The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs funds and administers the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), one of its premiere professional exchange programs. The IVLP is designed to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect the participants' professional interests and support U.S foreign policy goals.

Ambassadors rate the IVLP as the most effective foreign policy tool of American diplomacy. Over 250 past visitors to the U.S. on the International Visitor Leadership Program are current or former Heads of Government or Chiefs of State. Alumni include: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of The United Kingdom, President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Colombia, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India, Prime Minister Tony Blair of The United Kingdom, and President F.W. deKlerk of South Africa, to name a few who have participated in these programs before attaining their level of prominence in the world. 

Participants are established or potential foreign opinion makers in government, public policy, media, education, labor, the arts, and other key fields. Selected by Amercian embassies around the world, these international visitors come to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to gain and appreciate the ethnic, cultural, political, and socio-economic diversity of the U.S.

The IVLP in Kansas City is administered through close collaboration with 8 non-profit program agencies in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Department of State.  KCIVC is one of 94 community-based organizations in cities across the U.S., whose members arrange professional meetings, cultural activities and home hospitality for the visitors. These non-profit organizations are members of the National Council for International Visitors.  The International Visitors Council of Greater Kansas City arranges professional meetings for the IVLP participants in the state of Kansas and western Missouri.

Tens of thousands of Americans volunteer their time and expertise to strengthening relations between the United States and other countries through the International Visitor Leadership Program.

Over 80% of the programs arranged by KCIVC are for the International Visitor Leadership Program.  In fiscal year 2010, KCIVC hosted 295 visitors from over 125 countries and generated revenue of more than $310,000 for Greater Kansas City.  Over 9,685 hours of volunteer time to host professional meetings, serve on our board of directors and provide home hospitality contributes to the success of the program. 

Remarks by Hillary Rodham Clinton at Reception Honoring the 
70th Year of the International Visitor Leadership Program 
and the 50th Year of the National Council for International Visitors!