Parliamentary sponsorship program

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The Parliamentary Sponsorship Program (PPP) or the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) is a one-year youth exchange program that was launched in 1983 by the Congress of the United States of America and the German Bundestag . The PPP aims to deepen friendship between the United States and Germany through cultural exchange . Currently around 350 schoolchildren and young professionals spend a year in the other country.

18. PPP for young professionals before the US Congress

history

German families first arrived in the United States in 1683. The Mennonite immigrants established the Germantown settlement in Pennsylvania . On the 300th anniversary of this German immigration to the United States , the German and American parliaments launched the Parliamentary Sponsorship Program in 1983.

The name of the program comes from the basic principle of sponsoring a member of parliament for each participant from his or her constituency. The scholarship holders have such a representative in Germany as well as in the United States and vice versa. Ideally, the MP is available as a mentor throughout the year.

Some members of parliament use this sponsorship to promote their own cause. It should be noted at this point that not every MP can sponsor the program. This is due to the difference between the number of participants and the number of seats in the Bundestag.

“The parliamentary sponsorship program has gained additional importance due to current developments. In a time of new and previously unknown challenges for the transatlantic community, the scholarship holders also take on an important role as Germany's 'young ambassadors' in the USA. In American host families and in direct contact with classmates or colleagues, they learn what connects and differentiates our countries socially, culturally and politically. This promotes mutual understanding and makes an effective contribution to permanently strengthening human relations between Germany and America. "

- Norbert Lammert : President of the German Bundestag and patron of the parliamentary sponsorship program

Participation requirements

For the PPP for young professionals , young professionals and trainees who have their first place of residence in the Federal Republic of Germany on the relevant cut-off date are eligible to participate. The vocational training must be completed at the time of departure. The maximum age limit of 24 years when leaving the country can be postponed due to military service or alternative service. The minimum age is 15 years on the day of departure.

Students who have their first place of residence in the Federal Republic of Germany on the respective cut-off date are eligible for the PPP for schoolchildren . The age limits are between 15 and 17 years in the month of departure.

As general prerequisites and restrictions, the participants are expected to have good academic performance, general knowledge, school and / or extracurricular involvement as well as a basic political and historical understanding, since the scholarship holders should act as a kind of representative for their home country. Children and foster children of members of the Bundestag, adolescents with US citizenship and holders of a green card are excluded from participation.

Members of certain professional groups, such as the health professions, are excluded from participation in the PPP for young professionals due to legal regulations in the USA.

procedure

The program is carried out in Germany by various exchange organizations on behalf of the Bundestag. In addition to GIZ's program administration for young professionals, the organizations American Field Service , Youth for Understanding , Experiment e. V., Open Door International e. V., GIVE and Partnership International .

The application for the PPP is only possible with a special application card. This can either be requested directly from the exchange organizations or downloaded from the relevant Bundestag website. It clarifies the basic formal criteria such as date of birth and constituency. If the candidates meet these criteria, the complete application documents will be made available by the exchange organizations. An initial pre-selection will be made on the basis of the completed documents. In the second step, the applicants have to give a personal interview and, depending on the organization, a presentation and fill out an English grammar test and a questionnaire. After passing this round, the final selection is made by the MP on the basis of the paper application, the assessment of the organization and often also after a personal meeting with the MP.

The nomination is subject to health suitability. The exchange organizations can request the submission of medical certificates. There is also the proviso that at the time of departure the prerequisites for participation are actually met (promotion, school grade, successful professional qualification).

A seminar will be held to prepare for the stay abroad, to promote basic social knowledge and to create networks among the participants. In terms of content, cultural, legal and organizational issues are dealt with. The preparatory seminars are organized and carried out by the exchange organizations and former participants. The program rules and the procedure for insurance, visas, etc. are also clarified here.

During the stay abroad, the participants live with host families (classic families through to same-sex unions and one-person households). In individual cases it can happen that the accommodation is made in a student residence hall.

The participants of the PPP for students spend the whole year in an American high school , which is mostly public. Participants in the PPP for young professionals study at a college or university in the first half of the year and do an internship in an American company in the second half of the year. Since 1998, about 10% of the participants have had the opportunity to complete the Congressional Internship Program (CIP). This is a six-week internship at the US Congress, which gives participants the opportunity to experience politics in the United States.

The year is critically reflected on at the follow-up seminar. In particular, the participants exchange experiences after their return.

financing

All direct costs are borne by the German Bundestag and the US Congress. This includes seminars, round-trip flights and tuition fees. Participants in the PPP for young professionals must provide proof of their own funds of 4,000 euros to cover living costs before they leave the country. This is a condition for the issuance of the visa and can be partially covered by low-interest loans from the exchange organization.

For 2015/16, the US Department of State cut the PPP funds by half; the extent to which the parliamentary sponsorship program would continue to exist was therefore questionable. In July 2015, the US Department of State decided to withdraw the planned cuts in the PPP on the US side. This means that in the 2016/17 program year - as before - 285 scholarships for schoolchildren and 75 scholarships for young professionals are available.

Alumni organizations

Since October 2005, former participants of the PPP for young professionals have been organized in the association “PPP for young professionals alumni”. The association has set itself the goal of "building up an international network of all former participants in the parliamentary sponsorship program for young professionals in order to ensure the sustainability of this program and to promote German-American relations."

After a founding seminar in October 2012, an alumni association for former exchange students of the PPP was founded in 2013. This association forms under the name "Alumni of the Parliamentary Sponsorship Program of the German Bundestag and the Congress of the United States of America eV" (short: APPPs eV). His projects are supported by the German Bundestag, the US Embassy in Berlin and many US Consulates General. The APPPs eV offers a variety of opportunities for alumnae and alumni to exchange ideas in order to stay in contact with the other culture and politics even after the international experience. The aim is to further promote awareness of the outstanding importance of German-American relations among alumni.

Effects of the program

A study by the Dortmund Social Research Center in 2000 shows, among other things, that the number of self-employed among former PPP students is above average for young professionals. There is also a below-average unemployment rate among alumni. This could be deduced from the practical implementation of the “American entrepreneurship”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from August 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundestag.de
  2. ^ A b Georgia Rauer: As a young ambassador to the USA for one year. (pdf) In: Bundestag order service, www.btg-bestellservice.de. German Bundestag, 2008, accessed April 27, 2014 .
  3. ↑ savecbyx.org
  4. ↑ Parliamentary Sponsorship Program (PPP) , at www.bundestag.de, accessed on September 22, 2015
  5. ^ Statutes of the parliamentary sponsorship program for young professionals alumni e. V. , at www.ppp-alumni.de, accessed on October 18, 2018
  6. ↑ The association , on www.appps.info, accessed on 18 October 2018
  7. ↑ Learned to believe in yourself: Young professionals in the USA, study on the long-term effects of the parliamentary sponsorship program, Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e. V. (now InWent gGmbH, Bonn), Cologne, 2000