The U. S. Department of State International Visiting Leaders Program connects the world with Montana through focused-study professional exchanges.
U.S. Ambassadors describe the International Visiting Leaders Program as one of the most effective foreign policy tools of American diplomacy. The Program’s distinguished alumni include such individuals as Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Anwar Sadat, Giscard D’Estaing, Indira Gandhi, Julius Nyerere, Oscar Arias, and F.W. deKlerk.
WorldMontana® annually welcomes over 170 international leaders in groups from diverse international backgrounds, ages, professions, and a wide array of interests.
The U.S. Department of State sets the focus for each group visit and WorldMontana® schedules meetings, interactions, and trips with comparable Montanans who speak to the professional study topic.
- With our rich natural, mining and agricultural history, indigenous populations and rural character, Montana shares interests with leaders from Eurasia, Asia, Africa, and Central and South America seeking to learn from the impact of these characteristics on our lives.
- Topics of interest span everything from law enforcement and child adoption policy to indigenous population challenges.
Launched in 1940, The INTERNATIONAL VISITOR LEADERSHIP PROGRAM (IVLP), the State Department’s premier professional exchange program seeks to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other nations using carefully-designed short-term visits to the U.S. for current and emerging foreign leaders designed to support the foreign policy goals of the United States.
U.S. Ambassadors describe IVLP as one of the most effective foreign policy tools of American diplomacy. The Program’s distinguished alumni include such individuals as Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Anwar Sadat, Giscard D’Estaing, Indira Gandhi, Julius Nyerere, Oscar Arias, and F.W. deKlerk.
WorldMontana® has served as one of the U.S. Department of State’s private sector partners for over three decades via the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). This program has brought foreign leaders and specialists to the Montana and other parts of the United States for firsthand exposure to their professional counterparts and U.S. society.
The U. S. Congress Open World Leadership Center offers personal experiences with American democracy, civil society, and American life.
Since its founding by Congress in 1999, the Open World Leadership Center has enabled more than 27,000 current and future Eurasian leaders to experience American democracy, civil society, and community life. These guests work with their American counterparts; stay in American homes; and gain new ideas and inspiration for implementing change back home. Some 6,000 American host families and their communities in all 50 states have partnered with the U.S. Congress and Open World to make this ambitious public diplomacy effort possible. WORLDMONTANA typically hosts 2-3 Open World programs annually.
Youth Exchanges
WorldMontana® hosts annual summer High School Youth Exchange visits from Iraq and Mexico.
For example,
- Since 2010, Iraqi high school students and a facilitator have stayed with Helena families, immersed in the American vision for “Peace-building and Community Resilience.”
- Eight teens, ages 15 to 17 from across Mexico, members of Jovenes En Accion, studied substance abuse prevention, sponsored by U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and World Learning.
