http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/index/ en U.S. Department of State 2012-02-11T15:54:03+00:00 Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and Office of E-Diplomacy recently teamed up with Stanford University to host Rio+2.0: Bridging Connection Technologies and Sustainable Development.

Held on-site at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California, the three-day conference energized the global discussion about connection technologies and how they can foster the global sustainable development agenda. The interactive event also explored the issues that will be discussed at the upcoming Rio+20, which will take place in Brazil on June 20-22, 2012, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

From February 2 through February 4, the conference built on Silicon Valley's innovative spirit and took a unique approach towards motivating global stakeholder support, inspiring collaborations between ministers and high-level governmental representatives from across the globe, UN officials, tech innovators, private sector, NGO and civil society representatives, in addition to Stanford students and faculty.

It was evident from day one's "Demo Alley" (think speed-dating meets Silicon Valley) presentations that this conference was unique. The dialogue continued on day two with discussion of how connection technologies can be used more effectively for results-oriented end-goals. Some of the heavy-hitters directing this discussion included Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, and technology expert Tim O'Reilly.

On the last day, attendees gathered for a final "unconference.” The “unconference” brought participants together to brainstorm about real technology solutions to specific sustainable development challenges. During the break-out sessions, one group of participants made a YouTube video to raise youth awareness of Rio+20.

Over 8,300 viewers tuned into the Stanford website to watch a live webcast of the conference, while others followed the events on Twitter. Using the hashtag #USRio20, participants freely exchanged ideas and opinions in real time throughout the conference. Most of the tweets discussed quotes and concepts from each session, shared pictures and videos from the conference, and addressed ideas for the future. Taken together, they formed an organic narrative of Rio+2.0 and a fascinating study in the difference social media can make in facilitating active and equal participation among stakeholders. By connecting people online, the hashtag formed a virtual three-day narrative about technology's role in the larger Rio+20 story. Though told by many voices, the story I read was one focused on the same goal: exploring innovative solutions for sustainable development. To me, that sounds like a great conversation, and I can't wait to continue the discussion.

Stay connected with the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science on Facebook and Twitter.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/us_rio_plus_20/ 2012-02-10T20:23:27+00:00 About the Authors: Maura O'Neill serves as Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Dr. Alex Dehgan serves as the Science and Technology Adviser to the USAID Administrator.

We are proud to announce the Higher Education Solutions Network Request for Applications (RFA), which invites higher education institutions to compete to join USAID as new strategic, long-term partners to have a greater impact on development through creative partnerships. From USAID's start 50 years ago, partnering with universities and research organizations has been part of the Agency's vision. Over the years we have worked with partners on sector-specific projects, but today we are pursuing an unprecedented relationship with academic institutions as part of our effort to open the field to a broader range of actors and leverage the assets available through science and technology. USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network program aims to engage students and faculty and catalyze the enthusiasm on campuses for international development, making it easier to turn advocacy and ideas on campus into action and results in the field.

We are launching the Higher Education Solutions Network in order to reconnect over the long-term with universities and academic institutions for three reasons:

We aim to leverage their research assets to provide evidence and analysis that can feed into USAID policy

We want to test and scale new models for development which includes developing and creating new technologies.

We aim to foster an ecosystem where multi-disciplinary approaches are promoted.

We'd like to work with universities and higher education institutions to understand how students can be empowered to shift from saying, "What's your major?" to "What's the problem you want to solve?"

Aross USAID we are eager to source solutions for development. We'd like to build on what students, faculty and staff in higher education have already done to focus attention, research, and implementation in diverse development-related fields, including design, engineering, and impact assessment. We are inspired by what we are seeing from students around the world, from Jessica Matthews and three friends at Harvard who created the Soccket, a soccer ball that, when kicked, creates enough energy to power a light, to Julia Songok and her team at Moi University of Health in Nairobi who entered USAID's Savings Lives at Birth Grand Challenge for Development with a concept for a Mother Baby Health Network, to enable community members to use their mobile phones to support new mothers, with the potential to save lives by 50 percent.

Our new Development Innovation Ventures initiative is investing in numerous game changing innovations pioneered on university campuses -- from a sustainable sanitation solution developed by MBA students in an MIT class that is now an award-winning, for-profit social enterprise, to a successful election monitoring innovation tested in Afghanistan by UCSD Ph.D. students, to an inexpensive innovation developed by Georgetown University professors that slashes road traffic accidents to Nairobi at a very low cost.

We are pushing ourselves as an institution to continue to look to leverage the ingenuity on campuses to find solutions. Historically USAID and universities have a lot in common . Both are decentralized organizations with a lot of very competent and independent people who are unbelievably devoted to their jobs. We're pushing ourselves to be better and get better results. We're asking universities to push themselves as well.

Editor's Note: This entry also appears on the USAID Impact Blog.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/innovations_new_relationships_universities_usaid/ 2012-02-09T15:56:57+00:00 About the Authors: Gayle Smith is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Development and Democracy at the National Security Council. Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Policy, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Senior Advisor for Science, Technology, and Innovation, National Economic Council.

Today at the White House, senior Administration officials announced a series of new initiatives to promote game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges. Answering President Obama's call to harness science technology, and innovation to spark global development, the Administration announced initiatives from across the government to generate new development solutions. Announcements include new partnerships with universities; greater use of scientific breakthroughs through expedited technology transfer of federally-funded inventions; a program to reward inventors who use their patented technologies to address humanitarian needs; and initiatives to leverage advances in Internet and communications technologies to provide new development tools.

In an increasingly globalized world, the Obama Administration recognizes that global development is vital to national security and is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative. One of the cornerstones of our global development policy is a commitment to investments in game-changing innovations with the potential to solve long-standing development challenges in health, food security, environmental sustainability, and broad-based economic growth. Innovation can play a key role in building a stable, inclusive global economy with new sources of prosperity, advancing democracy and human rights, and helping us to increase the ranks of prosperous, capable, and democratic states that can be our partners in the decades to come.

Administrator Raj Shah announced that USAID is launching a new partnership with universities and research institutes to define and solve large development challenges. USAID also announced new commitments to increased utilization of electronic and mobile payments to save on costs and increase financial access; a new effort to make assistance to other governments in telecommunications development more efficient; a new "app store" for development to spur humanitarian apps and software; and new commitments to mobile education technology as part of USAID's All Children Reading grand challenge for development.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office announced the Patents for Humanity pilot program that rewards patent owners for using their patented technology to address humanitarian needs. The National Institutes of Health launched a new model licensing agreement to expedite licenses to not-for-profit institutions with a demonstrated commitment to diligence in providing broad global access to technologies. The Department of Energy will offer a reduced fee license on certain clean energy technologies to not-for-profit organizations with a demonstrated commitment to providing global access to clean technologies and services.

Additionally, NIH announced that it is joining with private sector partners to develop Global Health Connect, a free online database of disease data and information that will bring disparate databases and research together to accelerate the development of lifesaving treatments and combat the neglected tropical diseases that afflict the world's poorest people. Likewise, the United States Department of Agriculture and its partners launched GRIN-Global, a plant genebank information management system that enables researchers to more efficiently source crop breeding material with specific traits. Additionally, USDA announced a partnership with CABI Plantwise to increase food security by decreasing crop losses in 19 countries through internet-connected "plant doctors."

Additional information on today's announcements is available here, or view the President's Policy Directive on Global Development.

Today's announcements and call to action highlight a whole-of-government approach to innovation for global development and demonstrate the importance of partnerships between the government and the private sector, including universities, corporations, and non-profits. In a time of tight budgets, it is critical that we maximize the impact and effectiveness of our investments, unleash the ingenuity and vision of our nation's inventors and entrepreneurs, and help to scale strategies that have been shown to work.

Editor's Note: This entry appeared first on the White House Blog.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/innovation_global_development/ 2012-02-08T16:33:08+00:00
Just last week, on January 27, the world remembered the victims of the Holocaust on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week, while still remembering the victims, we sat down to discuss how to make "Never Again" a reality.

The morning started with a welcoming address from Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. She highlighted the point that as the world becomes more interconnected and a new global history begins to emerge, it is necessary that the Holocaust be part of this global awareness and that the world understand how the Jewish history of the Holocaust has shaped our present.

Following Bokova's remarks, we spent the day learning from experts who discussed how to shape this global history so that the mistakes of our past do not become the mistakes of our present. Yehuda Bauer of Hebrew University stressed in his remarks that the Holocaust could have been avoided. Not in 1939, however, when world attention only slowly and belatedly began to pay attention to Hitler; rather, the Holocaust could only have been avoided earlier, by a coalition of the willing who saw the writing on the walls and stood up before it was too late.

Later in the day, we discussed more thoroughly what that writing on the walls looked like, how it could have been stopped, and how such warning signs need to be taught to our children. Francois Masabo of the National University of Rwanda explained that every genocide, even a spontaneous genocide like the one in Rwanda, is planned. It is planned through propaganda, derogatory comments that become common and acceptable, and the language of inferiority and dehumanization. These lessons must be part of our Holocaust education -- the bystander who adds to a culture of hate is not a bystander at all.

I had the honor to be a part of the last panel with UNESCO's new Special Envoy for Holocaust Education, Samuel Pisar. Together, we spoke about the challenges of creating age-appropriate curricula. And, more so, how, if we really are going to do this correctly, these curricula need to not only be for our schools, but for our civic leaders, military, journalists, and our communities. As Mark Richmond, Director of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development at UNESCO said in closing, "Holocaust education in our schools alone will not solve the problem; the whole society must become a school for us to succeed."

I'm so grateful I was able to be a part of this conversation and this Administration's strong support for and contribution to UNESCO's Holocaust Education program. Be sure to read President Obama's statement and Secretary Clinton's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I look forward to continuing to work together to make "Never Again" a reality.

More information on Special Envoy Rosenthal's efforts to combat anti-Semitism can be found on the Department of State's website and on the Facebook page for the virtual campaign 2012 Hours Against Hate. Stay connected with Special Envoy Rosenthal on Facebook and Twitter. For more on the U.S. government(tm)s engagement on human rights, visit www.humanrights.gov.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/unesco_education_holocaust/ 2012-02-02T23:18:12+00:00 page. We salute the world's wetlands for their beauty and many critical benefits to humankind. Happy World Wetlands Day 2012!]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/world_wetlands_day_photo/ 2012-02-02T16:16:25+00:00 21st Century Statecraft -- complementing traditional foreign policy tools with newly innovated and adapted instruments of statecraft that fully leverage the networks, technologies, and demographics of our interconnected world.

Today marks the end of "21st Century Statecraft Month" at that State Department -- an entire month dedicated to using new tools and engaging new networks in pursuit of addressing today's challenges. During the month, I had the privilege to speak with a group of journalists and bloggers during a Live at State video web chat, the Department's interactive "virtual press briefing" platform. As the journalists, bloggers, and I discussed, we at the Department of State, much like many others, are learning and adapting to a world that's becoming increasingly disrupted, both for good and for ill, by social media. What we're seeking to do here, under the leadership of Secretary Clinton, is to keep pace, to listen, to learn, and to experiment. Hopefully, we've accomplished a little bit of each of those during the month of 21st Century Statecraft.

For starters, the Secretary's Office of Innovation and the Office of the Chief of Protocol hosted more than 100 members of the diplomatic corps to discuss online movements and social media. Ambassador Dino Djalal of Indonesia served as a special guest speaker and shared with his colleagues how he is effectively using Twitter to communicate foreign policy initiatives.

In addition, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland held the Department's first-ever "Twitter Briefing," answering your questions gathered from the Department's 11 official Twitter accounts. As part of that effort, the Bureau of Public Affairs launched the Department's official Turkish-language Twitter account (@ABDTurk), which complements U.S. Mission Turkey's existing social media outreach and represents the U.S. commitment to building a strong partnership with the government and people of Turkey. @ABDTurk joins the 10 other official feeds in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.

Some other highlights from the month include:

· Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner delivered keynote remarks on January 17 at the 8th annual State of the Net Conference. Two years after Secretary Clinton first addressed global Internet freedom as a core policy priority, the Assistant Secretary reflected on the challenges and responsibilities of the public and private sector to advance a free and open Internet.

· Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan outlined U.S. foreign policy priorities for 2012 during a Live at State video web chat.

· Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer delivered remarks at the launch of "Teaching Respect for All," UNESCO's curriculum development program that promotes anti-racism and tolerance. U.S. Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith, U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal, and other State Department officials joined a live web chat and Tweet-Up held in coordination with the event. You can join the ongoing discussion on Twitter by following the hashtag, #Dignity4All.

· Ambassador Ivo Daalder, Ambassador David Huebner, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer, and the U.S. Missions to Haiti, New Zealand, and NATO held Twitter Q&A's to discuss various U.S. foreign policy issues.

· The U.S. Department of State launched My State Department, an optional interface on www.state.gov that allows users to customize the information they see on the website. This gives the public the opportunity to follow the issues that matter most to them -- ranging from food security to global women's issues.

Many thanks to all who participated in 21st Century Statecraft Month; we have been greatly encouraged by the positive response. As we continue to forge U.S. digital diplomacy, we hope you will continue to be a part of the conversation and stay tuned to www.state.gov, the DipNote blog, @StateDept on Twitter and the U.S. Department of State's official Facebook page for additional engagements throughout 2012.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/21st_century_statecraft_continuing_the_conversation/ 2012-02-02T04:14:50+00:00
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made 21st Century Statecraft, or using digital networks to advance America's interests around the world, a key part of our foreign policy approach.

So we're continually asking ourselves as we look at our foreign policy priorities -- how can innovation help us do this better, faster, and more economically? This week, asking those questions resulted in the Department's announcement of the launch of our Turkish-language Twitter account @ABDTurk, joining the Department's 10 official feeds in Arabic, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.

Our Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. explained the rationale -- the U.S. relationship with Turkey is a high priority and we are always seeking to expand the ways in which we can inform and engage with the people of Turkey. Social media offered us a way to do that in real time with much broader reach than we could ever hope for with traditional shoe leather public diplomacy.

Social media also offers a powerful way for the State Department to listen to foreign publics and better understand their needs and aspirations. That's why we're reaching out directly to citizens across the world as Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland takes questions from the public selected from those 10 official Twitter accounts using the hashtag #AskState and holding a Twitter briefing each Friday during the month of January for the Department's 21st Century Statecraft month -- an opportunity to showcase the ways in which our diplomats in Washington and our embassies overseas use social and digital media every day to speak directly with people about U.S. policy.

The Twitter briefing enables us to shorten the distance between people around the world and right here in the United States and get a response directly from the spokesperson's podium on the foreign policy issues about which they care the most.

We do face a continually evolving set of choices as we forge new ground. Yet we are leveraging these online tools, because we know that Internet will be what we and others make of it. Secretary Clinton has delivered three major addresses on Internet freedom in three years. Her first major address focusing on the topic, on January 21, 2010, made history by declaring that the universal human rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association apply online as they do offline. She also pronounced that promoting those rights online would be a U.S. foreign policy priority. As the Secretary rightfully acknowledged, there are many other networks in the world, but the Internet is a network that magnifies all others -- and we believe its users should be assured certain basic freedoms.

The U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace has guided our efforts in this arena, affirming the United States' commitment to work internationally to promote an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable information and communications infrastructure that supports international trade and commerce, strengthens international security, and fosters free expression and innovation.

We are reshaping our diplomatic and development agendas by deploying one of the United States' greatest assets -- innovation. Whether they are advancing Internet freedom or connecting women entrepreneurs in West Africa or responding to the devastating earthquake that struck Japan, our diplomats and development professionals are using digital networks and technologies in service of U.S. foreign policy.

The State Department doesn't have a crystal ball. However, we do know that continuous innovation will keep us at the forefront of digital diplomacy, enabling greater, richer information sharing and engagement here at home and abroad. We also know that the old adage of innovate or die will keep us on our toes.

You can read more about our digital engagements this week, and how you can participate, here.

Editor's Note: This entry appeared first on the Huffington Post.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/forging_digital_diplomacy/ 2012-01-28T03:34:32+00:00
I had a packed schedule principally focused on outlining U.S. foreign policy priorities for 2012, including discussing the Administration's keen focus on addressing the common challenges we face in the Hemisphere through partnerships with Latin American and Caribbean countries. Together, governments throughout the Americas are working to improve citizen security, generate economic opportunity, promote energy independence, and advance democracy and human rights.

The first day, I held a roundtable with talented journalists who write for wire services and print media based in Miami. Luckily, I had had my cortado (espresso with a touch of warm milk) with my fruit-packed breakfast, as these journalists kept me on my toes with their sharp questions. I also benefited from their observations and analysis of the trends in the region. Next, I did an interview with the renowned Latin American editor and syndicated foreign affairs columnist with the Miami Herald, Andres Oppenheimer. We discussed U.S. goals for the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia on April 14-15, economic opportunities in the region, including trade promotion and educational and technology exchanges, and U.S.-Latin America relations in general.

Our team, including our Media Hub Director Melissa Martinez, re-grouped during a lunch stop at a cafe that took me back to my Spanish roots with its delicious assortment of authentic tapas, including arroz negro -- rice in squid's ink. What's not to like? We didn't linger though, as I was whisked away to four radio "hits" starting with the engaging Julio Sanchez Cristo at Radio Caracol, a Spanish news/talk radio station owned by Grupo Latino de Radio. By the time the fourth radio interview came around, I was in a groove and enjoyed my fast-paced interview with the incredibly funny and sharp host, Agustin Acosta of Radio Actualidad, a Spanish-language AM radio station that focuses on local, national, and international news content for the Hispanic market.

The final official event of the day included a program and reception that we co-sponsored with the Center for Hemispheric Policy based at the University of Miami. I spoke about the Administration's 2012 global foreign policy priorities and took questions from a varied audience of academics, business people, students, NGOs, diplomats, and political figures. It was really neat to meet a student from “the U” (the University of Miami for non-football fans) who had just been accepted to an internship with our embassy in Australia -- I sure hope she enjoys it and decides she wants to join the Foreign Service as we are always looking for talent. My reward after an intense day was a team dinner at a terrific Caribbean restaurant, which showed off Miami's flair for big flavors, fun, and full embrace of the multiculturalism for which it is famous.

The second day, we started early with a meeting with the dynamic Program Director of the Knight Foundation. I left breakfast inspired by the foundation's innovative and cutting edge programs, and hopeful that there are numerous opportunities for collaboration. Next up: a courtesy call and interview at Radio and TV Marti, the Cuba Office of Broadcasting, followed by an interview at Univision for its leading current affairs Sunday program, "Al Punto," hosted by Jorge Ramos. The interview took me around the globe, touching on issues from Central and South America to the Middle East to back home again. Speaking of which, after two packed and productive days, I found myself back on a plane headed for home.

For more on what I discussed during my trip, here are the links to some of my Spanish language interviews: Radio La W, Univision, and Radio Caracol. You can also learn more about the work of the State Department's worldwide media hubs in this month's edition of State Magazine.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/miami_media_2012_foreign_policy/ 2012-01-27T16:58:27+00:00 State of the Union Address. For the first time, international audiences were able to watch the State of the Union Address live on U.S. embassy and consulate websites. The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) streamed the speech with a new video player, placed directly on almost 300 English-language embassy and consulate websites and Facebook pages worldwide.

Our missions in Cambodia, Japan, Nepal, Thailand, and Turkey had among the highest views of the webcast, and more than 60 posts amplified the speech on social media platforms, where they engaged their online communities via Facebook and Twitter. The U.S. Mission in Melbourne noted that the hashtag #SOTU was trending on Twitter in Australia -- which demonstrates to me the interest the State of the Union Address generated overseas.

Some of our posts continued the online engagement offline by hosting viewing parties. For example, the U.S. Mission in Lahore hosted a group of Pakistani students to watch the President's remarks, and the U.S. Embassy in Accra held an event with local journalists and exchange program alumni to view and discuss the program.

The feedback we received from participants was encouraging. A group of students watching in India shared how inspired they were by the President, and a viewer in Russia said that she believed in the power of people to create change. One viewer in Iraq noted that he woke up extra early in the morning to make sure he didn't miss the President's address.

Fortunately, not everyone had to set their alarm clocks early to watch the speech! To reach the part of the world that was asleep during the live event, we are rebroadcasting the State of the Union Address today in a 24-hour loop. International audiences across all time zones will be able to see the President's remarks. This pilot program is part of our ongoing efforts to find new and innovative ways to create global conversations and connect publics around the world, a hallmark of 21st Century Statecraft.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/engaging_sotu/ 2012-01-26T03:44:08+00:00 www.state.gov is interesting, but you might not take the same interest in food security, women's issues, or the human rights reports that I do. With the site's roughly 100,000 pages of content (and growing), we set out to create a way to help you, the end user, more easily access the categories of information that matter most to you.

That's what's behind the pilot release of My State Department -- an optional, customizable interface that makes the most of the vast electronic collection that comprises www.state.gov so you can be better informed and stay on top of foreign policy topic areas that you find most interesting or in which you want to become involved.

The My State Department interface is easily found in the banner on www.state.gov pages. A new window will open so that you can get to the interface without interrupting other browsing you may be doing on state.gov. To make sure that your selections follow you no matter what computer you're on, you'll access My State Department using an OpenID logon. OpenID is a service that allows you to sign in to many different websites using a single identity, such as your yahoo, gmail, or aol account. (Find out more about OpenID and how to get an OpenID-enabled account.)

Once you're on the My State Department screen, select from any number of "widgets," such as top policy issues (Counterterorrism, Trafficking in persons, etc.), country information, reports, or social media. Move the widgets around, change the color scheme, add a utility -- it really IS all about you!

We hope you'll enjoy using My State Department. Our pilot is just the starting point. Please let us know your suggestions for future enhancements.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/my_state_department_launched/ 2012-01-23T18:36:51+00:00
As an initiative of Protocol's Diplomatic Partnerships Division, the State of the Administration speaker series provides foreign ambassadors posted in Washington with opportunities to interact directly with senior members of our government who can provide first-hand knowledge of the administration's work and discuss some of the most important issues of the day. In honor of the State Department's 21st Century Statecraft month, the Protocol Office utilized the series as a way to educate and inform the diplomatic community about the use of digital tools in diplomacy.

The briefing kicked off with remarks by Mr. Ross on the power of information networks and the rise of citizen-centered leadership; he was followed by Mr. Jeremy Heimans of Purpose, a leading organization in the creation of 21st century movements. To provide the attending diplomats with the tools to embrace this new technology, Protocol brought in representatives from Facebook and Twitter. The two social media companies briefed the guests on what their technology does and how embassies and diplomatic missions can use social media platforms successfully.

Nearly 200 members of the Diplomatic Corps rotated between the two Facebook and Twitters sessions, and all of them benefitted from an incredibly valuable first-person perspective briefing by Ambassador Djalal (@dinopattidjalal). As an avid practitioner of social media, the Ambassador was able to educate his colleagues on how he, as a high-ranking diplomat, has found a way to use the tools in a safe and effective manner.

From Ambassador Djalal's highly attended briefing, to the lessons learned in the Facebook and Twitter sessions, it was clear that this was a valuable program. As Mr. Ross said, "Information equals power, and networked information equals networked power." So, as networked power gains strength and momentum, it will be those citizens and diplomats who recognize this change -- and use it to their advantage -- who succeed in the 21st century.

For more information on the work of the Office of the Chief of Protocol, follow us on Twitter (@DipPartnerships) or check out our website: www.state.gov/Protocol.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/protocol_and_21st_century_statecraft/ 2012-01-22T15:56:14+00:00 appointment this week as the next Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP). We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with WFP and the other the UN food agencies based in Rome. The WFP has a long and illustrious history of responding to the world's most pressing food and hunger crises, and under the energetic leadership of Ambassador Cousin, we are confident that it will continue its remarkable work as a leader of global efforts to eradicate hunger.

As the Ambassador to the UN food agencies in Rome, Ambassador Cousin has already worked closely with WFP, FAO, IFAD and other Rome-based international organizations and diplomatic missions to ensure an effective response to food needs during crises. She also brings experience from a nongovernmental hunger organization and from the private sector, along with the vision and passion needed to lead the world in advancing food security. Secretary Clinton emphasized that Ambassador Cousin “has been central to designing and implementing our food security policies...[and she] will continue to be a powerful voice in the fight against hunger.”

Over the past half-century, the United States has been WFP's largest donor, supporting its lifesaving work in responding to emergencies. WFP also has an important role to play in supporting lasting food security. Through Feed the Future (FTF), the U.S. government supports country-driven approaches to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and forge long-term solutions to chronic food insecurity and undernutrition. We share WFP's vision of reducing the need for assistance by strengthening people's resilience to economic, natural, and other shocks and increasing their economic opportunities.

In this spirit, we have partnered with WFP through programs such as Purchase for Progress (P4P), an innovative pilot program that connects smallholder farmers to WFP's supply chain. WFP helps farmers produce at a higher quantity and quality, and provides a fair price for their products. Over time, as farmers increase their skills, capacity, and income, they can expand their sales to the private sector, moving from subsistence to self-reliant growth.
Recently, USAID announced a creative new partnership with WFP and PepsiCo to help chickpea farmers in Ethiopia improve the quality and quantity of their production. The EthioPEA project also aims to connect the farmers to domestic and international markets and to the production of a chickpea-based, nutrient-rich supplemental food that WFP will distribute to vulnerable populations.

We look forward to working closely with Ambassador Cousin to continue this deep cooperation with WFP -- to respond to today's emergencies and build sustainable solutions to global hunger and undernutrition.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/ambassador_cousin_wfp/ 2012-01-20T21:55:06+00:00 New York Times' best-selling author, will serve as a Global Cultural Ambassador.

As a Cultural Ambassador, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar will work with young people worldwide and use people-to-people interactions as a means to create opportunities for greater understanding. He'll kick-off those efforts next week in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Click here to learn more.

"I am excited and honored to serve my country as a Cultural Ambassador for the U.S. Department of State," said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has focused his efforts after his NBA career on engaging youth through socially-minded projects and education. "I look forward to meeting with young people all over the world and discussing ways in which we can strengthen our understanding of one another through education, through sports, and through greater cultural understanding."

While in Brazil, Mr. Abdul-Jabbar will lead conversations with young people on the importance of education, racial justice, cultural understanding, and using sports as a means of empowerment. In addition, he will participate in basketball clinics with young people in both cities.

In June 2011, Abdul-Jabbar was honored at the White House by President Barack Obama and received the Lincoln Medal from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. The medal honors Abdul-Jabbar's commitment to education and equality which reflects the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln.

Stay up-to-date on Kareem Abdul Jabbar's efforts as a Global Cultural Ambassador via @ConnectStateGov on Twitter, and check out additional video from yesterday's announcement here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/taking_diplomacy_to_new_heights/ 2012-01-19T18:34:40+00:00 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) on January 18, 2012, during a ceremony in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Harry S. Truman building, Washington, DC. The prestigious ACE recognizes the important role of U.S. businesses in advancing good corporate governance and democratic principles worldwide. The award honors exemplary business practices, corporate social responsibility, and innovation in a company's overseas operations.

You can view a transcript of the Secretary's remarks here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/clinton_2011_ace_awards/ 2012-01-18T04:22:34+00:00
Just 45 years ago, Dr. King said, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." Those words immediately remind me that there are basic fundamentals necessary for building real and lasting peace. This year, as we celebrate Dr. King, I am a part of a team that is gearing up for a big event to launch an initiative that I think Dr. King would be proud of -- "Teaching Respect for All."

The initiative is a partnership between the United States, Brazil, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that will create an educational curriculum to teach about respect, human rights, and how we can learn to appreciate each other's differences while treating one another with dignity. The initiative will incorporate important peace building concepts such as reducing intolerance, violence and discrimination into an educational project that will reach young minds all over the world.

As we launch this initiative, we hope to ignite a global discussion among young people on the meaning of respect and how we can find ways to discuss our differences. Watch the video in the player above to hear Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer's thoughts on respect, dignity, and tolerance and join the discussion on Twitter using #Dignity4All.

Editor's Note: Assistant Secretary Brimmer travels to Paris, France January 17 to help launch the "Teaching Respect for All" curriculum.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/teaching_respect_for_all_mlk_day/ 2012-01-16T14:43:32+00:00 21st Century Statecraft" -- complementing traditional foreign policy tools with the networks and technologies of our interconnected world.

Underscoring our commitment to these efforts, January is the Department's 21st Century Statecraft month and we'll be taking advantage of the truly participatory nature of social media to bring people virtually into the State Department briefing room to ask their foreign policy questions. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland will take questions from the public selected from the Department's 10 official Twitter feeds [@StateDept (English), @USAbilAraby (Arabic), @USAdarFarsi (Farsi), @USAenEspanol (Spanish), @USAenFrancais (French), @USAemPortugues (Portuguese), @USApoRusski (Russian), @USA_Zhongwen (Chinese), @USAUrdu (Urdu), @USAHindiMein (Hindi)] and answer them at the podium following the Daily Press Briefing each Friday throughout the month of January. You can ask your question using the hashtag, #AskState.

We are also taking the opportunity this month to highlight a lot of what happens here in Washington and around the world every day. In the past year, for example, our embassies have used technology to help connect women entrepreneurs in West Africa and respond to the devastating earthquake that struck Japan. American ambassadors are using social media to engage young people in Zimbabwe and strengthen our relationship with the people of Thailand.

There is still so much to do. As Secretary Clinton has said, part of 21st Century Statecraft is embracing new tools, such as using cell phones for mobile banking or to monitor elections; the other part is reaching out to the people behind those tools, such as innovators and entrepreneurs, and the people who use them, like you.

So, as we begin this year, we are renewing our commitment to engagement and to informing the American people and those around the world about our foreign policies. Stay tuned to DipNote, @StateDept, and our Facebook page as we highlight opportunities for you to interact with officials from the State Department and U.S. missions abroad throughout the month of January. We look forward to receiving your questions and feedback, and we thank you for helping us commemorate 21st Century Statecraft month.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/leveraging_21st_century_statecraft/ 2012-01-05T23:51:22+00:00 Art in Embassies (AIE) is pleased to partner with the Department of Defense on a historic exhibition of inspired photographs from overseas service, to be titled "Serving Abroad... Through Their Eyes," as part of AIE's year-long 50th anniversary celebration in 2012.

Any current or former military, civil, and Foreign Service officer may submit a single, compelling photograph from their service abroad for consideration as one of up to a thousand selected for inclusion in an expressive video artwork display. The image captured in the photograph should be of daily life, friendship, places, faces, loss, or triumph and taken since the year 2000. Submissions will be accepted now through February 20, 2012. Rules, entry forms, and guidelines may be found by visiting http://www.ourmilitary.mil/their-eyes/serving-abroad-through-their-eyes. The multi-venue video artwork will be on display during a private, evening reception on November 30, 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and will then travel to the Pentagon, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and other prominent international locations.

A jury selection panel of noted Americans, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Air Force General Richard Myers, Marine General Peter Pace, and General Colin Powell, who also served as Secretary of State; New York Times photographer Joao Silva; and David Gregory, of Meet the Press, will announce the selections on Armed Forces Day, May 19, 2012. The "Best in Show" photographers will be honored at the November 2012 opening celebration.

The direct submission form is here. Simply fill it out and email your image to be included!]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/photography_exhibition_to_honor_service_abroad/ 2012-01-04T15:11:16+00:00
Many of our most exciting programs responded to the needs and opportunities generated by changes in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. Throughout these regions, ECA bolstered English teaching and the Fulbright Program. We also added new International Visitor Leadership Programs to give rising leaders in countries like Tunisia and Libya a look at American entrepreneurship and democratic, transparent governance.

Our cultural and historical preservation work also helped raise the U.S. profile abroad. For instance we restored the historical citadel of Herat, our largest-ever Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation project. ECA and Embassy Baghdad staff helped provide $650,000 in private funding for the Iraqi Institute for Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. We also compiled a list of 242 critical heritage sites in Libya, which NATO safeguarded during its efforts there. And in Europe, Secretary Clinton signed an ECA-implemented bilateral agreement with Greece to protect its cultural heritage.

ECA also continued to advance its perennial mission of engaging with youth, women, and other underserved audiences. We were particularly excited by TechWomen, a new initiative that welcomed 37 women from the Middle East and North Africa to Silicon Valley technology companies for month-long mentorships with key women leaders. In partnership with the five leading U.S. women's colleges, we also launched the Women in Public Service Project, which aims to build a future where women are at least half of the world's political and civic leaders. ECA also celebrated the 100th university of International Women's Day in March with 100 women leaders from 92 countries, and we saw a second thrilling year begin with the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program.

On the youth outreach front, the State Department has welcomed high school and university students from all over the world, ranging from three dozen Brazilian Youth Ambassadors in January to almost 500 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program participants at the end of their time in the U.S. this summer. We also introduced the new J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program website and are reforming and better monitoring the programs that bring foreign students to the United States on J-1 visas.
To boost our internal efforts, ECA launched several new public-private partnerships that expand our outreach and technical capabilities. These included mEnglish, an English-teaching software program for cell phones in Tunisia that came about with the help of a local NGO and Tunisia's largest mobile service provider, reaching millions of subscribers.

Another exciting partnership is with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. We teamed up with the Met to spread the show of respect for -- and interest in -- all cultures and faiths found in the recently reopened Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia. 270 U.S. embassies -- including 25 in the Arab world -- will display exhibit highlights, and our English-teaching classrooms will use the museum's educational materials.

ECA also managed the higher education, study abroad, and other academic components of strategic bilateral dialogues with Brazil, India, Indonesia, Russia, and others. We held exciting and productive higher education summits with India and Indonesia in Washington, D.C. and launched new programs and engagement efforts in each of these countries.

All in all, 2011 was a successful year for ECA and public diplomacy. Together, our programs helped the State Department to shape the foreign policy narrative and to foster mutual understanding among Americans and the international community.

When formal relationships between governments are tense, public diplomacy can often forge a way forward. ECA programs continue to support U.S. policy in high-priority countries: our programs are key parts of every major bilateral Strategic Dialogue, and the people-to-people connections that are at the heart of our mission strengthen and expand our relationships with our allies.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/year_in_review_educational_and_cultural_affairs/ 2012-01-03T16:54:58+00:00 Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) focused on four flagship initiatives last year:

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

Over the past year, our work on clean cookstoves has continued to thrive. In 2011, we built the Alliance infrastructure and strategic base, launched major communications initiatives, and began a wide range of operational priorities, much of which was either led by the U.S. government or made possible because of our strong commitment.

In May, actress Julia Roberts joined the Alliance as Global Ambassador. Throughout the year, she has helped to elevate this issue to the world stage through awareness raising efforts, including a Mother's Day Op-Ed co-authored by Secretary Clinton, and a statement issued in recognition of World Pneumonia Day.

Over the past year, it has been a privilege to continue to work with Secretary Clinton on this effort. As I have said previously, her support has been steadfast. In July, I joined her as she hosted a clean cookstoves event in Chennai, India and she never misses an opportunity to raise the issue with foreign leaders from around the world.

In September, I also had the opportunity to stand on stage at CGI as the Alliance's Culinary Ambassador Jose Andres provided a report to President Clinton and Secretary Clinton on the progress on the Alliance, including new commitments by the U.S. government and our partners.

And in December, the Alliance received UNDP's 2011 South-South Cooperation Award for Partnership, presented to the development solutions that best show the cooperative spirit of South-South cooperation, in a broad-based and egalitarian collaboration.

2011 also saw a number of operational advancements for the Alliance, including the publication of a first ever sector-wide strategy.

Clearly, it has been a busy and productive year for the Alliance. Our joint efforts have positioned the cookstoves sector to achieve unprecedented global progress and, more specifically, positioned the Alliance to achieve its ambitious goal of 100 million households adopting clean and efficient cookstoves by 2020.

Looking forward to 2012, I am confident that this momentum will continue, under the leadership of Alliance Executive Director Radha Muthiah, and with the continued support of our ever-expanding team of cross-sectoral partners.

Partners for a New Beginning

In 2011, Partners for a New Beginning (PNB) established local chapters in nine countries: Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, and the West Bank/Gaza. These chapters met in June at the State Department and in December at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul, and provided support for over 70 projects based on local priorities. All of these efforts support PNB's mission to develop new business opportunities and public-private partnerships to promote economic opportunity, education, exchange, and science and technology.

We are also seeing strong commitment from the U.S. private sector to redouble efforts for economic opportunity and job creation across the MENA region. For example, in December, PNB Vice-Chair Muhtar Kent announced that the Coca-Cola Company is spending $980 million on the largest-ever investment by a multinational company in the Middle East's consumer goods sector. This was the first investment stemming from plans Kent had announced at the World Economic Forum Dead Sea Special Session to invest $5 billion in the region over the next 10 years.

As we look forward to 2012, we will continue to work with the U.S. private sector and the PNB local chapters to further deepen ties, while seeking new business opportunities. We will also focus on ensuring that PNB and related efforts become self-sustaining.

Diaspora Engagement

In May, we convened the first annual Secretary's Global Diaspora Forum, where Secretary Clinton launched the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance -- or IdEA. This innovative partnership platform brings together diaspora communities, the private sector, and public institutions in a collaborative process.

In June, Secretary Clinton announced that we are partnering with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), United Kingdom Department of International Development (DFID), Digicel, Scotiabank, and others on the Caribbean IdEA Marketplace. The U.S. government, through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), is providing $50 million in support for this business plan competition for emerging diaspora entrepreneurs that will officially "open for business" on March 1.

In November, the State Department joined the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Univision Networks, Kauffman Foundation, and m-Via to host Unleashing IdEA, a diaspora event launching Global Entrepreneurship Week. At the event, Secretary Clinton announced that we are now partnering with the IDB, Univision Networks, m-Via, and others to engage diaspora entrepreneurs from Central America and Mexico to support the development of diaspora-centered partnerships that promote trade and investment, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the region.

This partnership -- aptly called "La Idea" -- will establish a regional business competition initiative to support business and social entrepreneurs from the Latin American diaspora. Aimed to promote trade and investment between the United States and the region, this competition will support innovators whose projects meet the policy and credit requirements of all the partners. The U.S. government is committing $100 million from OPIC to support La Idea.

Building on these efforts, I am confident that 2012 will prove to be an even more exciting year for diaspora. There is great anticipation for the 2nd Global Diaspora Forum, which will be held in Washington, D.C. next June. We are also working on a number of initiatives to engage diaspora communities via innovative means -- including the development of a diaspora volunteer corps and a platform for diaspora philanthropy.

Impact Investing

In January, we convened over 80 leaders from government and the investment, corporate, NGO, and academic communities to discuss the current state of impact investing. Based on the recommendations garnered from this convening, we designed an initiative focusing on four areas: policy change and advocacy, thought leadership, building the next generation of leaders, and developing an operational model that will showcase true cross-sectoral engagement.

In the first quarter of 2012, we will convene a Global Impact Economy Forum to launch deliverables associated with our efforts around investing with impact. The forum will also highlight how and why trend-setting corporations, investors, governments, and innovators are deploying smart investment and business strategies and models that yield sustainable commercial, social and environmental returns.

In 2011, GPI also advanced a number of other meaningful partnership activities, including:

· SIFE World Cup: In October, I served as a judge at Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) World Cup 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, where Secretary Clinton announced that we are partnering to co-host SIFE World Cup 2012 in Washington, D.C. The SIFE World Cup is an opportunity for students around the world to present the results of their community outreach projects to a group of prestigious, international business leaders.

· World Food Program: In October, GPI partnered with the World Food Program to host the George McGovern Leadership Award Ceremony and Global Hunger Conference at the State Department. Vice President Biden and Secretary Clinton joined World Food Program USA in honoring Howard G. Buffett and Bill Gates for their contributions to reducing global hunger through the Partnerships for Progress (P4P) program.

· Tunisia Partnerships Forum: In November, the State Department convened the Tunisia Partnerships Forum. This forum brought together top innovators, investors, diaspora leaders, and 21 Tunisians to discuss opportunities in the three sectors that the Tunisian private sector and the new government suggested: tourism, franchising, and information communications technology. In 2012, we plan to develop a stronger network of Tunisian-American leaders by working directly with the Ambassador from Tunisia to the U.S. along with colleagues at OPIC, USAID, and elsewhere in the U.S. government.

· LAUNCH: In partnership with the State Department, NIKE, USAID and NASA, LAUNCH identifies and showcases innovators through a series of competitions and forums. In November, GPI helped to facilitate, and supported communications efforts around the LAUNCH: Energy Challenge at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. GPI will continue to support LAUNCH efforts in 2012, specifically for the upcoming Health challenge.

· Global Entrepreneurship Summit: In December, at the second Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Vice President Biden announced that the State Department is partnering with the Kauffman Foundation to make future summits the signature event of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

· LGBT Fund and Forum: In December, Secretary Clinton announced the creation of the LGBT Global Equality Fund. GPI is partnering with others within the State Department to convene a related forum in the Spring of 2012.

· Partnership Database and Online Toolkit: GPI has developed a comprehensive partnership database and online toolkit that aims to streamline the partnership development and vetting process for the State Department.

· NeXXt: GPI is assisting the Office of the Science & Technology Advisor on NeXXt, an initiative designed to bring young women from Muslim-majority countries to the U.S. for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education at women's colleges.

· Tomodachi Initiative: GPI is supporting the Tomodachi Initiative that Secretary Clinton announced in the aftermath of Japan's earthquakes and tsunami. This initiative will focus on partnerships and programs to empower Japan's youth and entrepreneurs.

· Country Expos: Building on the Shanghai Expo in 2010, GPI continues to support future expos in Korea in 2012, Italy in 2015, and the United States in 2020.

As these examples illustrate, 2011 has been an extremely successful and productive year for partnerships throughout the State Department. As I reflect on our mutual accomplishments, I am impressed by the breadth and depth of our efforts, and energized by the possibilities that lay ahead for 2012 and beyond.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/2011_the_year_in_global_partnerships/ 2012-01-01T16:45:42+00:00 http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entires/happy_new_year_2012/ 2012-01-01T15:25:59+00:00