THE BRIDGE PROGRAM

Building Respect Through International Dialogue and Global Education

The BRIDGE Program is one part of the Stevens Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to increase people-to-people exchanges between youth in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa as a lasting and remarkable tribute to the legacy of Ambassador Chris Stevens. The Initiative aimed to increase mutual understanding among youth in middle schools through post-secondary education, and equip a generation of globally-minded youth with the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world. Under the umbrella of the BRIDGE Program, E-ERA provided professional online trainings and curriculum-based virtual exchange activities for educators in 11 MENA countries and their U.S. counterparts. Following an online course, educators connected their students through asynchronous activities that have culminated in videoconference connections and community exhibitions in five thematic areas: environment, civic education, heritage, identity and tradition, food security, arts and media production.