DIPLOMATIC SWAP

Inspiration

One of His Excellency Dr. William Ruto’s best gifts to Kenyan youth, early in his able leadership, will be making sure that Kenya will be continually industrialized by the most innovative youth in the years, if not decades to come.

The best way to do that is to make sure that the most brilliant young men and women of Kenya, from all sectors of society, both government, nonprofit, and business, benefit from the best training abroad, receive funding for their ideas in the most industrialized 11 nations of the globe, and bring all those resources back home that will launch companies, creating thousands of jobs. 

What’s Diplomatic Swap?

This is a program that targets or aims at achieving the sharing of knowledge and professional experience between Kenya’s best brains and the best brains of the G11 countries. The program specifically trains young professionals both in government, in the private sector, and in their final years in college and high school, to continue to gain skills needed to make proper decisions and in a big way positively influence changes in the various industries they lead in Kenya.

The aim is to send our young people to the best institutions and companies abroad for one year, give them an opportunity to pitch their projects in the best companies and institutions while there, receive startup resources, corporate strategies, and secrets, and bring them back home to start companies and create jobs for the youth locally. At the same time exchanging them with the best from these countries, who will be hosted by our local institutions and

Partnerships

Diplomatic Swap is a partnership between the Kenyan Government, local, and international organizations, and Institutions to train cohorts of sixty-six young professionals each year, 6 from each sector mentioned above, posted in different colleges in G11 countries. It is the brainchild of

1. Food Security for Peace and Nutrition Africa
2. Impactnet Africa
3. Diplomatic Executive Services
4. Youth Envoy for Economic and Social Empowerment

The project should be supported by both the government of Kenya and the private sector as part of the government agenda to impart relevant knowledge and skills to the best of Kenya youth to spar innovation, critical thinking, and the establishment of ideas that spark economic growth.  Countries that we partner with, the Great ten of the world include;

1. The United States
2. The United Kingdom
3. Canada,
4. France
5. Germany
6. Italy
7. Japan
8. China
9. Russia
10. Australia
11. Israel

Justification

One of the best tools that can be used to empower the hustler, bottom-up approach to solving youth economic challenges is proper industrial training and serious corporate mentorship.

Diplomatic Swap brings together a small group of young professionals from both government, the private profit, and non-profit sectors for a specific period of training (usually six months) in the G11 Countries, giving the young government officials and business leaders a unique opportunity to gain in-depth multilateral, transnational and multicultural experience by providing a solid understanding of the role and functioning of leadership management in their various components, and making them strong advocates for the multilateral system in their future careers.

These skills are of vital importance when they return back to their positions in government or the private sector. These professionals are posted in the best schools and companies abroad for six months exchange program. After which they must return back home and implement what they have learned here.

Uniqueness

To make the swap complete, these international institutions we partner with also get to release their best to come to Kenya in exchange for those that have been taken abroad. While here, those exchanged for Kenyans abroad get to be posted to different companies, organizations, and institutions in Kenya, where they are expected to share the knowledge, they have and learn from Kenyans as well. Those who choose to stay and partner with Kenyans to start businesses are free to do so.

Program Paths include:

• Program Path 1: Entrepreneurship and Business Management
• Program Path 2: International Relations and Diplomacy
• Program Path 3: Public Policy and Civic Engagement
• Program Path 4: Health and Medicine
• Program Path 5: Information, Communication, and Technology
• Program Path 6: Media and Film
• Program Path 7: Climate Resilience and Environment Conservation
• Program Path 8: Agribusiness and Agro-processing
• Program Path 9: Engineering and Manufacturing
• Program Path 10: Math, Sciences for High Schools
• Program Path 11: History and Business for High Schools

 Institutions Involved

Kenyan Government Ministries

1. Education
2. Youth Affairs
3. Labor
4. Trade and Industry
5. Finance

International entities we partner or intend to partner with include

• Diplomatic Executive Services New York
• Global Student Services of America
• Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• United Nations General Assembly Youth Fellowship
• The International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)

Proposed Local Institutions of learning

Five best Students from the following Universities

1. University of Nairobi
2. Kenyatta University
3. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
4. Technical University of Kenya
5. Strathmore University
6. United States International University – Africa
7. African Nazarene University
8. Kenya Methodist University
9. Day Star University
10. Catholic University of Eastern Africa

One top student from each of the best sixteen high schools in Kenya

International Universities include

No	Country	Programs 1 and 3	Programs 4 through 7	Programs 8 through 11
1	United States	Florida International University	Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2	United Kingdom	Cambridge University	London School of Economics	Oxford University
3	Canada	University of Toronto	University of British Columbia	Simon Fraser University
4	France	Universite Paris Saclay	University of France	Sorbonne University
5	Germany	Technical University of Munich	Heidelberg University	University of Cologne
6	Italy	University of Bologna	University of Milan	Polytechnic University of Turin
7	Japan	University of Tokyo	Kyoto University	Osaka University
8	China	Peking University	Nanjing University	Tongji University
9	Russia	Moscow State University	St. Petersburg State University	Kazan Federal University
10	Australia	University of Melbourne	Monash University	The University of Sydney
11	Israel	Hebrew University of Jerusalem	Weizzman Institute of Science	Tel Aviv University

Training Program

Those participating in the program participate in it for a period of one year, which includes the following:

1. Six Months of Swap Training at a University
2. Three months of Swap Internship and partnership Proposals at a local company or nonprofit organization
3. One Month of Swap Tour of different organizations and famous tourist sites
4. One Month of Swap Research, Report writing on the experience of the exchange,
5. One Month of Swap Presentation before the Swap sponsoring institutions.
6.  Monthly Report to program managers during the entire duration of the Diplomatic Swap Program
7. Certificate of Completion signed by the President of the Republic of Kenya, the Institutions of training and internships.
8. Funding for Concepts Proposed

Selection Process

This process is competitive with strict guidelines which include

1. Junior or Senior year of high school (Grade point Average of 3.5 out of 4.0 or equivalent)
2. Junior or Senior year student pursuing a degree at a major University with either a second class upper, a Magna Cum Laude (Grade point Average of 3.5 out of 4.0 or equivalent)
3. A startup entrepreneur with either a brilliant idea that has not received funding or with a proof concept seeking funding for expansion.
4. A government official, under 40 years old, managing a major public policy program or that is part of a team managing a serious government program. 
5. All selected must choose to come back home and implement what they have learned.
6. Have all travel documents as required by both Governments of Kenya and Swap destinations