Community Solutions Program

Benefits & funding

• J-1 visa support and round-trip travel between each participant’s home city and the United States.
• A monthly allowance for housing, meals, and other living expenses during the U.S. practicum.
• Accident and sickness health coverage plus accessibility accommodations.
• A four-month U.S. practicum, leadership curriculum, professional coaching, networking, and support for planning a six-month home-country project.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be 26–39 years old as of the most recent published deadline, November 13, 2024.
• Eligible citizenships are: Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe; Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Marshall Islands, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, Vietnam; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Türkiye, Ukraine; Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Territories; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
• Applicants must normally live and work in their home country; people with refugee status working for their home community may receive special consideration.
• At least two years of full-time, part-time, or volunteer community-development experience is required.
• Applicants need strong spoken and written English; semifinalists must take or provide recent qualifying English-test scores.
• Applicants must be available for four months of unaccompanied U.S. travel, except for disability-accommodation needs, and must be eligible for a J-1 visa.
• Applicants cannot be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, cannot have applied for U.S. permanent residency within the previous three years, and must satisfy any applicable two-year home-residency rule from prior U.S. Government exchanges.
• Applicants must commit to returning to their home country for at least two years and cannot be current IREX employees, consultants, or their immediate family members.
• The published requirements do not set an academic degree-level requirement.

Application process

1. 1
   Check the official application-information page for the current cycle status and confirm every eligibility requirement.
2. 2
   When a cycle opens, submit through the IREX online application system; applications sent by email are not considered.
3. 3
   If advanced, complete the selection steps requested by IREX, which have included a recorded interview, a CV, and an English-language test in a published prior cycle.

Program timeline

1. Most recent published application deadline.

   Nov 13, 2024

2. Most recent published U.S. practicum period began.

   August 2025

3. U.S. practicum period ended and fellows returned home.

   December 2025

4. After returning

   Fellows implement a six-month community project.

5. Next cycle

   Exact application opening date not yet published.