Soliya | Virtual Exchange

Soliya addresses insufficient workforce readiness among US youth. 

Workspaces and public spaces alike are more diverse, interconnected, and international today than in previous generations. Thus, young adults need to know how to navigate diversity in all its forms. Data shows that in the past three decades the jobs that have grown the most have required strong interpersonal skills like cooperation, empathy, and respect,[1] suggesting that ‘soft’ skills, including the ability to engage across identity lines, are just as important as hard skills and technical knowledge. Moreover, according to the British Council, for employers around the world “by far the most highly valued skill is demonstrating respect for others, followed by working effectively in diverse teams”.[2]

To prepare young adults for the modern workforce, Soliya uses technology to connect a greater number and diversity of young adults to an international experience during their education. 

The 21st Century skills and attitudes that we instill in participants have been relevant for decades; however, the current global state of things has not only reinforced this relevancy but also revealed it where it may previously have been underestimated. It persists that young adults, as the next generation of leaders, must be equipped to resist threats to unity and promote cooperation and inclusion even in the face of fragmenting forces. The current moment of global anxiety caused by the health pandemic highlights that collaborative problem solving is the only constructive method for overcoming massive global crises. Moreover, racial or ethnic clashes around the world reflect an urgent need for people to understand each other’s views and frustration as well as recognize each other’s shared humanity. This could be achieved by the same education that would also promote job skills and attitudes that are in demand by employers across sectors: critical thinking, digital literacy, teamwork, cross-cultural understanding, and empathy. Soliya offers this dual programming through our virtual exchange work. 

Our Dialogue Exchange programs include:

• The Connect Program, whereby we engage college students in the US, from varied socioeconomic backgrounds, with their peers across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South Asia, in online, small-group dialogue to strengthen their cross-cultural collaboration skills, critical thinking, and global competence. 
• First Year Connect, whereby we engage incoming first-year US college students in the same institution in dialogue with each other to prepare them to build bonds across lines of difference on campus.

We partner with professors to integrate these programs into college classes.

Soliya works in the field of virtual exchange, which is the practice of using technology to connect people across differences in live, face-to-face dialogue over a period of time. By creating online international interactions, we bypass certain geographic and financial restrictions of physical exchange to engage the widest diversity of participants. All of our programs take place in the Exchange Portal, a video-conferencing platform that we have custom designed for virtual exchange. Far before the COVID-19 pandemic, Soliya recognized that interactive technology offers connectivity but not connection, and that young adults need to know how to engage constructively with others in modern society. 

We target college-aged youth who are traditionally underrepresented in intercultural exchange opportunities such as physical exchange programs. Across all our programs, our model and mission demand a diverse participant pool: at a time of division across political and social lines, we ensure that a greater number and diversity of young adults can develop critical skills that come from engaging with and understanding differences. Thus, we partner with a myriad of institutions including those located in remote, rural, and urban locations, as well as affluent and less affluent communities; public and private colleges; community and four-year colleges; universities with high minority or refugee populations; historically black colleges and universities; and colleges with a high percentage of first-generation students. By composing mixed dialogue groups, we ensure that the segregation that may be present in classes, colleges, or cities does not transfer into the program. Studies indicate that such socioeconomic mixing encourages critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity; reduces racial bias while countering stereotypes; enhances student satisfaction, self-confidence, and leadership skills; and prepares students to succeed in a global economy.

We have reached over 20,000 students since 2003. Through the last five years we observed the following results in participants: a 10% increase in capacity to empathize and understand others; a 12% increase in feeling warmth toward people of different ethnicities; a 15% increase in having a good understanding of others' views; and 40% increase in knowledge of global issues.

Moreover, 88% of participants agreed that the program helped them improve cross-cultural communication skills, 92% for active listening skills, 65% for leadership skills, 81% for critical thinking skills, 77% for teamwork skills, and 74% for media analysis and digital competencies. 

full time: 28

part time: 1

contractors: 6

We practice inclusivity through our hiring process and team management styles. The diversity and inclusivity that we strive to promote through our programming is practiced internally by team members across all levels. For example, we encourage all team members to take our facilitation training, which we offer to volunteers across the world, through which they learn how to listen actively, engage with different viewpoints, and work with people across time zones and cultures. 

An innovation on physical exchange and study abroad, virtual exchange uses technology to connect youth across the world to each other for face-to-face, structured online engagement across cultures and countries. A key element of virtual exchange is that the interaction among participants is sustained over a period of time rather than one-off. This sustained contact ensures that participants have time to develop trust and bonds with each other, share perspectives, and build skills. Moreover, unlike other chat platforms and social networking sites that end up being used to reinforce echo-chambers, our proprietary Exchange Portal is specifically designed to encourage active listening, critical thinking, and learning: participants’ video screens are arranged

in a circle, a talking stick method is applied whereby only one participant can speak at a time, and audio is optimized so that all participants, regardless of their technology or internet strength, can be heard clearly. Volunteers, trained through our United Nations-endorsed Facilitation Training Program, are in the group to encourage participants to share and understand perspectives by asking thought-provoking questions and addressing discomfort or power imbalances. Together, these three elements—sustained communication, an inclusive platform, and trained facilitators—strengthen the value of the experience for participants, ensuring that our program makes a difference in their lives.

Using and maintaining our own platform is crucial to our mission. Unlike other chat platforms and social networking sites that end up reinforcing echo-chambers, our platform, the Exchange Portal, is specifically designed to encourage active listening, critical thinking, and learning: participants speak face-to-face and in real time with their video screens arranged in a circle, mimicking the practice of peace circles; a talking stick method is applied whereby only one participant can speak at a time; and audio is optimized so that all participants, regardless of their technology or internet strength, can be heard clearly. The Exchange Portal functions across different bandwidths and technological systems, allowing for the inclusion of trainees and participants from remote and isolated regions or areas with weak internet connection, including rural communities, desert cities, and refugee camps. This design works toward countering polarization, ensuring that all youth, including those susceptible to divisive belief systems due to regional or social circumstances, have equitable opportunity to hear and be heard. Participants can communicate through audio and private chat messaging, share content such as videos and articles, and conduct polls and quizzes. Our platform is web-based, closed, and secure with SSL encryption and adherence to IT industry security standards, making it a safe and confidential space for dialogue. 

In intercultural engagement, there is an assumed connection between exposure to the other and the expected result of increased intergroup understanding and peaceful intergroup relations. As such, a common peacebuilding strategy is to connect people across lines of difference in a safe and neutral space, with the expectation that this engagement can build empathy, connection, and trust among people who perceive each other as adversaries. This strategy aligns with a theory of change called intergroup contact theory, also known as contact hypothesis, which proposes that exposure and engagement across lines of difference can improve how groups relate to each other, moving them away from conflict and coercion toward cooperation and compassion. According to a research paper published by the Saxelab at MIT, “meta-analyses of conflict resolution and prejudice reduction programs generally support this theory: intergroup contact is effective in reducing intergroup hostility and negative stereotypes.”[1] In addition, the feeling of self-other overlap that results from this engagement has been shown to “amplify compassion-related responses to others” and make people “more willing to forgo personal rewards to alleviate the suffering of” those from other groups.[2] Our own evidence and learnings gleaned from designing, implementing, and evaluating facilitated dialogue across lines of difference further support the assumptions behind intergroup contact theory. Our programming is also intentionally designed to accommodate dominant and non-dominant groups, bringing underserved youth into opportunities for connection and skill building while encouraging mainstream youth to recognize the importance of inclusion and outreach to the spectrum of members within and across their communities.

[1] “The power of being heard: The benefits of ‘perspective-giving’ in the context of intergroup conflict” (2012) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256752684_The_power_of_being_heard_The_benefits_of_'perspective-giving'_in_the_context_of_intergroup_conflict

[2]  “Compassion, Pride, and Social Intuitions of Self-Other Similarity” (2010) https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/oveis.2010.compassion.pride.pdf