Optional Info
Any information can be placed in the sidebar to help your website visitors navigate your site.
To make a boxed heading like the one above, simply apply the H3 tag.
Project Overview
The exchange program Faith and Community: A Dialogue, funded by the US Department of State and administered by IREX, provided opportunities for youth leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia, and the United States to better understand each other. Partnered with the International Multi-religious and Intercultural Center(IMIC) in Sarajevo and the International Visitors Council (IVC) of Philadelphia, IREX strengthened the role that clerics, educators, and community leaders—heavily influential forces among youth groups--play in creating religious tolerance and understanding.Project Activities
This program engaged a total of 24 leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia in a range of workshops, exchange visits, online activities and follow-on programs.
- Exchange visits to Washington, DC and Philadelphia were one of the main elements of the program, and allowed the participants to learn from and collaborate with American individuals and institutions committed to interfaith solidarity and religious pluralism.
- Participants and American hosts were given an opportunity to broaden their understanding of faith in various community contexts, and then to incorporate it into their daily interactions and activities. IREX assisted participants to generate action plans, enabling them to launch innovative activities and programs in their home communities to increase interfaith dialogue and trust. IREX offered small grants to partially fund these activities.
- A small group of US community leaders and scholars visited program participants in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia to learn about their communities and assist with ongoing projects.
- Throughout the duration of the program, all participants formed an online community that allowed them to exchange ideas, to plan projects together and to stay connected even after the program’s completion.
IREX
link to http://www.irex.org
IREX is an international nonprofit organization providing leadership and innovative programs to improve the quality of education, strengthen independent media, and foster pluralistic civil society development.Founded in 1968, IREX works in more than 50 countries with a staff of over 500 professionals worldwide.
U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
link to http://www.exchanges.state.gov/education/citizens/
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) oversees a wide range of professional, academic, and cultural exchange programs, all with the common goal of increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other nations. The participants in this ECA Office of Citizen Exchanges program were among the approximately 30,000 individuals who participate in ECA exchange programs on an annual basis.
International Multi-religious and Intercultural Center (IMIC)
IMIC is non-governmental organization founded in 1991 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina by public figures such as theologians of three monotheistic world religions (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in its Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant forms), doctors, scientists, and philosophers. The Center provides a platform for the promotion of interfaith dialogue and development of discourse on justice and peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and South East Europe. The organization supports the goal of a multi-religious, multiethnic and multicultural society in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
International Visitor’s Council (IVC)
http://www.ivc.org/homeFormed in 1954, IVC Philadelphia is a nonprofit organization, volunteer-based ‘citizen diplomacy’ organization whose network of volunteers was nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. IVC has hosted hundreds of groups with customized targeted exchange experiences.
