Designed to promote economic development and entrepreneurship amongst Dominican young people, the program was conceived by GFDD and FUNGLODE President and Former President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernandez, in the spring of April 2013 after visiting a series of prestigious United States universities. The Global Dominican Academic Exchange Program aims to introduce Dominican students to the American style of liberal arts education and encourage dialogue between Dominican students and their Dominican-American counterparts attending these institutions, thereby encouraging and inspiring partnership and entrepreneurship initiatives which will foster innovation and stimulate Dominican economic development and international understanding.

The initiative will organize a series of annual topic-specific events of short (maximum one week) duration in collaboration with the Dominican student organizations at a variety of United States universities. InteRDom will work closely with student representatives to plan the activities, and then to recruit and bring students from Dominican universities to participate. Hosting events with different thematic concentrations will ensure that diverse groups of Dominican students will have the opportunity to participate. The Dominican Ministry of Higher Education in Science and Technology has pledged its support in the form of scholarships for the first announced activity at Yale University of this initiative.

Program Goals:

• To connect Dominican and Dominican-American students, two groups united by a common ethnic background but divided by geographic location

• To increase the general knowledge of the American education system amongst Dominican students

• To foster a sense of community and intercultural communication and collaboration between students and institutions of the Dominican Republic and the United States

• To encourage active participation by youth in the economic growth of the Dominican Republic

InteRDom, an initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), is the premier internship, research and academic study program in the Dominican Republic. It offers international students the opportunity to research important topics at the forefront of the United Nations agenda, obtain professional experience by interning with Dominican organizations and businesses related to their fields of study and/or earn academic credits by taking courses and seminars at a local university.