IALS Video (5:32)
The Indigenous and Afro-Latino Scholarship Program (IALS) is financed by the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) and administered by Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED). The pilot program provides full scholarships for outstanding indigenous and Afro-Latino youth from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru for two years of postsecondary university education at fully accredited universities and community colleges in the United States and Latin America.
Target Countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Program Goals
IALS promotes higher education opportunities for indigenous and Afro-Latino youth from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru through scholarships for technical training at colleges in the United States, as well as academic institutions identified throughout Latin America. Through these opportunities, IALS fosters improved economic and social opportunities, as well as intercultural understanding and mutual respect. IALS also develops the capacity of partner institutions to reach out to, and incorporate greater numbers of, indigenous and Afro-Latino students in their existing programs.
Specific Objectives
- Technical Training: Prepare and train rural indigenous and Afro-Latino youth, at least 50% of whom are women, for entry-level jobs in fields that support broad-based economic development and environmental protection. For cycle 2008, IALS offered two-year scholarships in the following four fields of study:
- Agribusiness
- Small Business Management
- Integrated Natural Resources Technology
- Eco & Ethno Tourism
- Leadership Training: Prepare students to be leaders in their home communities by involving them in volunteer activities, on-campus student government, and community service. Provide them with concrete leadership development skills applicable to their home countries.
- Networks and Linkages: Build lasting professional networks and links of friendship and understanding between indigenous and Afro-Latino youth from four Andean countries.
Program Scope
For the 2008 Academic Year, IALS placed 80 scholars from the four participating countries at community colleges and universities in the United States and Latin America. These colleges are:
- Mount Hood Community College, located in Gresham, Oregon
- Alamo Community College, located in San Antonio, Texas
- The Universidad Sergio Arboleda, located in Santa Marta, Colombia
- The Universidad Nacional del Litoral, located in Santa Fe, Argentina.
Scholarship Application Process
The 2009 application process ended on February 15, 2008.
The IALS Scholarship Program welcomes the enthusiastic response that we have received from all the applicants to the program and appreciates the interest shown by the indigenous and Afro-Latino communities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
IALS Program News
