IREX Community Engagement Exchange Program (CEE) Application 2025 | Fully Funded
Community Engagement Exchange Program
About Community Engagement Exchange Program
The Community Engagement Exchange Program (CEE) is a dynamic global network of innovators working with communities to address critical 21st Century issues.
CEE equips dedicated visionaries with the expertise, skills, and resources to develop multi sector approaches and build healthy and engaged communities in over 100 countries.
A transformational leadership development experience, CEE is a year-long program designed to enable civil society leaders, ages 21-27, to harness the power of networks, relationships, and information for the public good, specifically on issues related to civic dialogue and peacebuilding, open and participatory government, women and gender, environmental sustainability, and youth engagement.
Community Engagement Exchange Program components
- Three-month Practicum in the United States: IREX matches CEE fellows to civil society organizations throughout the United States. Designated supervisors and peers support the fellows through a three-month, hands-on professional practicum.
- Leadership and Civic Engagement Academy: CEE fellows explore the program themes through interactive curriculum that includes service learning, face-to-face training, mentorship, professional coaching, and inclusion in a global network.
- Community Engagement Project (CEP): With the help of their U.S. host organization and mentors, CEE fellows design and plan a community engagement project to carry out after they return home. Once the fellows depart the U.S., they put these projects into action in their home communities.
- Community Engagement Project (CEP) Exchange: Select U.S. hosts and CEE specialists will travel to a CEE alumnus’ country and work collaboratively to support the fellow’s project implementation and bring back what they learn to strengthen communities across the United States or their home country.
Eligibility Criteria
Competition for the Community Engagement Exchange Program CEE is merit-based and open to emerging civil society and community leaders who meet the following criteria:
- Age 21-27.
- Citizen of one of the eligible countries listed below.
- Currently living and working in their home country at the time of application;
- Special consideration can be given to individuals living in another country who have refugee status and are working on behalf of their home community.
- Has a minimum of two-years professional or volunteer experience, working on community or civil society issues, at the time of application.
- Working on a community engagement initiative in their home country, either in a professional or volunteer capacity, with a demonstrated intent and vision to pursue a career working to support civil society or within the civil society sector.
- Able to begin the CEE Program in the United States in 2025.
- Able to receive a U.S. J-1 Visa.
- Committed to returning to their home country after completion of the program and implementing a community-based project; and,
- Proficient in spoken and written English at the time of application.
- Semifinalists will be required to take a Duolingo English language test
- Finalists should be able to fulfill most communication goals, even on unfamiliar topics. They should understand the main ideas of both concrete and abstract writing and they should be able to interact with proficient speakers fairly easily.
Eligible Countries for the Community Engagement Exchange Program
Africa: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
East Asia and the Pacific: Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, and Vietnam
Europe and Eurasia: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Türkiye, and Ukraine.
Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Palestinian Territories
South and Central Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
Western Hemisphere: Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela
CEE Program Benefits
The Community Engagement Exchange Program covers the cost of most expenses associated with:
- J-1 visa support
- Round-trip travel from participants’ home city to the U.S.
- Monthly allowance to cover housing, meals, and other living expenses while in the U.S. and
- Accident and sickness health benefits.
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