Global Perspectives on Democracy

Hosted in partnership with World Learning and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Middle Eastern Affairs, the Center for Politics coordinated the academic residency of the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship. Two cadres of twenty-two high achieving young professionals from across the Middle East and North Africa participated in five-week exchanges in September and October of 2016 and February and March of 2017. These fellows who work primarily in the fields of democracy and/or human rights were from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Israel including Gaza and the West Bank, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait. Each fellowship engaged in dialogues, conducted service projects, met with experts, and participated in site visits connected to leadership, democracy and governance, communications, conflict transformation, and civic engagement. The fellows also developed Charlottesville related civic action projects that would serve as a model for projects to be implemented in their home contexts.and sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Center for Politics is responsible for organizing and implementing the LEAD Mongolia academic residencies.

Two cadres of thirty high achieving young professionals from across Mongolia participate in two-week exchanges in January and September 2017 that serve as springboards for the country’s next generation of democracy advocates. Program Delegates engage in dialogues, learn from experts, and participate in site visits on a wide variety of subjects that connect with unemployment and poverty alleviation, anti-corruption and transparency, and the environment and urbanization. Delegates conclude their time at the UVA Center for Politics with plans to implement civic action projects upon return to Mongolia.