Toxic Waste Off Africa, Confidence & Diplomacy

So with a title like this, I must be writing about the our Youth Conference. Right? Of course! I plan to provide space for a few voices to tell you about our conference experience in Northern Ireland, but this first one is from a star intern who joined us over the summer.

Guest Blogger: Sarah Gardiner
Written August 10, 2009

As a college student in Washington, DC studying international relations, a lot of my time is spent learning about conflict: which groups are fighting, who is denied access to resources necessary for their basic needs, how current institutions are are ill-equipped for the many problems facing the world. I spend a lot of time learning about the way things are. It isn’t often that there is space set aside to think about the way things could be and how we could get there.

This summer, I hit the undergrad internship jackpot, and began work as the Young Artist and Authors Showcase intern at Sister Cities International. At the end of July, I had the opportunity to travel with the art I’d spent the summer organizing to Belfast, Northern Ireland. While there, I helped to staff the annual Youth Conference. Exactly 142 youth from the United States, Northern Ireland, Russia, Mexico, and France came together to reflect on the theme, Bridging Differences: Building a Peaceful Future.

The morning the kids were due to arrive; I was true butterflies-in-my-stomach nervous. I’m sure some of it had to due with feeling out of my element as a visitor to a city with a very recent conflict history. A lot of it had to do with the fact that high school students are never an easy group to work with and once you throw in different languages, nationalities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, you just really don’t know how it’s going to work out.

Five whirlwind days later, my boss and I sat exhausted in our make shift office incredulously repeating to each other, “It’s over…” and then, “Everything went … really well.” Pause. “That was just amazing.”

Although a lot of the credit for the success of the conference goes to the talented team of youth workers facilitating the workshops, as well as the hospitality of our host city, the participating youth were what really made it a success.

It’s not often that anyone is given the opportunity to take a few days to truly reflect on who they are and how this fits into a broader context. The participants of this year’s youth conference did not squander this opportunity. They were honest, open, and willing to discuss their differences and identities. Some of the participating youth had traveled extensively, some had never left their home country. However, no one adopted an attitude of superiority. Everyone had something different to bring to the table, and this was respected.

There were several times during the course of the week where I had to take a step back to make sure what I was seeing was really happening: kids getting heated about toxic waste dumping off the horn of Africa, a beat boxer from Craigavon starting a call and response of ‘Sister - Cities!’, and a very enthusiastic conference wide Cupid Shuffle dance off.

At the end of the five days, students went their separate ways with the parting words, “See you in Alberquerque,” the location of next year’s annual and youth conference. In the week since we’ve been back, the Facebook group has been buzzing with youth eager to continue the conversation they started in Northern Ireland.

All this means that this year’s youth conference participants really internalized the principles of citizen diplomacy they were taught. They comprehend that true understanding and respect can’t come through one meeting, but must be continually nurtured. Even though my role in the youth conference was consumed with behind the scenes logistics, I feel like this rubbed off on me too. As a college student, it’s easy to think of my life post-university as when I will begin to truly work toward change. This is a flawed perspective – all of us have the capacity in our daily lives to build new connections.

One of the best conversations I had at the conference occurred with a youth worker from Northern Ireland. We discussed how confidence levels affect various aspects of a youth’s life. Ultimately, lack of confidence inhibits individual ability to dream past immediate reality. The point of citizen diplomacy is to expand individual world views, to widen the sense of what is possible, to enable the tools needed to dream, and, ultimately, to act.

Sleepy August?

Yes, yes...it's been a while I know. There are substantive postings forthcoming. Plenty to write about despite it being the month of vacations. While some of us are sneaking a holiday before the fall, others in our network our rolling up their sleeves for a serious debate about funding.

In the troubled economy, some sister city programs have been faced with defending their 'value' when it comes to local funding over the past year. A number of communities have suffered program cutbacks in the face of municipal budgeteers nipping and tucking city budgets with no true sense of the big picture impact of their penny pinching. I tell local elected officials, you'll be hard pressed to find another city-supported program that gives tax payers the ROI that a sister cities program does. Most of the funding for local sister city programs comes privately (foundations, corporations, individual donations) and in many cases from the personal wallets of the volunteers involved in the program!

A particular battle getting a fair amount of media is Fort Worth, TX. The Fort Worth Sister Cities International program is one of our flagship programs, a perennial award-winning programs with tremendous support locally and impact abroad. This morning, their plight got the attention of well-respected blogger Matt Armstrong, who writes MountainRunner.us. He makes a case for Fort Worth AND our network's broader value to public diplomacy.

Take a read of his post: http://mountainrunner.us/2009/08/sister_cities.html#comments.

What's Hot? Belfast - Next Week.

A week away from the opening of the first Sister Cities International Conference that will be held - internationally! Next week more than 500 adults and youth will descend on Belfast, Northern Ireland for a mix of educational workshops, networking, and social gatherings.

I always look forward to the event because it's where we bring into focus - the hot issues in the Sister Cities network. Here are a few highlights:

• "It's the economy stupid" - well, we didn't name a session quite that bluntly but there will be a sessions on strategies to secure grants in the U.S. and in Europe, as well as a session on 'jump starting' your fundraising program. In these times, it'll be a mix of renewing old tricks and finding new tactics.
  
• You can't read a newspaper or click on an online news outlet without talking about 'green energy.' We've got our own session led by a pro from the U.S. Department of Energy that will feature some of our winning Sister City programs working in sustainable development as well as an audience conversation on how Sister Cities programs are complementing their local government's efforts.
  
• You can't run an effective Sister Cities program without a positive partnership with your mayor/city council. We've lined up a mix of mayors and local elected officials from the U.S. and Europe to give insight on how to navigate a successful relationship with the CEO of your home town.


• In our version of "ripped from the headlines"...a buzzworthy couple of sessions with journalist Alicia Anstead. She'll take on two hot topics in an interview setting: the Muslim story in the U.S. and Europe, and citizen diplomats working in regions of conflict.

It's hard to pick a few sessions over others since the economic development session is chock full of heavy hitters from around the U.S. and youth and adult conferences will connect for an afternoon of interactive discussions on peacebuilding - both will eye-opening for attendees.

If you can't join us in Belfast, watch our updates and reactions on Twitter (new for us!) and this blog. Check out the full conference schedule at www.sister-cities.org/conference.

Zebras and Lions and Jackals – Oh My!

Would you and a friend like to go to Tanzania for $25 to see a couple of thirsty cats? It’s possible.

Sister Cities International has launched its annual travel raffle and this year’s prize is a trip and safari for two to Tanzania. One winning ticket will take two lucky individuals round trip from the U.S. to Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania where you will spend seven days venturing to exciting destinations including Mikumi National Park, Zanzibar, and Saadani National Park.

Cost to you? $25 for one ticket or five tickets for $100. Read the full itinerary and purchase your raffle ticket(s) to experience fascinating destinations, big game, and a coastal wildlife reserve.

Many, many thanks to the Tanzania Tourist Board, South African Airways, and our other in-kind partners that helped make this package so terrific. Visit www.sister-cities.org/raffle today to enter!

One Bed. One Meal. One Lifetime Experience.

One of the fundamental joys, successes, and challenges of running international exchanges is homestays. I won’t get into the details, but being able to provide someone from abroad the chance to live in one’s home and experience a true ‘American’ lifestyle is a vital element of citizen exchanges.

I find it an amazing commitment by those who provide homestays. There is a staggeringly minuscule tax write off for it (the amount of the tax break hasn’t been updated/changed for inflation since 1960s so I wouldn't characterize it as an incentive), but by and large a family hosts an international exchange delegate in their home because they believe in the importance of sharing their lives and to add to the experience. Host a student for a year, a semester of school, a couple of weeks or shorter. There are all types of options through local Sister Cities programs and wide range of educational exchange institutions. Not a shocking revelation, we need more Americans to agree to host an international delegate.

The Council on Standards for International Educational Travel recently launched a PSA campaign to promote homestays – www.hoststudents.org – check it out, pass it along, contact your local exchange organization and tell them you want to volunteer your home for an exchange.

U.S. - Arab Cities Forum – Take Two

I am logging this entry enroute back from Amman, Jordan (circa 6/25) where the 2nd Annual U.S.-Arab Cities Forum has just successfully buttoned up its work. Launched last year by Mayor Daley of Chicago along with the mayors of two of his sister cities – Amman and Casablanca, the convening aspires to bring together chief elected officials and their key city leaders from these two parts of the world to share best practices, common issues, and network.

I was only able to make a small part of the event last year, so I was stunned by the territory of issues the program covered. To name a few, there were presentations or discussions on city planning, transportation, e-government, citizen participation, corruption, youth, arts, and (of course) economic development and tourism.

The three-day event brought together a broad range of heavy hitters from the Arab world including the mayors of Dubai, Kuwait City, Jeddah, Beruit, Arab Jerusalem, as well as the host city Amman, among others. Our partner from the region, the Arab Towns Organization, was also on hand. The U.S. presence was noticeably light given the economic times with only two mayors being able to make it besides Daley – the Mayor of Okalahoma City and the Mayor of Frisco, TX. The trio held their own just fine carrying the common messages, ideas, and concerns from U.S. cities.

Sister Cities International had the opportunity to network with Arab city leaders looking for U.S. partners and to present its model of private-public partnership with a number of examples of how our citizen program complements city initiatives such as economic development, sustainable development, energy projects, and youth engagement.

These kinds of events just reinforce the basic premise of our organization. Doesn’t matter how big or small the city, the age of the city, or type of local government issues and concerns – we are all the same. The scale of the issue may be different, but just as they knew in 1956 – across the globe, we have more in common than we have different.

Inspired Service Here & Abroad

At a town hall meeting in France last month, President Obama urged the audience to find ways to engage in public service, he said: "The world has so many challenges now. There are so many opportunities. Jump in. Get involved. It does mean sometimes you'll get criticized, and sometimes you'll fail and you'll be disappointed. But you'll have a great adventure, and at some point in your life you'll be able to look back and say, 'I made a difference.'" (Washington Post, 4/4/09)

This struck me as I was in the midst of attending a series of local and regional sister city events and meetings. At each one - something strikes me: Why do you do this?

Of course, volunteerism across many sectors is enjoying a tremendous surge. The call to service is not new. Whether it’s “Ask Not” or it’s the National Service Act signed into law a few weeks ago. Serving our country or community is fundamental to the country’s psyche today as it was the fabric of our nation’s communities at our founding. The same inherit motivation is not found in many (most) places abroad. (Note: this is not to say volunteerism or commitment to service does not exist abroad.)

But, we’ve been doing this for 53 years – that’s a lot of people opening up their homes to host a visitor from abroad, spending their own money to fly to Africa to work on a water project, contributing funds to sponsor a student to study in the U.S., or time to coordinate an exchange of business executives.

Volunteer management, or more specifically how we motivate, activate, recruit, retain, and inspire our local volunteers, is a challenge many organizations wrestle with, but I have developed a great deal of respect for the sister cities citizen diplomat volunteer corps. These folks give more than: a little time, a little money, or a little talent – it’s an inspired vigor for engaging people who usually speak another language, may hold political or religious views that counter your own, or may hold a station in life that completely flummoxes you. This isn’t for the faint of heart or for individuals who live in a monotone life.

So I return to my core question, why do you do this? The answer I receive is simple: to make a difference. “The difference” manifests itself personally through their stories, experiences, and relationships around the world.