GCE Student Exchange 2007USA10 July to 30 July 2007
The upcoming GCE exchange will be taking place from July 10-30 and will involve 8 youth from Bangladesh and Afghanistan. These youth will be coming to Washington, DC and Philadelphia where they will be focusing on civic education and the creation of strong public services. The details are as follows:
Topic: Civic Education and the Availability of Public Services in the US, Afghanistan and Bangladesh
Where: Philadelphia and Washington, DC
What:The upcoming GCE exchange will be designed around building student leadership and good governance skills through awareness-raising about the public services available to the students in their communities. As Good Governance is the antitheses of corruption, the focus of this civic education oriented activity is on the role that young people and an active civil society can play in securing better functioning government services through the use of technology.
Pre-departure: Prior to departing for the United States, the students will be taking a survey of the services available to them in each of their communities via a series of activities. The activities will have them do such things as consider the cost of sending a package at a predetermined weight from their local post office, if the prices are published on the wall, are the hours of operation and the names of people in the offices made available, etc. Activities such as these would be done for a number of different services.
In Country: (The arrangement of this is flexible) The students will begin their stay in the US in Philadelphia where they will have an orientation, a full day walking tour of the city with a city and country historian (and former Dean of Rutgers University), visit a number of public services in the US as well as look closely at how the services were developed to become functional institutions. For example, they will be visiting the Post Office where the US Postal rate was first established, the first public hospital to care for the poor, learn about US prison reform, the history of the first city-wide fire and police departments, and a number of other important social services. In addition, the students will be learning about the constitution with its human rights components, and the balance between independent rights and responsibilities at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Apparently the US Constitution has been used as a template for over two-hundred other countries’ constitutions. During their time in Philadelphia they will also have a school visit and homestay. In addition, the students will visit a local university to look both at the process of the registrar, and meet with a representative of a Political Science department to talk about the role of an active civil society in improving and making services publicly accessible. The students will also participate in one day of web development training. The students will then go to Washington, DC where they will make visits to important government offices and attend our own leadership conference. The conference would allow students to develop strong leadership, public speaking, campaigning and organizing skills, as well as see Washington, DC sites, learn about media literacy, work as a group, etc.
Post-exchange: After the students return to their homes they will be expected to fill in the gaps of their own countries’ public services through the Internet. Students will visit and interview people at a select group of public services in their communities. RI will help them set up free domain names, which we will link to from our site. On that site the students will input information about the service details in their communities. The idea is to make visible certain information that is currently not available to most people, thus inhibiting opportunities for corruption and improving development.
Tentative Schedule:
TUESDAY, JULY 10 – ARRIVAL, PHILADELPHIA
Students arrive and check into hotel in Philadelphia
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 – ORIENTATION AND TEAMBUILDING
AM Orientation
PM Teambuilding and diversity Welcome dinner
THURSDAY, JULY 12 – GOVERNMENT, DEMOCRACY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AM Visit to Friends Select School Roundtable discussion on civil society
PM Citizen rights vs. responsibilitiesWhat is the role of government vs. role of citizens?Spheres of citizen action: local, national and global
FRIDAY, JULY 13 – LEADERSHIP AND CIVIC EMPOWERMENT: THE AMERICAN EXAMPLE
Walking tour of Philadelphia with a focus on nation building, civil society and leadership.
SATURDAY, JULY 14 – REFLECTION
AM Reflection on program thus far Role of government and citizens: take-home exercise
PM Free time SUNDAY, JULY 15 – TRANSFER TO WASHINGTON, DC
Travel to DC and check into new housing
MONDAY, JULY 16 – CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
AM Bridging the gap between service, activism and politics
PM Visit and workshop on civic involvement at the American Red Cross headquarters
TUESDAY, JULY 17 – COMMUNITY SERVICE AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AM Civic involvement through community service Social entrepreneurship: Ashoka (Bill Drayton/Tia Johnston)
PM Meeting with community service organizations
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 – LEADERSHIP
AM Discussion: Take-home exercise on leadership Discussion: What makes a leader? Who are the leaders in your community?Elements of leadershipYouth leadership
PM Roundtable discussion with youth leaders
THURSDAY, JULY 19 – COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR LEADERS
AM Public speaking
PM Visit and interviews at Voice of America or other media organization
FRIDAY, JULY 20 – ADVOCACY I
AM Problem analysis Issue development
PM US government primer
SATURDAY, JULY 21 – DISCOVER DC
Sightseeing SUNDAY, JULY 22 – FREE DAY MONDAY, JULY 23 – ADVOCACY II
AM Advocacy tools and strategies
PM Preparation for meetings on Capitol Hill
TUESDAY, JULY 24 – DAY ON THE HILL
AM Meetings on Capitol Hill
PM Advocacy debrief
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 – GLOBAL ADVOCACY
AM International organizations primer Advocacy for global issues Amnesty International campaign: Eyes on Darfur OR: Save the Children
PM Technology for advocacy: Forum 1
THURSDAY, JULY 26 – PROJECT PLANNING
AM Embassy visits (tentative) Vision, goals, plans Action planning: developing a plan
PM Preparation for Department of State presentation
FRIDAY, JULY 27 – ECA
AM Visit to the Department of State
PM Embassy visit (tentative) Farewell dinner
SATURDAY, JULY 28 – FREE DAY
PM Youth concert at the Kennedy Center (optional)
SUNDAY, JULY 29 – FREE DAY MONDAY, JULY 30 – DEPARTURE
