In a world that seems hell-bent on its own destruction, there has never been a greater need for citizen diplomacy. That is not to say that we do not need a strong military and a strong diplomatic corps. Both of these are necessary in the world we have created and provide unheralded and heroic service to our nation and to the world through their service. There is a role, however, for active public diplomacy conducted by citizens. Indeed, citizen diplomacy both strengthens and is complementary to our professional diplomatic and military efforts. As citizens, we all have the opportunity and responsibility to be citizen diplomats and contribute in significant ways to the furtherance of peace and security in a world in desperate need of both. In our highly connected world where Internet transferred conversations can be had with people in the remotest and most insecure areas of the world, citizen diplomacy is happening on an epic scale; the cumulative effect of which is made up of millions of often subtle interactions. I have long believed, as have many before me, that peaceful relations between nations requires understanding and mutual respect between individuals. If only people will get together, then so eventually will nations. -Dwight D. Eisenhower I became aware of the power of citizen diplomacy while serving as an Army Civil Affairs officer in Iraq. In 2003, our command tasked my team to work with civilians to assess and find solutions to the challenges endemic to a poor rural area that had experienced decades of dictatorship, embargoes, war, and neglect. Personal interactions with Iraqi civilians and daily conversations about their needs provided me with opportunities to develop relationships that have lasted beyond my time in Taji. I learned to listen and learn from wise elders, mothers, political leaders, and others who knew better than I did the solutions to their difficult and challenging problems. We learned that in one village two doctors who were studying in Baghdad made a weekly drive to a rural village in our area to treat patients free of charge with medicine they purchased in Baghdad. Ahmed, another leader in the village, suggested we help renovate an old Baath political party building to serve as a medical clinic. He served as construction manager free of charge and supervised the renovation of the building. It was a village project and villagers embraced it whole-heartedly in that spirit. Allocated money paid local laborers, but it was more than that. It was a community effort. I felt my role was much more of a partner than a member of a conquering army. In 2008, I returned to Iraq and was assigned to be our brigade’s liaison with the Karadah District Council, one of nine Baghdad political councils set up in 2003 by my friends and fellow citizen diplomats Colonel Joe Rice and Peter Kenney and their team. That experience, once again, included forming lasting friendships with people with whom I continue to work. During that time, I worked with Lee McManus and the Council Bluffs Iowa Sister Cities International (SCI) Association to facilitate a friendship partnership between the Karadah District and Council Bluffs. We signed the partnership during a video conference meeting between members of the Karadah District Council and members of the Council Bluffs community, an innovative and easy way for people from two communities to meet over great distances. The Council Bluffs SCI Association has hosted visits from the Baghdad College of Dentistry and the Karadah District Council and provided humanitarian support to displaced Iraqis and others in great need through Iraqi nonprofit partners. Karadah-Council Bluffs Sister Cities Int'l Friendship Partnership virtual signing in October 2008 The Council Bluffs Iowa SCI Association recently became aware of citizen diplomats in Herat, Afghanistan who had sought a SCI partnership without success for many years. These young Afghan men and women had formed a committee and were actively seeking to connect with a city in the United States. Through their persistence and the leadership of the Council Bluffs SCI, the city of Council Bluffs will hosted a delegation of these young citizen diplomats in July 2016 and signed a formal agreement that launched the beginning of economic and cultural ties between the two cities. Herat City delegation at the Sister Cities Conference 2016 with SCI Board Chairman Those initial experiences in Iraq and a short deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan, left me with a deep impression about the value and critical importance of citizen diplomacy. Those relationships, developed often in insecure environments with people whose needs became very personal to me, were perishable. If those friendships were not maintained and strengthened, I felt, a great opportunity would be missed. The strength of citizen diplomacy rests in relationships built over long periods of time. I founded the Karadah Project International, an Iowa 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, to give structure to the effort I envisioned. Through the Karadah Project, we continue to work as citizen diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan with fellow citizen diplomat friends we’ve made over the past fourteen years in those countries. I have been humbled and inspired by the efforts of so many fellow citizen diplomats all over the world in our shared mission to further peace and prosperity. These citizen diplomats are passionate and compassionate leaders who are doing enormous good in the world. Consider LTG (retired) John and Jan Bradley who, inspired by LTG Bradley’s visits to Afghanistan to visit US Airmen, decided that their retirement would be filled with building schools for Afghan girls through their Lamia-Afghan Foundation. Hala al Saraf, after attending Columbia University where she received a master’s degree in community health on a Fullbright scholarship, founded the Iraq Health Access Organization (IHAO). This nonprofit, inspired by what Hala learned as a university student, is doing incredible work in not only providing humanitarian support to some of the most vulnerable people in Iraq, but is also training an army of young Iraqis in transparent community service. Soccer Salam, a partnership formed by four veteran-founded and veteran-led nonprofits — EPIC, Iraqi Children Foundation, Goals and Dreams, and the Karadah Project — is providing support to displaced and destitute Iraqis, often in areas where members of these nonprofits served and in areas where larger nonprofits have not be able to provide aid due to insecure environments. IHAO’s Hala al Saraf and Rick Burns at an Atlantic, Iowa Rotary Club presentation I have been humbled and inspired by the efforts of so many fellow citizen diplomats all over the world working toward our shared mission to further peace and prosperity. These citizen diplomats are passionate and compassionate leaders who are doing enormous good in the world. Consider LTG (retired) John and Jan Bradley who, inspired by LTG Bradley’s visits to Afghanistan to visit US Airmen, decided that their retirement would be filled with building schools for Afghan girls through their Lamia-Afghan Foundation. Hala al Saraf, after attending Columbia University where she received a master’s degree in community health on a Fullbright scholarship, founded the Iraq Health Access Organization (IHAO). This nonprofit, inspired by what Hala learned as a university student, is doing incredible work in not only providing humanitarian support to some of the most vulnerable people in Iraq, but is also training an army of young Iraqis in transparent community service. Soccer Salam, a partnership formed by four veteran-founded and veteran-led nonprofits — EPIC, Iraqi Children Foundation, Goals and Dreams, and the Karadah Project — is providing support to displaced and destitute Iraqis, often in areas where members of these nonprofits served and in areas where larger nonprofits have not be able to provide aid due to insecure environments.
How do you become a citizen diplomat? Pick an organization or a cause and become involved. You can join civic organizations with an interest in international issues such as a local Sister Cities International organization, with sixty years of experience building strong economic and cultural relationships between cities; Rotary International, whose thirty-year fight to eradicate polio is nearly at an end; or Kiwanis, an organization that has made the world better through its work with children. You can become involved in organizations such as the US Global Leadership Coalition that advocates for the foreign affairs budget, which for a 1% of budget investment in our diplomatic and aid programs around the world returns far greater benefits in national security, economic prosperity at home, and strengthening of the humanitarian values that have always made America uniquely great. You can find a cause you believe in and provide volunteer and/or financial support. If you are not interested in joining a formal organization, find a pen pal and develop a relationship with someone in a different country. However you choose to participate, you will find great satisfaction in being a citizen diplomat.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Karadah Project InternationalThe Karadah Project International is an Iowa 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation committed to building sustainable and long-term solutions in partnership with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Archives
June 2019
Categories |