Professional Fellows 2025 Application
Please join us for a Professional Cultural Exchange
May 19, 2025-June 27, 2025
About the Program
This program is a two-way exchange involving 21 professionals from five selected European countries and 11 mentors from the United States who will effect positive change in their communities. European fellows and U.S. mentors will share professional expertise through in-person, virtual, and blended professional development program, including an expenses-paid six weeks fellowship in the United States. The two-week reciprocal visit will bring U.S. mentors to Europe to assist fellows on their six-to-nine-month individual project plan implementation and provide consulting and joint workshops. Fellows and their U.S. mentors will share experiences and promote mutual understanding and partnership between professional groups in the United States and their counterparts in the selected European countries.
Goals of the Program
We invite professionals from any region of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia to apply for participation in an expenses-paid 42-day fellowship in the United States with pre- and post-program opportunities and requirements. We encourage submissions by professionals who are emerging leaders in civil society who have demonstrated expertise pertaining to the fellowship theme of governance, society, and citizen-led democracy. Professionals should be actively involved in programs and organizations related to this theme, including in non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), civic education organizations, citizen advocacy groups, community activists, and community organizers. Professionals should work with marginalized or rural communities.
The Program
THE PROGRAM IS FUNDED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS, GLOBAL LEADERS DIVISION AND IS ORGANIZED BY THE GREAT LAKES CONSORTIUM FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (GLC), A PROGRAM OF GREAT LAKES COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP (GLCAP) OF NORTHWEST OHIO. THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM IS CONDUCTED IN COLLABORATION WITH CO-PLAN IN ALBANIA, PRO EUROPEAN NETWORK ASSOCIATION (PEN) IN BULGARIA, CIVIL COLLEGE FOUNDATION (CCF) IN HUNGARY, CERE IN ROMANIA, CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZING (CKO) IN SLOVAKIA, AND PARTNERS IN THE U.S. AND EUROPE.
Criteria to Apply:
- Be age 25 to 40 at the time of application
- Citizen, national, or permanent resident of their home country (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, or Slovakia)
- Live and work in her/his/their home country at the time of the application and during the preparation/pre-fellowship program process
- Have at least two years of professional experience at the time of the application
- Submit a complete application online with required attachment by the application deadline
- Able to receive a U.S. J-1 visa
- Committed to returning to her/his/their country after completion of the program
- Proficient in spoken and written English at the time of the application
To Apply:
Interested applicants will need to fill out the Online Application Form, which is a multi-section form that you can save and continue later. Applications submitted late will not be considered. Application deadline is April 11, 2024.
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- Submission of an Essay in English is required on why and how you are working with minority/underrepresented or rural communities. List any field experience or success story that you may have in working with these communities. This should be no more than two typed pages, single-spaced. Please be ready to provide additional information on essay content if you are selected.
Information Session
You are invited to attend our virtual information session where all of your questions can be answered on March 25, 2024 at 6 p.m. CET
Log in information:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81586467270?pwd=K2JLRmlvaUdFVXNRMmo5V0ZUOGNTdz09
Meeting ID: 815 8646 7270
Passcode: 703882
For Complete Program information and details, download the full announcement
