nikki has brought the skills she learned during her Fulbright program into her classroom. With many of her students lacking access to the internet, Nikki uses her international exchange skills to support and prepare her students in reaching their full potential.
For sisters Sofia "Sof Tot" Trucco and Clara "Wen" Trucco of the Argentine band, Fémina, their time touring with Center Stage marked a time of two major transitions.
The ExchangeAlumni pair’s tour in the United States kicked off the return of the international music exchange program. It was also their first time touring again since the pandemic, which they described as an enormous opportunity and a gift. Both Clara, the group’s percussionist, flautist, and vocalist, and Sofia, who sings, and plays guitar and ronroco - a stringed South American instrument often compared to a lute or a mandolin, are now more conscious of seizing the moment and being more present onstage.
“It was totally a normal thing before that we didn’t think much at all [about performing],” says Sofia. “It was our life and that was it. And suddenly I think that stop [of everything] with the pandemic was an opportunity of rebuilding and reconstructing.”
But that wasn’t the only transition for the band. Sofia and Clara started Fémina with their best friend from childhood, Clara “Claridad” Miglioli, and with Claridad not able to make the tour, they weren’t sure at first if the group would continue.
The trio had dropped their first album, Trapasa, in 2014 after moving to Buenos Aires from their native Patagonia years before. Their fourth album, Perlas & Conchas (Pearls and Shells), came out in 2019 to wide acclaim, with a track featuring Iggy Pop, and coverage in Rolling Stone magazine, with the full trio featured in its production and on its Botticelli-inspired cover. Very early on, the group’s music and lyrics made an impression on audiences.
“When we started, we started doing songs that we were not so conscious about what we were saying, we were 20 years old,” says Sofia. “We were growing up and thinking lots of things, starting to get conspicuous of who we were, and suddenly we started having people approaching us, saying, ‘oh, thank you for saying this. Thank you for being a voice.’ You know, suddenly, in the feminist march, a lot of people with signs with our lyrics, or people that make tattoos of our lyrics.”
The reaction astounded them, and the group kept going, creating songs across genres as diverse as R&B to folk and acoustic from Patagonia, tight a cappella harmonies, to psychedelic and alt-Latin ballads, touching their audiences as much as themselves. All along the way, they trusted in themselves and pushing against the music industry’s narrative of how they had to be and what they had to produce.
“The music life, the art life, is an opportunity of thinking of other ways of doing things, of thinking the world, of thinking humanity and that’s why we are doing this,” says Sofia. “And take the chance of really doing that, of really change something in yourself and think and analyze and go ahead with what you are.”
But to perform without Claridad put the group at a crossroads.
Ultimately, the sisters decided to trust in the music and seize the opportunity of the international exchange, which has exposed them to a different way of touring, with several top musicians from the Buenos Aires music scene along with them. Fémina began its tour in Washington, D.C., and continued on to Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, Joe’s Pub in New York City, the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour in Kentucky, and finishing up in California at UC San Diego and the Joshua Tree Music Festival.
They describe the tour with Center Stage as a very special one where they got the chance to know people on a deeper level, getting to give classes to students, engage in cultural exchange activities, as well as perform.
Being on tour with a U.S. Department of State-funded program like this is even more special for the group right now, Sofia says, because the post-pandemic moment makes it all much more real.
“It’s like, thinking anything can happen in any moment and that we are able to do this and have this opportunity of doing our music and saying things, we are so grateful to be able to continue,” she says.
They plan to carry that momentum of expecting anything to happen into their return to Argentina, where they’ll record new songs, reconnecting after a rest from their U.S. tour, and without rushing the process.
“It’s a very special moment for us as we said,” says Clara. “We’re going to return and have a rest a little bit after this. And start doing new music and connecting the two of us. That’s the first thing we want to do, connect with the music in a different way than we used to do before because it’s a different group now, so we have to see what this different group proposes.”
Fémina is one of five music and dance ensembles in Center Stage Season 6, a program that strives to promote global ties and connect with audiences both on and offstage. The public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the New England Foundation for the Arts began in 2012. This season will continue with groups from Argentina, Armenia, and Taiwan.
The choice that many citizens who live in war-torn countries face is not an easy one: to stay where they are and potentially risk their lives, or to abandon what they know in search of a better, more secure future. With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine having battered the lives of millions since early 2022, many of its citizens have had to reconcile with that decision.
In Romania – just one of many nearby countries that has stepped up to offer refuge to those fleeing Ukraine – a team of ExchangeAlumni have sprung into action to integrate refugees into a new life.
Through an Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) grant subsidized by the U.S. Department of State, two International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) ExchangeAlumni in Bucharest are leading the “Navigating Romania” project, which involves a series of trainings aimed toward equipping Ukrainians with the tools and language skills they need to succeed in the country.
Cosmin Pojoranu and Elena Calistru started the project in 2022. It consists of six training sessions, with each session bringing in trainers, translators, and legal experts to prepare a curriculum in multiple languages around a relevant theme. The trainings have taken place weekly, with attendance ranging from 23-26 people.
One goal of the project is to support refugees in finding employment, and the team has organized networking and community events where participants can connect with potential employers in the area.
With over 80,000 refugees having settled into life in Romania since the war began in 2022, the program has offered a space for many to come and meet fellow refugees, connect with local Romanians, and learn about potential job opportunities in Romania.
Cosmin and Elena hope that the project will empower refugees to find autonomy in their everyday lives. “This is about a series of trainings that are essential to offer Ukrainians more autonomy and opportunities for their life in Romania,” the team said.
With the project aiming to wrap up by February 2023, the team expects the project to have directly benefited 370 refugees and indirectly benefited 20,000 people, equipping them with the necessary tools to navigate everyday life in Romania.
Cosmin, who works at Funky Citizens, completed his IVLP in 2019. His exchange was focused around educating youth around civic engagement, and he visited with educators across the country – including in Washington, D.C., Iowa, California, Texas, and Florida.
Elena, who also works for Funky Citizens, completed her IVLP in 2017. Her program was similarly focused around civic engagement, and she had the opportunity to learn from educators across Washington, D.C., Iowa, Utah, and Louisiana.
The Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) is an annual grant competition which calls upon ExchangeAlumni to improve their community, drawing on the skills, networks, and experience of their international exchange. It is awarded by the Bureau of Educational Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Congratulations, Cosmin and Elena, on the success of your AEIF project!
Comic books have a way of drawing the reader in. But what if you could bring these graphics to life, bringing hope and opportunity to communities across the world?
American Arts Incubator ExchangeAlumni and social activist Ram Devineni, who is the creator of the augmented reality social-activist comic book Priya’s Shakti, is drawing on different forms of media to inspire and connect young women in Bogotá, Columbia.
The program is one of Ram’s numerous projects funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF), which supports public service projects that draw on the skills, knowledge, and network of U.S. ExchangeAlumni.
A three-time CDAF recipient, Ram and his team have organized a series of workshops to bring together girls and women to connect with local artists and explore potential career paths. By igniting their creativity through art, Ram hopes to empower participants, who often come from poorer areas within the city and who are accustomed to seeing limited job opportunities that recreate cycles of poverty.
The workshop has not only encouraged the girls to embrace their artistic side, but also opened up a world of possibilities to explore future career paths, alternative economies, and lifestyles that they might not have previously known. Ram believes art creates connection, and he hopes to empower the participants to take control of their lives and share their stories.
“I felt it was very important to show that there are other ways to look at your future,” Ram said. By working with local artists who make their living off of their art, “the participants get to meet people from different economic strata in Colombia, and they can see how other people live in different parts of the city.”
During the workshop, the girls were exposed to various art forms, including comic books and murals, while getting to visit different art installments like SOFI and ArtBo. Here, they had the chance to speak with established and professional artists, who have made careers out of art.
The workshops not only had a positive impact on the younger girls, showing them what else is possible; but also provided opportunities for their parents to be involved, which has only further transformed the communities in which they live.
Aside from this CDAF-funded project, Ram has led a number of similar workshops abroad to empower young artists that relate to “Interactive Comic Books and Storytelling.” One of his most prominent projects was a comic book that follows the story of Priya, India’s first female superhero and rape survivor, whose experience, he hopes, will empower young women and girls across the world.
LikePriya’s story, which Ram created to touch on the hard reality of sex-based violence, this program in Bogatá aims to address sex inequality and to help to inspire the next generation of girls and boys to combat it.
At the end of the workshop, the girls were given a copy of the comic book, KAIA: awakening in the deep, about the mystical embodiment of Natalia Ponce de León, who turns a tragedy into a national movement to tackle sex-based violence and change perceptions of women in Colombia.
When asked what Ram believes to be his impact, he said that giving the girls the opportunity to see what possibilities are out there and to have them truly feel that they are not alone and that people do care about them is his greatest hope.
“I look at the girls and I see them engaging with our comic book characters, and I can see that they see something similar to what they’ve gone through – it gives them hope.”
Congratulations on your most recent project, Ram!
By: Emily Kane (Virtual Student Federal Service Intern) and Daniel Patterson (Program Officer)
Amid the ongoing war with Russia, the constant threat of bombs, power outages, and food insecurity means that work and school are the last things on the minds of many Ukrainians. Despite numerous challenges, one group of people continues to show up: teachers. In a recent interview with Nick Gordon, an ExchangeAlumni and Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund (CDAF) grantee, we see the resilience of these Ukrainian teachers and learn how CDAF empowered them and created opportunities amid hardship.
Nick Gordon’s exchange, as an English Language Fellow through English Language Programs (ELP) to Ukraine from 2017-2019, gave him a first-hand view of the enthusiasm and dedication of Ukrainian teachers. His work out of the Writing Center at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and as a teacher trainer allowed him to connect with TESOL practitioners across the country. In the years following his exchange, his friends and contacts in Ukraine invited him to join their virtual lessons. These interactions and the Ukrainian teachers’ unwavering commitment to their development and to providing the best education possible to their students were the inspiration behind Gordon’s idea for his CDAF project. The “Ukrainian Leaders Development Program” was designed as a series of 10 teacher training workshops facilitated by 5 ELP alumni on TESOL education and professional development for teachers who worked at different levels of education, from elementary to graduate and beyond. The workshops explored concepts on storytelling, poetry, social-emotional learning, technology, and more. The discussions that came out of these sessions gave teachers new ideas, strategies, resources, and methodologies to implement in their own classrooms.
More than 100 teachers responded to Gordon’s call for applicants. From those 100, 50 Ukrainian teachers representing 17 cities in Ukraine were selected to participate in the program. The CDAF project also expanded into nine countries to include teachers who were displaced by the war in Ukraine. This enthusiastic response exemplifies the determination of these teachers and the invaluable connections Gordon made through his U.S. Department of State-sponsored ELP exchange. While reflecting on his travels across Ukraine during his exchange, Gordon said, “[the teachers and students] have such a commitment to their English language education” and further mentioned how hospitable, hard-working, and talented they all were.
As English Language Fellows, Gordon and his CDAF co-grantee Luis Perea (Fellow, Ukraine, 2017-2019), developed a broad network, which allowed them to reach a wider demographic of teachers than they would have otherwise been able to – a great example of the power of exchange and the connections ExchangeAlumni forge during their experiences. Gordon, however, primarily attributes this CDAF project’s success to the resilience and determination of the Ukrainian teachers. Their devotion was made apparent during the early days of the war when they, despite widespread cancellations, continued to teach virtual lessons for free to provide their students with a sense of normalcy. Working through the sound of sirens, unreliable internet, displacement, and often from makeshift bomb shelters, these teachers are facing unthinkable hardship and have still chosen to put the needs of their students ahead of their own. Following the workshops, the Ukrainian teachers have been teaming up with the U.S. facilitators to co-teach lessons, implementing their new learnings with Ukrainian students across the country, and working towards the successful completion of their program.
The Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for US Alumni (known as CDAF) is a funding competition open exclusively to U.S. exchange alumni in teams of at least two for up to $10,000 to carry out public service projects that utilize skills and knowledge they have gained through their exchange experiences. More information on CDAF can be found at alumni.state.gov and https://www.globaltiesus.org/cdaf/
What does financial literacy mean and why is it so important? What are the common pain points for people when dealing with their finances, especially for women in Africa? How do you set up a system so that bankers find you “bankable”?
Join Thubelihle Ndlovu - a social entrepreneur, banker, microfinance practitioner, ExchangeAlumni of the Mandela Washington Fellowship program, and one of Zimbabwe’s coordinators and facilitators for the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) - on MentorTalks to hear these answers and more.
Tune in on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3i7xuhM
About Thube Ndlovu - social entrepreneur, consultant, banker, and microfinance practitioner
Thubelihle Ndlovu is a social entrepreneur, consultant, banker, and microfinance practitioner, who is passionate about women and youth empowerment, as well as financial inclusion.
Thube successfully founded Purse on Point Africa, a project that came out of her participation in the “Strengthening Business and Trade for Women Entrepreneurs in Africa” Alumni Thematic International Exchange Seminar (TIES) in Ghana in 2019. Purse on Point was initially funded through a TIES grant by the U.S. Department of State. It now stands on its own, seeking to create African women changemakers by training them in financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Thubelihle is the Country Coordinator for Purse on Point Africa, which currently runs in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Thube has over a decade’s mastery in crafting and implementing women and youth entrepreneurship and financial inclusion programs, which have impacted a very significant number of women and youth in Zimbabwe and across Africa, by supporting them in enterprise start up and growth.
Thube is a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellowship alumna of the University of Nevada-Reno, in the Business and Entrepreneurship Track. She was selected as one of Zimbabwe’s coordinators and facilitators for the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE). AWE is a U.S. Department of State program that provides educational resources for women around the world to engage in U.S-style education with guided facilitation and localization from local alumni, women business leaders, and key interlocutors to ensure small business growth and success.
Thube has worked with a number of NGOs, as an implementing partner, facilitator, and mentor for their financial literacy and entrepreneurship programs.
She has professional and academic qualifications in entrepreneurship, business leadership, microfinance, banking, and finance.
Defending Democracy and Advancing Human Rights
How will young leaders promote democracy and stand up for human rights? That’s exactly what international exchange youth alumni will discuss when nearly 60 of them from around the world meet up in Philadelphia next week.
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), in partnership with World Learning, is proud to announce the Alumni Thematic International Exchange Seminar (Alumni TIES) titled “Youth and Opportunities: Defending Democracy and Advancing Human Rights,” which will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from November 14-18, 2022. This seminar builds on momentum from the Summit for Democracy, hosted by President Biden in December 2021, to support democratic renewal, counter authoritarianism, promote respect for human rights, and combat corruption. It also coincides with International Education Week, which celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.
During the seminar, the young leaders, who are alumni of ECA programs, will share their visions on how to promote free and independent media, fight corruption, bolster democratic reformers in their communities, and advance technology for democracy. Following the seminar, they will have the opportunity to compete for grants of up to $10,000 to lead projects in their communities.
With their knowledge and drive, these leaders will surely make a difference in the world!
More Information
Alumni TIES are funded by the U.S Department of State and implemented by World Learning. The seminars bring Exchange Alumni together to tackle key regional issues, receive training, build and strengthen alumni networks, and collaborate with fellow alumni to implement community projects in their home countries.
The Office of Alumni Affairs at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) leads and coordinates efforts to engage alumni of U.S. government-sponsored and funded people-to-people exchanges in order to maintain relationships with these current and emerging leaders. The Office of Alumni Affairs is committed to providing resources that allow alumni to expand upon their international experiences to address shared global challenges, use the skills they developed to make an impact in their communities, leverage their expertise to prosper in a globalized world and professional marketplace, and promote mutual understanding between the United States and countries around the world. For more information, visit alumni.state.gov.
For more than 90 years, World Learning has worked to create a more peaceful and just world. Its education, development, and exchange programs help people find their voices, connect with their communities, strengthen the institutions that form the backbone of a democratic society, and build relationships across cultures. With World Learning’s support, emerging leaders tackle critical global issues like poverty, conflict, and inequality.
