Since 2007, the Leaders for Democracy Fellowship (LDF) program has provided leaders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with the opportunity to complete training in civic engagement and leadership. Emerging civic engagement and social innovation leaders with fluency in Arabic will spend three months in Lebanon, while those with fluency in English will go to the United States, gaining academic and practical experience, as well as networking with like-minded peers and professionals. Moreover, the LDF Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and implemented by World Learning.

Furthermore, MEPI seeks candidates with excellent interpersonal and communication skills, proven leadership abilities, the ability to work in a cross-cultural setting as well as a commitment to the program and follow-on activities. In addition, to promote program sustainability and create a multiplier effect, participants will be required to end the program with targeted leadership objectives and a plan on how they plan to apply the lessons learned from the program when they return home.

U.S.MEP Fellowship Program Eligibility

For the English program in the U.S. applicants must:

• Be from Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Israel.
• Also, Have full English fluency for the U.S. Program. Applicants should be able to function comfortably in English-speaking academic and professional environments.

For the Arabic program in Lebanon applicants must:

• Be from Syria, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Iraq.
• Also, Have full Arabic fluency for the Lebanon Program. Applicants should be able to function comfortably in Arabic-speaking academic and professional environments.

Applicants for both programs must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Age: Applicants should be between 28 and 35 years of age.
• Professional Experience: Applicants should have at least five years of professional work experience in a relevant field.
• Civic Engagement and/or Social Innovation Experience:Applicants should have more than three to five years of experience working on civic and/or social innovation projects, or activism with NGOs in a professional capacity. Volunteer experience will be considered.
• Academic Background:Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree.
• Post Program: Have the capacity and commitment to apply the leadership development experience gained through the Fellowship program upon returning to home country.