The origins of cultural exchange programs lie in the reconstructing Europe in the post-war period, when the idea was brought forward of taking young Europeans to live for a period in the United States, hosted by American families as one of their members, in order for these young people to be familiarized with a new lifestyle and anxious to reconstruct their own origin countries. This initiative aimed to foment peace in the world and conciliation among the peoples and it has achieved great and lasting success. To the present day, thousands of young people still dream about having a similar opportunity.


Created in 1951, Youth For Understanding (YFU) is one of the pioneers and largest international exchange programs in the world. It is a non profit organization which operates in several countries, dedicated to promoting understanding and peace in the world, through people who develop effective and lasting bonds throughout living and learning intercultural exchange experiences.

Founded in 1963, Youth For Understanding Brazil provide cultural exchange experiences to young Brazilians around the world and to young foreigners in Brazil, ages 15 to 23.

Cultural exchange programs involve complete immersion in a different culture and are based on a close relation with the hosting family, school frequency and community involvement. The exchange student is seen as a representative of its home country and has an important role in promoting this country’s image, becoming a young ambassador. Even though many see the exchange experience as an efficient way to learn a new language, the objective of this type of experience goes largely beyond language learning.

The cultural and geographic variety to which the students are exposed deeply mark their lives, helping them to better understand the world’s diversity and to become young leaders and agents of change.

Some multinational corporations offer programs as benefits to their employees, scholarships in exchange programs for their children, providing this great opportunity for hundreds of young people who normally wouldn’t have access to this type of experience. The corporations that participate in the YFU programs are: Johnson & Johnson, Capuava Carbono, Fisher-Rosemount, Phillip Morris, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Chevron, Eaton and Ford.

The YFU currently develops bilateral exchange programs with the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, USA, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.