CHARITY SPOTLIGHT / GLOBAL TIES U S
Celebrating 75 years of Citizen Diplomacy Diplomacy begins here. BY KIKI BURGER
D
iplomacy begins here.â€? A program like that must happen in Washington, the focal point for diplomacy in America, right? Well, not quite. Just as all politics is local, “here,â€? it turns out, is everywhere. It’s an update of a time-tested program being rolled out by Global Ties U.S., a nonprofit partner of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program that supports a network of more than 120 nonprofit organizations. Perhaps the most important program you’ve never heard of. And it’s bringing high-level Washington diplomacy to a town near you. Global Ties U.S. dates back to its founding as the National Council for International Visitors during the Kennedy Administration in 1961. It has an impressive record of having hosted more than 300 future heads of states on visits to the US long before they would become leaders on the world stage. Names like Thatcher, CalderĂłn, Sarkozy, Karzai and even Indira Gandhi, to name a few, are all leaders who while in their mid-career were hand-picked by American ambassadors in their home nations as the ones-to-watch. With bright eyes and ready to learn, nominees spend three weeks split between Washington, DC and three additional U.S. cities, large and small, across the country to meet and schmooze with key players in various sectors, learning whatever the hot topic was at the time as usually deemed by the U.S. Secretary of State. That was then -- and now. As the State Department prepares to mark its 75th year of international exchange programs in February, the program newly rebranded as Global Ties U.S. is due for some credit for changing where diplomacy is done‌and by whom. “There is a shift in gravity from the halls of Washington to the corners of the U.S.,â€? explained Global Ties President Jennifer Clinton, Ph.D., to Washington Life, over tea at the St. Regis Hotel. Clinton had just returned from one of the aforementioned “Diplomacy Begins Hereâ€? regional summits in Huntsville, Alabama. The summits convene US and foreign leaders
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Global Ties President Jennifer Clinton (Photo by Cecile Olaussen)
across various industries under the umbrella of strengthening relationships and growth in the international community. Clinton, who joined Global Ties three years ago after a stint as executive vice president of The Washington Center for Internships and, earlier, in the Clinton Administration, went on to explain that this shift of localizing diplomatic efforts was reinvigorated as a priority by Secretary of State John Kerry, who as he took office in 2013 strategically decided to give his first public address at the University of Virginia. Picking a classic, public institution of American higher learning for his first major public address as Secretary, Kerry sent the signal that mutual international understanding involves the whole country. “In today’s world, there’s nothing foreign about foreign policy,� Clinton said. (this is a quote from Kerry� “Everything that goes on in the world affects the local community.� This is my quote More and more, these handpicked “cream of the crop� delegates who come to America on international exchange programs with the Global Ties network are appreciating just that sort of localization. While the center of American politics is Washington, these delegates are increasingly insisting on meeting with top American business leaders, many of whose
companies are based in smaller cities. Omaha, Houston and Indianapolis are as hot as New York and Silicon Valley. With partners in 93 communities, across 45 states, Global Ties is able to make these connections. And its formula is working. The Global Ties Network hosts more than 5,000 visitors a year from 150 countries and currently can count 30% of today’s heads of states as having passed through its itineraries. Kerry’s choice of speaking at a college also reflects the changing face of who are the ones doing this diplomacy. “America has an all-time high, almost 900,000 international students studying in our U.S. universities, and that contributes $23 billion to our economy,â€? Clinton says. “And our students are sitting next to future leaders‌so the relationships that they are building at a very young age, the impressions that they’re giving to students, have far reaching consequences in terms of what they are going to go back with.â€? And it’s not just youth, but increasingly more and more women. Representation of women in the Global Ties program comes in at just under 50 percent, way up from when Thatcher passed through. “Jennifer has become a leader within a new wave of women in American foreign policy – and is truly redefining diplomacy in the process.’ said Greg Houston, a close friend and advisor. Come this February, the great accomplishments of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program will be celebrated at its 75th anniversary celebration at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. In a nod to the start of exchange programs by President Franklin D. Roosevelt following a trip to Buenos Aries in 1936 and the continued importance of partnerships in the Americas, the event’s opening reception will celebrate Latin America, and its program will feature a distinguished alumnus: former twotime Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Oscar Arias. Jennifer and Global Ties will be there – leading the charge for the next 75 years.
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