The Department of State has awarded Fulbright grants to eight individuals from South Asia to study conflict resolution at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, West Virginia, beginning in September 2001. This is the first year South Asians - from India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - have participated in the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Program.

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The Department of State has awarded Fulbright grants to eight individuals from South Asia for the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Program beginning September 2001. The second year of this pilot program will bring participants from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to the U.S. to study and work together on issues that affect the region.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs created the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Program in 2000 to enhance non-governmental efforts to resolve political, social and sectarian conflicts in the Middle East. The basis of an effective civil society begins with community- level involvement. To foster sustainable peacebuilding efforts, the program identifies talented and motivated individuals early in their professional careers and equips them with the analytical tools and practical skills necessary to transform diverse problems into viable solutions.

Fulbright Conflict Resolution grantees will study at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and will participate in an intensive Summer Peacebuilding Institute there. Grantees will engage in academic and enrichment activities that further their understanding of conflict resolution and facilitate their networking with U.S. professionals. After the Institute, grantees will participate in practical training with an organization working in their field of interest. This applied learning component links theory to practice and encourages a mentoring relationship between the grantee and a U.S. expert in the field. Upon successful completion of the program, each grantee will receive a master's degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University.

"The Fulbright Program is developing new activities to respond to the needs of a changing world as well as provide the means to address global issues," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Dr. Helena Kane Finn. "The founding father of the program, Senator J. William Fulbright, once shared a thought that aptly characterizes our continuing common enterprise. 'The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.'"

The Fulbright Program, one of the oldest and largest international exchanges, promotes mutual understanding and addresses long-term issues worldwide through academic exchange. The program's worldwide scope and longstanding relationships are a natural platform upon which to build new, global models for collaborative thinking about the challenges and possibilities for humankind in an increasingly interdependent world.

Media queries may be directed to Catherine Stearns, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, phone (202) 203-5107 or e-mail [email protected].

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)