Program Overview
The Community Connections Program, managed by the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by World Learning, is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values among participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations. It seeks to establish and strengthen links between U.S. communities and communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Between 2000 and 2005, eleven groups (10 people each) of professionals in business, education, law, and medicine visited Worcester for a three to four-week long program of professional meetings, practical training, job shadowing, and homestays s. ICW keeps in contact with alumni after their return home and has organized three “follow-on” programs that involve ICW staff working with alumni to organize professional training seminars in their home countries.
There are two types of Community Connections programs:
Business Programs are for English-speaking professionals who come to the United States on four-week internship training programs. They receive some group training on business topics, but during the majority of the program participants work in individualized internships with businesses similar to their own.
Professional Programs are three weeks long and are organized around a particular theme, for example, urban planning, youth advocacy, and information & access. Participants on the professional programs do not need to speak English to qualify for the program.
ICW, as a local community host organizations, arranges internships for participants based on interests and experience. Companies offering internships range from small, family-run enterprises to major, multi-national "Fortune 500" corporations.
The goals of the Community Connections program are to:
Program hosted by the International Center of Worcester
Year 2007
September 5-26
ICW hosted 10 business, government, and NGO professionals from the Donetsk Oblast, located in the southeast corner of Ukraine. They participated in the Community Connections Program funded by USAID. The objective of their program was to show the latest methods and technologies of recycling industrial waste and to study how such recycled materials can be used to produce the same or other products that have a market value.
August 1-21
ICW hosted ten medical professionals, government officials, and non-profit managers from the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan. They participated in the Community Connections Program funded by USAID and focused on the theme of Infectious Disease Prevention with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS and blood supply safety
Year 2006
November 1- December 06
5-week program for 9 Business Entrepreneurs from Georgia
Topic of the program: “Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development”.
Sponsored by: U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Europe and Eurasia
Administered by: World Learning, Washington D.C.
Local Program Designed and Directed by: International Center of Worcester
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Participants:
Amaghlobeli, Lasha
Beselia, Zurab
Chogovadze, George
Duduchava, Shorena
Kankia, Levan
Khubulava, Alexander
Machaidze, Dinara
Metreveli, Natia
Razmadze, Nino
Samkharadze, Nino
April 26 - May 16
3-week program for 10 public health professionals from Tajikistan
Topic of the program: “Healthy Lifestyle Education”.
Sponsored by: U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Europe and Eurasia
Administered by: World Learning, Washington D.C.
Local Program Designed and Directed by: International Center of Worcester
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Participants:
Abdukhamedov, Numonjon
Ergasheva, Fariza
Khasanova, Gulnora
Kosymova, Rano
Munavvarova, Umeda
Shoimurodov, Nasim
Shukurov, Firuz
Murzoeva, Ibodat
Nasimova, Tazarf
Kosimova, Dilorom
Year 2005
May 20 - June 18
4-week program for 10 Business Entrepreneurs from the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United State”.
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
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Participants:
Marguba Akhatova
Kristina Davoyan
Syuzanna Fatyan
Aziza Haidarova
Dilorom Safarova
Parviz Shukurov
Said Shukurov
Djamilya Vafayeva
February 24 - March 17
3-week program for 10 Judges and Lawyers from city of Novosibirsk, Russia.
Topic of the program: “Law and Justice”. Sponsored by the US Department of State
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Participants:
Evgeny Buzmakov
Rimma Chatovkina
Tatyana Derkach
Elena Mikhaylova
Mikhail Nozdryukhin
Natalia Omelekhina
Konstantin Pershkov
Inna Petrunina
Nina Romanovskaya
Nataliya Shefer
Year 2004
July 14–August 3
3-week program for 11 managers and Professionals in Small and Medium Enterprise Development
from the Karshi Region, Uzbekistan.
Topic of the program: “Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development”
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
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Participants:
Dilfuza Abdurakhmanova
Kizlarbibi Botirova
Sanat Juraev
Gavhar Kilicheva
Yulduzoy Mamadiyorova
Gulnora Odilova
Guzal Sariyeva
Firuzdjon Tashatov
Abdullo Turdiev
Jamila Tuymaeva
Gulniso Ziyatova
March 26–April 24
4-week program for 9 Business Entrepreneurs from the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United States”.
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
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Participants:
Mikhail Anchikov
Marina Chugunova
Arkady Droevsky
Olga Ivleva
Igor Medvednikov
Vassili Mironenkov
Andrey Popov
Liudmila Vedeneeva
Andrei Zykov
Year 2003
October 10-November 8
4-week program for 9 Business Entrepreneurs from the city of Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia.
Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United States”
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
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Participants:
Albina Bulgakova
Galina Butova
Rasil Fayzullin
Richat Gazizov
Elena Islamova
Goulnara Kameneva
Alfia Lobova
Lyalya Maxyutova
Rim Zoubairov
March 28 - April 28, 2003
4-week program for 10 Business Entrepreneurs from Moldova .
Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United States”.
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
Participants:
Natalia Albot
Mircea Apostol
Sergiu Beznitchi
Dorin Casenco
Oleg Chelaru
Andrei Cumpanic
Nicolae Malcoci
Viorica Petrov
Serghei Starus
Tatiana Sterbet
January 22 –February 23
4-week program for 9 Business Entrepreneurs and one Government Official from the city of Novgorod, Russia.
Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United States”
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
Participants:
Evgueni Ibraguimov
Evguenia Jirova
Iouri Korechkov
Vera Koulebiakina
Stanislav Osin
Maxim Pankratov
Pshenitsyn Yury (Government Official)
Vitaly Rogozhin
Alexey Savinykh
Alexander Zevunov
Year 2002
March 28–April 21
3-week program for 10 Managers and Professionals in Public Health Administration from the city of Omsk, Russia.
Topic of the program: “Public Health”
Sponsored by the US Department of State
Participants:
Svetlana Baytugaeva
Vladimir Doubel
Vera Drozdova
Liubov Neklyudova
Liudmila Popova
Leonid Shirinskiy
Alexandre Tioumentsev
Vasiliy Vasilevich
Aleksandr Vikhodtsev
Svetlana Vorobeva
Year 2001
November 8-December 9
4-week program for 10 Business Entrepreneurs from the city of Novosibirsk, Russia. Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United State”
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
Participants:
Elena Balbourova
Natalia Bobrova
Evgueni Lantoukh
Natalia Manokhina
Roman Nepop
Alexei Pliousnine
Denis Serebriakov
Evgueni Shatalov
Maxim Shein
Alexander Styukhlyaev
January 25 - February 18
3-week program for 10 Russian Professionals in Educational Administration from St. Petersburg Region.
Topic of the program: “Educational Administration in USA”
Sponsored by the US Department of State
Participants:
Erna Bolshakova
Elizaveta Firago
Valentina Gergert
Marina Iakovleva
Ol’ga Koval’chuk
Larisa Loseva
Galina Martynovskaia
Nina Matiushenkova
Alexsandr Molotok
Nadezhda Soko
Year 2000
September 26 - October 24
4-week program for 10 Business Entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg Region, Russia.
Topic of the program: “Practical training opportunities and internships in the United States”.
Sponsored by the US Department of State.
Participants
Olga Andreeva
Galina Aristova
Dmitry Kishchenko
Kirill Razumov
Igor Redkov
Larissa Rjechevskaia
Sergey Sibilev
Sergey Stoliarov
Sergey Tarasov
Irina Tscheglova |
