From Eisenhower to Obama: Citizen Diplomacy Marches On (Part 1)

The week before the holiday, I had the honor of representing Sister Cities International as part of the U.S. Summit on Global Citizen Diplomacy. This was the second convening of citizen diplomacy leaders since President Eisenhower's initial call to action in 1956.


More than 600 citizen diplomats from around the U.S. attended - including sister cities and international visitor council volunteers (as well as other community-based networks), business leaders, health workers, elected officials, educators (from elementary through university), young professionals, artists and culture purveyors. There were more than 40 countries represented. I have to say (to take a page from the Sopranos), I was very impressed by the presence of the heads of the families at this event (i.e. all the heads of all the exchange networks - large and small and all types pof exchanges).

During the event, some of the sessions provoked questions about citizen diplomacy and the formal diplomacy work of the State Department while others explored the local approaches to citizen engagement and cultural understanding. There were presentations on new programs and well-established programs. Attendees heard from a range of folks from the Department of State and Department of Defense. It was one big tent and many people joined in.

Tune-in for Part 2 on this blog when I outline the session discussion, which I co-moderated, on the top 10 programs from the Community-based Task Force.