Teenage applicants are being sought for a six-month leadership programme geared at galvanising small communities which are struggling to survive.

The World Ort scheme - open to Jewish 15- and 16-year-olds from European countries - is supported by the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and the European Jewish Fund.

World Ort's head of Jewish education, Judah Harstein, said: "An injection of new blood is essential to ensure that communities achieve a dynamism that will enable them to move forward and face the many challenges for survival."

Around 40 teenagers will attend a week-long seminar at Ort House in Camden followed by six months of web seminars and community activities. There will also be an intensive three-week summer school in Israel, including Hebrew studies. Graduates must participate in leadership projects in their own communities, such as working with the elderly.

Daniel Needlestone, education development co-ordinator for World Ort, hopes British teenagers will see the programme as a "once in a lifetime opportunity. It's a chance to meet people from so many different types of communities."