Written by Colin McEvoy | September 16, 2024 | SHARE
The Global Village on the Move program returns for its third year, providing virtual learning sessions, business consulting projects, and a capstone week in Istanbul
Global Village on the Move has returned for a third consecutive year, providing dynamic learning experiences in business and cultural environments to more than 90 participants from 47 countries around the world.
A seven-week program offered by Lehigh University’s Iacocca Institute, Global Village on the Move includes weekly virtual sessions and matches participants with business partners for consulting projects. The program culminates with an in-person capstone week in November to Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
Like all Iacocca Institute programs, the overall goal of Global Village on the Move is to help participants grow as global leaders, particularly in sustainable development and service to their communities.
“Our purpose is to help young leaders like you in particular rush toward complex, multi-system, global problems,” Scott Koerwer, Iacocca Institute Executive Director, said during a virtual kickoff event for the program earlier this month.
“I say that to you very deliberately because regardless of where you are in the world, there are a lot of complex issues you are likely wrestling with, either in your communities or your local government or in the organizations you serve,” Koerwer said. “One of our goals for the programming is to help you prepare for problems like these.”
This marks the second year Global Village on the Move will be hosted in Istanbul. The capstone week was held in Kyrgyzstan and North Macedonia in the program’s first year. During the capstone week, participants will engage in practical, hands-on activities to create tangible impacts in their communities.
“Participating in Global Village on the Move was a transformative journey where I not only learned and grew, but also connected with diverse cultures and perspectives,” said Ani Minasyan of Armenia, a 2022 alumna of the program. “I embraced the opportunity to make lifelong friends, expand my horizons, and become a global citizen ready to make a positive impact on the world.”
The Global Village on the Move program includes two virtual sessions per week, said Carrie Duncan, Program Director at the Iacocca Institute. Participants are also involved in business consulting projects, working with companies worldwide.
More than 400 applicants sought the 90 available spots in this year's highly competitive program, Duncan said. It attracts highly motivated individuals engaged in volunteerism and community service, offering them additional tools to make a global impact.
Global Village on the Move is fully funded through the U.S. State Department alumni development funding via American Councils for International Education, with Lehigh as a key partner.
All Global Village on the Move participants have previously participated in the U.S. State Department high school exchange programs Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) and Youth Exchange and Study (YES), which are facilitated by American Councils, according to Jeni St John, Assistant Manager of Secondary School Alumni Programs for Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and YES at American Councils.
"American Councils has been partnering with the Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University for over two decades to provide valuable professional development opportunities and to deepen the intercultural skills of alumni of the FLEX and YES programs,” she said. “Global Village on the Move has been an exciting and innovative expansion of our partnership, allowing us to make the Global Village experience more accessible to a wider audience of alumni."
The program’s weekly sessions include topics such as teamwork, various methods of communication, and systems approaches to problem-solving, Duncan said.
For their business consulting projects, participants are assigned to local or global businesses and provided real challenges to help those companies address and solve, from market research to expanding into new markets. They work with peers from different countries on these projects for added intercultural connection and collaboration.
“It gives the client companies an opportunity to talk through some aspect of their business with people who are coming from different areas,” Duncan said. “So they really are able to get a truly global perspective on whatever problem they are tasked with helping solve.”
Businesses that participate in these consulting projects range from such local companies like the Bethlehem-based Stone House Group, to global companies like Ugandanese supermarket chain Oliver Twist, to organizations like the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).
“Global Village on the Move has redesigned my thinking and strengthened my cross-cultural collaborations,” said Raneem Diab of Lebanon, who participated in the program in 2022. “Steering my career to social impact consultancy, Global Village on the Move has been a dynamo for this change in my life.”
FLEX was established after the Cold War for students from former Soviet Bloc countries to spend a year in the U.S. with host families and attend high school. YES was created post-9/11 for students from Muslim-majority countries, with other nations included based on U.S. State Department decisions.