“As a result of ENGAGE Global Citizens' participation with our program, it is no longer a short trip to visit a community: it is sitting down wilth a family, recalling the positive experiences with past Global Citizens, and discussing possible new projects. When a new group of students enters a community, they can see the history and the connections that have been developed over time. Villagers are familiar with working with students. Both sides can form relationships more quickly. And it is those relationships that lead to doing something together. It is for these reasons that we consider our Global Citizens the engine of our program. And it should be kept in mind that Global Citizens can not do what they do without the structure and support of ENGAGE.”
                    – CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) Program Staff

Program Overview
Since 1999, the CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) program has hosted more than fifty ENGAGE Global Citizens as interns. The Global Citizen Program in Thailand was inspired by the vision of local Thai organizers, who felt that if returning study abroad students had the opportunity to work more intensively within their communities, they would better understand the culture, environment, and way of life that is vital to village communities. Through this deeper understanding and established, consistent link between the study abroad program and communities, the organizers hoped to initiate more lasting change and to develop more meaningful relationships between their communities and the study abroad students. Over several years, ENGAGE, CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) and the community-based organizers have collaborated to create a the program that is in place today.

ENGAGE Global Citizens interning with the CIEE Thailand program are, for the most part, former CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) program study abroad participants who choose to continue their learning experience with the program and its allies in local communities. The Global Citizens are a crucial part of the community-based, student-led CIEE-Thailand educational model. Interns work to pass on their experiences and build the students' leadership and facilitiation skills.

Former study abroad students who want to further enhance their skills in community-based organizing have the option of working in two ways:

Program Interns work as peers and mentors, supporting the program and current students primarily by working with and sharing skills with the student group. They work in collaboration with the program staff to help students develop the skills to facilitate their own learning. Interns challenge and push students in ways the staff cannot, an essential tool when leading a group towards addressing group dynamics and applying what they are learning in a group setting.

Community Interns work closely with communities or NGOs (non-governmental organizations) affiliated with the study abroad program and program staff members to enhance students’ experiences on site visits and during community exchanges. Their ongoing presence within a community helps maintain program relationships and build trust. They can also communicate student goals to the community and help the community brainstorm ways in which student site visits can help build their community or movement. The community interns relay these community goals to the program staff and students to ensure that visits and exchanges are beneficial for all parties.

How do Global Citizens benefit the CIEE-Khon Kaen program?
The CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) program has found that ENGAGE Global Citizens enhance the program experience for students and strengthen the ability of students to work fruitfully with community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and within village communities. Global Citizens achieve these results in the following ways:

Peer-to-peer relationships with students – Because students can better relate to Global Citizens as peers, Global Citizens can challenge and push students in ways that the program’s staff cannot.  The program staff relies on Global Citizens as essential resources to address issues with group dynamics, as well as to inspire students to apply what they are learning to tangible opportunities for action.

Teaching and leading by example – Global Citizens have acquired valuable skills through their own student experience and through the process of working collaboratively with others. They set a positive examples for current students and can pass on these skills, fostering the students' ability to work as a group toward collective action.

Building and reinforcing productive community relationships – Community-based Global Citizens facilitate ongoing relationships and build a history of cooperation between study abroad students, villagers, and community organizers, establishing the essential trust required for high quality exchanges. Global Citizens ensure that relationships remain productive by relaying communities' and organizations' needs to the CIEE-Khon Kaen program staff so that they can direct their resources and students towards constructive action. They also prepare community members so that they feel comfortable exchanging ideas and working with study abroad students. By taking on these roles, Global Citizens free up valuable time for the program's Resident Director to focus on targeted curriculum development and student activities.

Global Citizens connect students to ENGAGE.  Through ENGAGE, students are able to think beyond their brief experience as study abroad students, set long-term objectives for social change, and connect with ENGAGE members and organizations worldwide to take meaningful action.

Global Citizen Profiles and Projects
Get to know our Global Citizens! ENGAGE's growing list of Profiles will give you an idea of the types of activities that ENGAGE Global Citizens have participated in and where they are working today. In Thailand, examples of past Global Citizen Program projects include:

Developing an Intergrated Agriculture Curriculum. Nakhudsim Primary School, located in the province of Kalasin, Thailand, is in the midst of integrating agriculture into their educational approach. This curriculum represents the initial efforts on behalf of teachers (including Global Citizen Philip Mangis) and the village educational committee to concretely conceptualize what an integrated approach might look like at the school.

Reporting from the ground up by Global Citizen Ellen Roggemann: Uniter or Divider: The Lead-up to Thai PM's Fall, published online by OneWorld.net.

In-depth reporting on the effects of "disaster capitalism" on fishing villages in southern Thailand by Virgina Leavell: The New Thai Capitalism: Development or Disaster, published by the Common Language Project.

Working with partner organizations in Thailand to prepare Thai farmers for Speaker Tours in the United States.

In collaboration with study abroad students, co-authoring a human rights report on the activities of the Asia Pacific Potash Corporation mine in Udon Thani, Thailand.

Assisting a local Thai organizer in starting a school about wetland livelihoods.

Co-authoring and editing a manual detailing the structure, philosophy, and approach of the CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) program.

Working alongside a local organizer to enable a school to produce vegetables for their own consumption while teaching agriculture-based English.