Open World Program - What is the Open World Program?
- Program Overview
- What's New
- Expansion of the Open World Program
- Themes
- Who are facilitators and what do they do?
- Budget
- What is the Open World Library Project?
- Program Updates
- Who has participated?
- Related Publications and Local Press
- Web sites of Open World partners
- How can I get involved?
What is the Open World Program?
Open World is an exchange and partnership program designed to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation between Eurasian and American leaders. It builds the groundwork for such cooperation by bringing young Eurasian civic and political leaders to the United States to work with their American counterparts during 10-day professional visits. Open World then facilitates ongoing partnerships among its Eurasian and American participants through virtual networking and post-visit activities. Since 1999, more than 12,000 Eurasians have been hosted by 6,000-plus families in more than 1,540 U.S. communities thanks to Open World. The program is managed by the Open World Leadership Center, a U.S. legislative branch agency.
The Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Sister Cities International are partners in supporting the Open World Program, through grants from the Open World Leadership Center to AED. The partnership began in 2002, and since then AED and Sister Cities International have been placing Open World delegations with local sister city chapters and facilitating the process of delegate nominations for U.S. Sister City chapters with partnerships in Eurasia.
The AED and Sister Cities International partnership brings to the Open World Program a unique local hosting capability. Over a 130 of Sister Cities International?s U.S. affiliates have already established sister city partnerships with cities in Russia and other Eurasian countries. Over fifty Sister City affiliations have hosted close to a hundred and fifty Open World delegations since 2002. Many more communities expressed interest in the program and are planning to take part in it. By involving the sister cities network, the Open World Program started to expand its outreach to many U.S. communities that have not previously been involved. This involvement will also strengthen existing partnerships and encourage the formation of new relationships between U.S. communities and communities in participating countries.
Sister city members with or without partners in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union are invited to participate in the Open World Program. Each community hosts four delegates and a facilitator for an eight-day visit, and receives small grants to support the activities of their visiting delegations. Based on the theme that local community participants in, local host prepares a program of professional activities to cover various aspects of the theme. Local communities are also in charge of hiring interpreters, providing local transportation throughout the program, placing participats with host families, and organizing cultural and social activities to introduce their guests to the American life, culture, and values.
Sister Cities International's Open World Program Brochure
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Program Overview
Under the Open World Program, four to five delegates accompanied by a facilitator, come for a ten-day visit to the United States on a theme based program. Delegates are chosen by organizations, companies, foundations, universities based in Eurasia, or Sister Cities International, and U.S. government agencies within the US diplomatic mission to Eurasia. Before the Open World Program begins, delegates attend a pre-departure program in their respective countries, where they learn basic information regarding U.S. federal, state, and local government and their interrelationships, the balance of power, and the rule of law. In addition to orientation in those country's capitals, delegates go through an orientation in Washington, DC, which is then followed up by an eight-day stay in a local community.
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What's New
The 2006 Open World hosting cycle has been completed. The Academy for Educational Development and Sister Cities International are currently working on the 2007 Open World program, and we would like to know if you are interested in participating in this program.
To learn more about the 2007 Open World program or to request the Expression of Interest form, please contact Jim Doumas at
jdoumas@sister-cities.org or 202.347.8630 ext.8636
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Expansion of the Open World Program
In 2003, the Open World Program expanded into Ukraine and Uzbekistan as pilot programs, in addition to their existing program in the Russian Federation. The pilot programs in 2003 brought 50 Ukrainian and 48 Uzbek leaders to the U.S. to address themes of civil society, NGO development, women as leaders, free elections, independent media, economic development with focus in small business/women's entrepreneurship, and health with the focus on drug addiction/rehabilitation. Groups of four to five delegates plus one facilitator came for an eleven-day visit to the U.S. They had a two-day orientation in Washington, DC and then traveled to host communities. These host communities were Cincinnati, OH and Seattle, WA.
The following year, Sister Cities International partnered with AED to host another delegations from Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Chattanooga, TN and Cincinnati, OH hosted top journalists, judges, representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and community leaders. It was especially important for Ukrainian leaders to travel to the U.S. in 2004, in order for them to have a better understanding about U.S. media and other sectors of the society, since Ukraine was preparing to hold presidential elections in the fall.
Also, in 2004, the first delegation traveled from Lithuania, another pilot country that the U.S. Congress agreed to include in the Open World Program. As a result, a group from Lithuania traveled to Omaha, NE for an eight-day program.
Ukraine was the only country picked to continue in 2005, and Sister Cities International with AED hosted four delegations in Arlington, VA; Santa Cruz, CA; Newton, IA and Cincinnati, OH. In 2006, the partnership hosted four more Ukrainian delegations in Cincinnati, OH; Corvallis, OR; Newton, IA; and Santa Cruz, CA.
In 2007, Open World started inviting delegations from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan (collectively referred to as ?expansion countries?) according to themes selected in consultation with the U.S. Embassies in these countries. The first delegation from Azerbaijan was hosted by Houston, TX in May of 2007. By the end of October 2007, Open World will have hosted a total of 125 delegates from these countries. In addition, the Open World Leadership Center intends to award grants for the hosting of an additional 25 delegations from these expansion countries. The Center has invited U.S.-based organizations with either established foreign visitor programs or demonstrated ability to host foreign visitors to propose hosting up to 25 delegations from the expansion countries. There will be five delegations from each country. Most delegations will consist of four delegates and one facilitator. Open World will be hosting these delegations during the time period November 27, 2007, through April 30, 2008.
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Who are facilitators and what do they do?
A facilitator is a Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian, or Uzbek national who has participated in at least a one-year study program in the United States. These facilitators are hired by the American Councils for International Education in the country that they reside in. They provide non-technical language interpretation and act as cultural guides for participants who have never visited the United States. These facilitators accompany the group to professional activities and events, such as lectures, roundtable discussions, meetings, and they also assist with basic communication at cultural and social events. The local community however, must hire a professional interpreter(s) for official/technical meetings and events.
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Budget
Travel to and from the United States is arranged and covered by the American Councils for International Education. Local communities will receive small stipends of $2,700 to cover administrative expenses and will be reimbursed up to $4,800 for any local transportation, cultural events, professional interpreting, gifts, or working meals.
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Who has participated?
A warm welcome goes out to all local Sister City communities who have participated in the Open World Program.
View the list of host communities.
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Related Publications and Local Press
New U.S. - Russian Bilingual Library goes onlineNew Brunswick Sister Cities Association
Vladimir/Canterbury Sister City Association of Bloomington-Normal
Blount County Sister City Association
Fredericksburg Sister City Association
Oakland Nakhodka Sister City Association
Oak Ridge Sister City Support Organization
Sister Cities of Richmond
San Diego-Vladivostok Sister City Society
International Sister Cities Of Rochester
West Jordan Sister City Foundation
Tooele Sister City Committee
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Web sites of Open World partners
Academy for Educational Development (AED)Open World Center
American Councils for International Education
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How can I get involved?
Sister city members interested in hosting or nominating delegates for the Open World Program must be
paid members of SCI. For more information, please contact
Jim Doumas, at
jdoumas@sister-cities.org or at 202-347-8630 ext. 8636. We would like to hear from those of you who are interested in hosting or nominating. Please hurry if you are interested in participating in the 2007 Open World program.
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