The Committee for International Visitors is a Partner of |
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Who: The Committee for International Visitors (CIV) is a committee of the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council. It is one of more than 90 community-based organizations in the country that provides assistance to international visitors brought to the United States under the U.S. Department of State’s prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). Learn more about IVLP.
What: The Committee works with the Washington, DC based organization Global Ties U.S. www.globaltiesus.org (formerly called the National Council for International Visitors or NCIV) that administers the IVLP program for the Department of State and its associated National Programming Agencies (NPAs) to arrange professional programs in our community that are tailored to the objectives of the visitors. Programs include, but are not limited to local government, education, business, the environment, defense, sports, medicine, research, and non-profit and other professional organizations. Committee members often accompany the visitors to their meetings, and also socialize with them, inviting them into our homes for dinner and accompanying them on sightseeing tours of our city and the surrounding area.
When: The international visitors can visit us at any time of the year. Normally they stay for four or five days and are accommodated in local hotels.
Why: We believe that we, as citizen diplomats, can enhance both the local and national image of the United States in the minds of our international visitors and thereby foster international understanding and cooperation in the near and long term.
The International Visitor Leadership Program
This prestigious program brings today’s and tomorrow’s foreign leaders to the United States for firsthand exposure to their professional counterparts and U.S. society. Among the distinguished alumni of the program are over 350 former and current chiefs of state and heads of government, including Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Anwar Sadat, Giscard D’Estaing, Indira Gandhi, and Felipe Calderón.
Each year nearly 5,000 exchange participants come to the U.S. on the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). More than 200,000 International Visitors have engaged with Americans through the IVLP, since the program began in 1940. The IVLP helps strengthen U.S. engagement with countries around the world and cultivate lasting relationships by connecting current and emerging foreign leaders with their American counterparts through short-term visits to the United States. The majority of IVLP exchanges include visits to four U.S. communities over three weeks, although projects vary based on themes, Embassy requests and other factors. Participants meet with professional counterparts, visit U.S. public and private sector organizations related to the project theme and participate in cultural and social activities. There is no application for IVLP. Participants are nominated and selected annually by the staff at U.S. Embassies around the world. For more information, see http://eca.state.gov/ivlp/about-ivlp#sthash.T1yb4YE0.dpuf.
Periodically, international visitors are also hosted in Colorado Springs under the Open World Program which is sponsored by the Library of Congress. Unlike participants in the IVLP programs who are accommodated in hotels, these visitors stay in volunteers’ homes during their visit and participate in professional meetings during the day.
If you would like to be part of the Colorado Springs Committee for International Visitors, please contact by mail at:
Colorado Springs World Affairs Council
P.O. Box 608, Colorado Springs, CO 80901
Recent International Visits
The Committee of International Visitors welcomed nearly 100 dignitaries in 2020. Below are various projects our visitors participated in while in Colorado Springs.
- January: “Inclusive Education in the United States” – Ukraine
- January: “Trafficking in Persons” – Kazakhstan
- January: “Strengthening Partner Libraries Role as Community Hubs in the Face of 21st Century Challenges ” – Belarus
- February: “Documenting America – Organizing Impactful Film Festivals” – Russia
- February: “NGO Management” – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
- March: “International Women of Courage Award Recipient” – Nicaragua
- September: Virtual Project “Water Resource Management” – Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa
- November: Virtual Project “Cybersecurity Capacity Building” – Slovenia
- November: Virtual Project “Current Social, Political, and Economic Issues” – Armenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom
- December: Virtual Project “Smart Cities: Shaping the Future” – Ukraine
- December: Virtual Project “Inclusive Education” – Russia
- December: Virtual Project “Young Influencers” – Pakistan
Note: If you would like to host a World Dinner for future visitors, please contact the International Visitor Program Manager at jamie@csworldaffairs.org or 719.579.8443. Learn more here!
