Youth Essential Workforce Skills and Engagement in Climate Action Locally and Globally through Virtual Exchange Programs

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Socioeconomic and environmental injustices impact youth around the world. According to UNICEF, four in 10 young people never transition into stable employment even once they are older. The realities of youth unemployment are exacerbated by other environmental changes affecting young people including the ongoing global pandemic, digital transformations, climate change, and social justice movements. Globally, people of color are more likely to be adversely impacted by environmental causes, and more than half of the people who live close to hazardous waste are people of color. For youth, the struggle to transition from school to work is an urgent personal crisis that shapes their lifelong wellbeing, economic security, and social contributions. For communities, youth unemployment has serious implications on economic growth and productivity, worsening social instability, climate issues and inequality. Youth and communities need support with ensuring positive impact on employment and developmental outcomes.

Educational and cultural exchange programs support burgeoning youth populations while involving the societies that must engage and employ them. IREX draws on more than 50 years of experience investing in youth and supporting their efforts in building a better future for themselves, for their families and their communities to design and implement virtual exchanges. For over a decade, IREX has led virtual exchange programming that empowers participants to connect and develop skills with their peers, offering the opportunity for broader students, teachers, communities, and institutions to participate in the learning experience. Program design focuses on methodologies and innovative strategies for empowering youth, particularly from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds. In collaboration with international and local partners, our key approach is virtual exchanges designed to strengthen problem-solving skills and develop enduring connections, while enhancing students’ job skills through online collaboration.

Since 2016, IREX has implemented virtual exchange programs with frameworks developed from human design thinking, positive youth development principles, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely the World Smarts STEM Challenge and Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge. While many virtual exchange programs focus on facilitating conversations on culture, the World Smarts and Global Solutions programs provide an authentic virtual collaboration, energized by human-to-human connections abroad in an environment that models the modern global workplace. Participants collaborate in these simulated workspaces using the design thinking process and develop innovative solutions that address a UN SDG like sustainable cities and communities (Goal 11) and climate action (Goal 13).

The IREX Virtual Exchanges team proposes a presentation that examines how virtual exchange programs address critical gaps in youth development, as well as local and global issues around climate change and sustainability. Next, staff will highlight the impact of IREX-implemented virtual exchanges and alumni around the globe demonstrating how youth are well positioned to propose and authentically contribute to the improvement of environmental outcomes locally, develop innovative solutions to globally shared challenges, and becoming agents of change in their expanding communities. Our presentation will consist of a diverse panel representing the perspectives of the implementor, funder, educator, and student.

Amaris Mohammed, Senior Program Officer at IREX, a global development and education organization, will provide an overview on one of IREX’s flagship virtual exchange programs, the World Smarts STEM Challenge and present on the unique program differentiation adaptations, explore K-12 student engagement in virtual programming, and demonstrate innovative STEM solutions developed by youth in the U.S. and Ghana. The World Smarts STEM Challenge is implemented by IREX and funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST).

Nia Kapitanova, Program Coordinator at IREX will provide an overview of the Global Solutions programs and highlight the impact on youth and institutions, as well as share key findings from the 2023 Global Solutions Impact Report. Global Solutions is implemented by IREX and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute.

Henry Shepherd is Assistant Director of the Stevens Initiative, which advocates for and invests in virtual exchange programs so that young people can prosper in an increasingly interconnected world. Shepard Shepherd will share the Initiative’s strategy to build this emerging field, which includes providing support for programs such as IREX’s Global Solutions Sustainability Challenge and Global Solutions Conversations.

Mary Jo West, Director of George Mason High School Band and Music Teacher, Arts Chair and Curriculum Leader at Meridian High School has participated in IREX-implemented programs including the Fulbright Teaching Global Classrooms program and the World Smarts STEM Challenge. Dedicated to sharing innovative global teaching techniques and collaborating across borders, West will discuss how global education partnerships and virtual exchange programs like World Smarts empower students to become agents of change.

At the end of the panel, the wider audience will be invited into a critical dialogue about navigating the challenges and successes of virtual exchange programs with a climate change lens and how these programs promote students taking action.

Sub Unit

• Youth Development and Education SIG

Organizer

• Amaris Mohammed, International Research and Exchanges Board

Chair

• Sarah Bever, IREX

Individual Presentations

• Promoting Youth' STEM Interest and Global Mindedness through a Binational STEM Program - Amaris Mohammed, International Research and Exchanges Board

• Global Solutions Programs and their Impact on Cross-Cultural and Job Marketable Skills for Students Over Five Years Of Programming - Nia Kapitanova, International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)

• Global Education Partnerships: Empowering Students to Become Agents of Change - Mary Jo West, Falls Church City Public Schools

Discussant

• Henry Shepherd, Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute