Deadline: November 24, 2026
Applications are open for the IREX Community Solutions Program (CSP) 2026-2027. The Community Solutions Program (CSP) is a professional leadership development program for experienced, results-oriented community leaders working to advance locally driven regional economic growth and community prosperity.
CSP equips participants with practical leadership and technical skills, professional connections, and hands-on experience to strengthen their ability to address economic development challenges in their communities. Participants complete an approximately three- to four-month U.S.-based exchange, including a 12-week practicum with a U.S. organization, and gain practical experience they can apply to their work at home. Following the U.S. exchange, participants return home to implement a community-based SCALE-Up Project that applies their CSP learning to advance local or regional economic development.
Community leaders will be selected to participate in the program that includes:
- Three-month fellowship in the United States: Community Solutions participants complete a Three-month, hands-on professional practicum with a U.S. host organization. Participants work alongside U.S. professionals, strengthen their technical and leadership skills, and gain practical experience they can apply in their home communities. Practicum learning is complemented by regional field visits that expose participants to innovative U.S. models of economic development and collaboration among businesses, Chambers of Commerce, workforce and educational institutions, local government, and community organizations.
- Innovation and Applied Skills Labs: Participants take part in Innovation and Applied Skills Labs, which provide practical, hands-on skill building to help them adapt and expand U.S. models of regional economic development. Participants develop leadership and management tools to turn regional economic growth ideas into action. The Labs also explore how emerging technologies, including SI, can strengthen key industries, support business growth, and create new opportunities for workers and communities.
- SCALE-Up Projects: Throughout their U.S. experience, participants identify promising U.S. regional economic development models, tools, and partnership approaches and document their learning. Following the practicum, participants implement a nine-month SCALE-Up Project, adapting at least one U.S. model, tool, or partnership approach to advance regional economic growth in their home communities.
Benefits
The program covers the cost of most expenses associated with:
- J-1 visa support
- Round-trip travel from participants’ home city to the U.S.
- Monthly allowance to cover housing, meals, and other living expenses while in the U.S.
- Accident and sickness health coverage
- Accessibility accommodations, such as ADA accessible rooms for in-person training, software such as JAWS, and community assistance and community training
Eligibility
- You are between the ages of 27 and 39 at the time of application.
- You are a citizen of a country listed on the official application website.
- You have at least five years of experience working on community issues and can demonstrate measurable benefits to local communities.
- You are living and working in your country at the time of application and are not residing or working outside your country, including through an academic, training, or research program.
- You meet the country-of-residence requirements described below
- You have a high level of proficiency in spoken and written English at the time of application
- Semi-finalists who do not already possess a valid TOEFL score of 520, or 213 on the computer-based test, or higher will be required to take an Institutional TOEFL or a comparable English-language proficiency assessment approved for CSP.
- You are able to begin the CSP program in the United States in 2027 and participate in the approximately three- to four-month U.S.-based exchange. Current planning dates are Orientation August 2–5, practicum August 9–October 29, and End-of-Program Workshop November 1–4, 2027, subject to confirmation.
- You are not a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. and have not applied for U.S. permanent residency within the past three years.
- You are eligible to receive a U.S. J-1 visa
- Applicants who have participated in an exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Government must have fulfilled their two-year home residency requirement.
- You are committed to returning to your home country for a minimum of two years after completing the program and implementing a community-based SCALE-Up Project.
- You meet any additional eligibility criteria established published in the final application materials.
Eligible Countries by Region
- Africa: Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia; Ghana; Guinea; Kenya; Liberia; Mozambique; Namibia; Rwanda; Uganda
- East Asia and the Pacific: Cambodia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu, Vietnam
- Europe: Albania, Belarus, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine
- Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia
- South and Central Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
- Western Hemisphere: Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela
Application
For more information, visit Community Solutions Program.
