Open World Leadership Program 2002-2011

Sourced from OpenWorld.gov

The U.S. Congress established Open World Leadership Program (www.openworld.gov) in 1999 to enhance understanding and capabilities for cooperation between the United States and Russia. Since its inception, Open World has introduced more than 15,000 current and future decision makers from Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union to American political and civic life, and to their American counterparts. Open World delegates range from first-time mayors to veteran journalists, from nonprofit directors to small-business advocates, and from political activists to judges at all levels.

In 2002, TraCCC hosted its first high-level delegation of emerging government, business, NGO and academic leaders from the Russian Federation. Since 2007, TraCCC has received more than $420,000 in funding from the U.S. Congress-funded Open WorldLeadership Program to host 15 delegations of emerging leaders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Ukraine in Virginia and the greater Washington, DC area. During their eight-day hosted visit, TraCCC Open World delegates share their expertise with their American counterparts and explore U.S. experience on topics at the forefront of public policy and international discourse, such as combating human trafficking, safeguarding children from trafficking and exploitation, drug trafficking and terrorist financing.

In 2011, TraCCC hosted its final and largest high-level delegation of ten Ukrainian police officers to help develop Ukraine’s capacity to investigate and prosecute child trafficking and child exploitation crimes. This program included a three-day training at the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), where the officers were exposed to how the United States handles combating computer-facilitated crimes against children, and able to network with law professionals in this field.

Open World Anti-Trafficking Program

Since 2006, TraCCC has hosted delegations of emerging Russian leaders in the framework of the Open World Leadership Program on the theme of “Anti-Trafficking Initiatives.” The program participants meet with Federal-level agencies and legislative entities, law enforcement officials, scholars, and non-governmental organizations that work to investigate, prosecute, and curtail human trafficking as well as provide assistance to victims.

Each of TraCCC’s five professional program days is dedicated to meeting with professionals in each of the following fields: U.S. Legislative Response to Human Trafficking, U.S. Government Programs to Combat Human Trafficking, Law Enforcement Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking, Current Research into Human Trafficking Crimes, and NGO Programs to Combat Human Trafficking and Assist Victims.

Agencies and individuals visited during TraCCC’s 2006 anti-trafficking program include:

Federal Agencies (Executive Branch)

Non-governmental Organizations

Lectures

2009

October 28th- TraCCC presented a panel of six distinguished anti-trafficking professionals and victims’ assistance providers from Ukraine to discuss “The Face of Human Trafficking in Ukraine: Assisting Victims and Diverting At-Risk Groups” as part of its Open World Leadership Program. Click here for presentations about the Vesta NGO by Inna Sabadosh, the Dovira MET Women’s Youth Organization by Maryna Shornikova, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine by Nataliya Sukhorukova, and the “Road to Life” NGO by Yana Sharun.

2008

On March 27, TraCCC hosted a lecture entitled, “Human Trafficking in Central Asia: The Case of Kyrgystan.” Here are the Kyrgystan delegation’s presentations on the Produga NGO, the Osh Committee on Migration and Employment, The Roles of NGO’s in Human Trafficking in the Kyrgyz Republic, and the International Organization for Migration in Kyrgyzstan.

Open World Economic Development Program

From 2002-2005, TraCCC hosted Open World Leadership Program groups from Russia under the theme of “economic development”, with a focus on how organized crime and corruption act as impediments to a country’s economic development. TraCCC Open World Program participants spent nine days in Washington, D.C. learning about U.S. methods of achieving economic development at the local, county, state and national levels. Meetings included site visits with the delegates’ counterparts at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Exim Bank, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the Washington, DC Office of Planning and Development, Maryland state government, and local business incubators.

2010 National Grantee of Merit

The School of Public Policy’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) has been recognized by the Open World Leadership Program as the “2010 National Grantee of Merit” for outstanding performance in the implementation of Open World sponsored grants.

At a ceremony on March 8 at the Library of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress and Open World Board of Trustees Chairman, presented the National Grantee of Merit Award to SPP Associate Dean for Research Jonathan Gifford and TraCCC Senior Program Officer Karen Saunders. Also present to offer Congressional support of TraCCC’s Open World Leadership Program accomplishments was Emily Blout, Congressman Jim Moran’s Press Secretary.