The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), U.S. Department of State

This is Global Ties WY’s flagship program.

More than 75-years ago, the IVLP was designed to improve mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully crafted visits to the U.S. that reflect each international participant’s professional interests and at the same time support key U.S. foreign policy goals.

IVLP participants are established or emerging foreign leaders, working in their home countries in government, civil society, the media, education, labor, the arts, and other key fields. Selected for their influence and potential by U.S. embassies around the world, these international visitors come to the U.S. to meet and confer with professional counterparts in local communities and to experience the ethnic, cultural, political, and socio-economic diversity in our country.

Ambassadors rate the IVLP as the most effective foreign policy tool of American diplomacy! More than 350 past IVLP participants later became their countries’ heads of government or heads of state.

Through Global Ties WY, our guests’ perceptions of the U.S. are forged in professional interactions, over a dinner discussion in a local home, through a classroom visit with our youth, during a trip to our national parks, or simply by observing our community’s everyday life. Bringing Americans together with people from across the world provides an opportunity to experience firsthand the richness and diversity of global political, social, economic, and cultural life and thought.

Youth Exchange Programs, U.S. Department of State

The youth of today soon will be solving future social, political, and economic challenges around the world. Through short- and long-term youth leadership opportunities under the U.S. Department of State’s Exchange Programs, Global Ties WY provides students with a unique set of skills and experiences. These programs promote mutual understanding, leadership development, educational transformation, and democratic ideals. Participating students – whether inbound or outbound – may live with local families and will connect with resources during their programs. Most participants will go on to develop community-based projects that build from their exchange experiences once they are back in their home communities.

For more information on these programs, visit the U.S. State Department’s website.

Future Programming

In 2017, Global Ties WY is exploring additional program opportunities that will build from our experience to extend the benefits of international exchange and intercultural education to more communities in Teton County and throughout Wyoming.

If you or your organization would like to be a part of these new program discussions, please contact us.

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