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  • Meet Team Germany 2019


    We are from Saxony and Baden-Wuerttemberg and represent youth councils from Borna, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Leipzig, Meissen, Reutlingen, Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, Taucha, Tübingen, and Vaihingen.

  • Meet Team USA 2019


    We are from Michigan and Illinois and represent youth councils and similar youth leadership comittees from Ann Arbor, Aurora, Detroit, Northville, Urbana, Washtenaw County and Ypsilanti.

  • Ambassadors in Sneakers


    Ambassadors in Sneakers is a four-week educational program that brings together youth councils and similar youth leadership committees from Germany and the U.S.

    While travelling together in both counrtries, the young leaders learn about places and institutions that are significant for the development of and struggle for human rights. They meet activists, media representatives and politicians and learn from them, as well as from and with each other.

Intercultural projects

A Young Leaders’ Transatlantic Summer Academy on Human Rights


 

Ambassadors in Sneakers 2019

12 students each from Germany and the United States spent four exciting weeks together, learning about human rights, youth participation, transatlantic relations, and intercultural communication in both countries.

In the summer of 2019, the participants were members of youth councils, youth parliaments, and youth advisory boards as well as other young leaders from Michigan, Illinois, Saxony and Baden-Wuerttemberg.

“Ambassadors in Sneakers 2019” was part of the Deutschlandjahr “Wunderbar together”, an initiative by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut to showcase and improve the German-American relations.

 

 

The trips

Part 1: Leipzig & Berlin (Sat. June 15 - Sat. June 29, 2019)
Part 2: Ann Arbor & Chicago (Sat. July 27 - Sat. August 10, 2019)

 

 

Program Reports & Pictures

What did the Ambassadors in Sneakers do this year? Who did they meet during their trips? And what made this year's program unique? Check out our complete program report (with pictures!) and the list of people and institutions we met. In addition, for each academy day, a German and an American participant put their heads together for a social media post to share their personal impressions and what they had learned. Find a complete overview of their daily posts here.

 

 

Media coverage

Vaihinger Kreiszeitung, July 13, 2019: "Schüler gestalten Zukunft"

Vaihinger Kreiszeitung, September 21, 2019: "Ambassadors in Sneakers: Anna goes USA"

Vaihinger Kreiszeitung, October 5, 2019: "Ambassadors in Sneakers: Anna goes USA Teil 2"

Fachstelle für Internationale Jugendarbeit, Deutsch-US-Amerikanischer Jugendaustausch, USA-Special 2022: "Ambassadors in Sneakers"

 

 

Feedback

I have grown so much in the month of being with everyone and I learned what my passions are and I am stronger in my political stance on certain issues. This type of growth would’ve never happened without AIS. (participant)

 

Looking back on the summer academy, I am particularly grateful for our diplomat speakers. After hearing their experiences I feel like I might want to follow this career path. (participant)

 

Das Treffen mit Euch war für uns eine ganz besondere Erfahrung — daher freuen wir uns umso mehr, dass auch die jungen TN viel davon mitnehmen konnten. Was für ein Segen. Ich bin schwer beeindruckt, was für eine starke Gruppe ihr jedes Mal wieder zusammenstellt. Das gibt Hoffnung für die Zukunft. Wir sind auch mit einigen der Leute über soziale Medien verbunden geblieben und sind gespannt, wie es bei denen weitergeht. (Vincent Herr, activist duo "Herr und Speer", guest speaker)

 

When I return I plan to give a presentation to my city council and tell them about my experiences and things I learned in this program that I think could benefit my community. (participant)

 

It was truly such a pleasure to meet everyone today and hear fresh perspectives about issues our world is facing. It was truly a humbling privilege and I hope to stay in touch with you all and your youth about the incredible progress they’re making in their communities. (Zaynab Elkolay, Washtenaw County’s Young Citizen of the Year 2019, guest speaker)

 

This has been AMAZING. It was everything and more I could ever have wanted in an exchange program. I loved the diversity of human rights topics we touched on and the intimate conversations held between one another. (participant)

 

I wanna say that I'm so grateful. Thank you. All presentations and discussions were so interesting and it was good to know that there are activists who showed us how they work and what they support. (participant)

 

 

 

Sponsors and partners

"Ambassadors in Sneakers - A Young Leaders' Transatlantic Summer Academy on Human Rights" was developed by the German-American Institute Tuebingen (dai). It is very generously supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, which is funded by the European Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), as well as by a great number of other supporters. Our partners in 2019 included:

 

If you want to support the "Ambassadors in Sneakers", too, get in touch with us!

Unsere Förderer

Contact us!

Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen
Karlstr. 3 · 72072 Tübingen
Tel. 07071-795 26-0 · Fax 07071-795 26-26
mail [at] dai-tuebingen.de · www.dai-tuebingen.de

 

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Bibliothek: Di - Fr: 13.00 - 18.00, Sa: 11.00 - 14.00 Uhr
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Sekretariat: Di - Fr: 9:00 - 18.00 Uhr
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