When the inaugural cohort of 15 Washington students arrived at their host families’ homes in Logroño, Spain, during the summer of 2017, it was clear that these students were the first in a new field of global advocacy, yet far from the last. This was the year the Washington State Leadership Board (WSLB) launched Washington World Fellows, Washington State’s first international advocacy program for high school youth.

Recent years have seen an increase in similar initiatives for youth across the world, creating a rapidly growing network of globalized communities. The WSLB is an example of regional governments integrating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into long-term community planning. Local institutions play a uniquely crucial role in alleviating poverty at the grassroots level, and employing the rising generation is central to this work. “If we’re not taking care of our citizens, the whole society suffers,” says WSLB Director of Programming, Amy Ubungen.

WSLB programs for youth leadership in Spain are necessary avenues that reflect a growing global presence in the development of sustainable communities.

A Long-lasting Global Network

The WSLB backs two international programs, both designed as accessible, cost-free opportunities for underserved youth from Washington and Northern Spain to travel abroad. Washington World Fellows began in 2017 as a sister exchange program to World Fellows España, which in 2022 sent its first cohort of Spanish students to Washington State.

World Fellows, many of whom are first-generation college students facing community-specific education barriers, embark on a college readiness track while abroad. In July 2025, World Fellows connected with local government officials during an annual International Youth Summit in Viana, Spain, where students issued a magazine to voice concerns about universal socioeconomic barriers facing youth.

The Compassion Scholars initiative launched in 2019, when the inaugural cohort of Washington students traveled to Dharamsala, India, to discuss global inequalities with the Dalai Lama.

Compassion Scholars now visit the La Rioja region in Northern Spain, where they observe measures in both urban and rural settings to alleviate poverty. Upon returning home, Scholars implement community projects that range from reducing education barriers to partnering with local immigrant support agencies.

Sustainable Development Goals at the Micro Level

WSLB’s partners in La Rioja each incorporate SDGs, enriching the region with a strong network of resources. El Colletero is an innovative, grassroots effort based in the agricultural community of Nalda, Spain. It is driven by local women who offer training sessions in food production to prevent food insecurity and promote ecofeminism. La Rioja Acoge is a regional immigrant and refugee resettlement agency in Logroño whose Reception and Integration System accommodates asylum seekers fleeing humanitarian crises in areas such as Gaza and Ukraine. The regional branch of La Cruz Roja in La Rioja tailors its emergency response services to local vulnerable populations. All three agencies promote youth leadership in Spain and provide an exemplary framework for communities worldwide pursuing para-diplomacy.

How the WSLB and Its Partners Thrive

The success of World Fellows and Compassion Scholars is due in part to the WSLB’s history as a longstanding, state-funded institution, providing a legal foundation in Washington State for an international framework. However, this level of institutional support is not present for World Fellows España. “You could say… that we are the Spanish agency of the WSLB, [but World Fellows España doesn’t] have any support here locally,” explains World Fellows España Director, César Martínez Lorenzo. “We do have the support of organizations that get involved in Compassion [Scholars]. They support us. They do it out of compassion, so to speak. But other than that, at any institutional level, we don’t have any support just yet.”

Despite Spain’s developed social safety net, community-driven initiatives like World Fellows España often struggle to gain the institutional recognition needed to lift programs off the ground. The pandemic delivered a particular blow to World Fellows and other youth programs globally. However, César remains optimistic about the WSLB’s continued success. “Policy should be implemented to make these programs a thing,” he says. “It’s like planting a seed… and we need to let it grow. But that is a process. That doesn’t happen overnight… I think we have to wait and see. It’s a ‘trust the process’ kind of thing. And that’s what we do, we trust the process. And we can invest in it, because we believe in it.”

Missions for Underserved Youth

Early in World Fellows España’s development, the regional initiative Los Pioneros provided a well-aligned model for the World Fellows mission. Los Pioneros is a nonprofit based in Logroño that promotes youth leadership in Spain by addressing education and employment barriers for marginalized young adults.

Many initiatives like Los Pioneros exist globally but lack access to consistent funding like that of the WSLB, making it difficult to expand programs beyond their region of origin.

Alliance Africa Avanza is another example of a well-resourced initiative sustained on an international scale. In August 2024, the Spanish government launched a joint program in Senegal, Tierra Firme, to address the country’s high unemployment rates by fostering self-sufficiency and financial stability. The program enables 500 Senegalese youth to receive vocational and professional training. Bilateral agreements between nations, such as Alliance Africa Avanza, demonstrate how essential institutions are in providing measurable opportunities for youth.

The WSLB and Barriers to Success

Like many state-funded agencies in the U.S., WSLB programming has been affected by recent decreases in federal funding. For World Fellows and Compassion Scholars students in both Washington and Spain, the programs’ limited mobility caused by budget cuts “puts a lot more burden on participants, [and] it requires participants to step up,” says Amy Ubungen. Since spring 2025, the WSLB has experienced a 12% funding cut.

Such cuts are the “biggest threat and number one concern of our agency at this time,” says WSLB Programs Manager Claire Muehleisen. Given World Fellows España’s lack of local financial support, these reductions present a particular challenge for youth leadership programs in Spain.

“…What would be ideal [is for World Fellows España] to get funded, and that’s where local governments and institutions come in,” says César Martínez Lorenzo. He suggests increased support from “a local institution, say the city council or… the town hall,” to channel funding. “We would need someone in a position of power… to believe in what we do and make it happen… that’s my hope,” he explains. With a boost in local support, César foresees a future where Compassion Scholars could evolve into an exchange program, like World Fellows.

A Catalyst for Sustainable Development

As World Fellows and Compassion Scholars expand, the WSLB’s international partnerships will continue to inspire global youth initiatives aligned with the SDGs. “Poverty is always in the details,” remarks César Martínez Lorenzo. Fortunately, so are local institutions that continue to make long-term investments in the youth for healthy, sustainable communities in the future.

– Isla Hansen

Isla is based in Spokane, WA, USA and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr