Train to Become an International Family Diplomat

Why?

Across the world, most people value family, yet families are not usually represented in the decisions that governments, business, nonprofits and media make that affect families.  Learning Life’s Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI) aims to empower families to participate in decision-making at local to global levels so that their needs, concerns and aspirations are heard to help build a more caring world.  For that to happen we need skilled, committed Family Diplomats (FDs): family volunteers around the world who can advocate effectively about the needs, concerns and aspirations of families like theirs via governments, businesses, nonprofits and media.    

What?

In 2023, Learning Life is excited to continue our FD Training Program. The training has two parts:

Part 1: July 9-August 20: Learn about (a) trends, patterns and issues facing families across the world, plus (b) citizen diplomacy (i.e., citizens collaborating internationally on shared interests and issues) in order to develop your basic knowledge as a family-diplomat-in-training.  

Part 2: August 27-October 29:  Learn about storytelling, then practice and perform a family story of your own.  The ability to tell family stories effectively is one powerful way to speak to the needs, concerns and aspirations of families.  Thus, in Part 2, FD trainees each create their own family story (ideally about their own family, and otherwise about a family they know), connect the story to a wider issue or topic (happiness or depression, health, love, drug abuse, violence, poverty, wealth, corruption, inequality or equality, immigration, refugee crises, faith and religion, gay rights, climate change, war and/or peace, etc.), practice their stories together in weekly meetings, culminating in performance of their stories in front of a live international audience.  

“Family Diplomacy is an eye opener to the world of diplomacy. We all know problems that affect our families, societies, and by extension humanity globally.  But for the FD intervention, I couldn’t structure, tailor and share those issues to attract attention.” –Aaron Akomea, Ghana

Conduct policy: FD trainees must be respectful of all others involved in all FDI settings (Zoom, Facebook, email, etc.).  FDI is a learning community, so your focus should be on learning, not pushing your views, interests or desires on other people.  Learning Life reserves the right to remove anyone from FDI (including removal from the training and the FDI Facebook group and chat groups) without explanation for any reported harassment, discrimination, or other abuse.

Who?

Anyone is welcome to observe any of the training meetings, but for those who plan to complete the training, you are eligible if you:

1. Are old enough to understand and be interested in adult conversation about family life, and varied challenges facing families.  Note: These challenges may include sensitive issues, like suicide and sexual violence, and FD family stories may involve graphic descriptions of these issues.

2. Have an internet connection strong enough to participate in live Zoom meetings via audio at least, if not video, with minimal lagging or dropping of the connection.

3. Speak English at a level advanced enough to understand and be understood in our English-only FD training meetings.

4. Are interested and motivated to learn about storytelling, citizen diplomacy, and family life worldwide.

“​​The FD training made me a better storyteller.  I now know how to more effectively structure and present a story, and that enables me to advocate more effectively for myself, my family, and the issues we care about.” – Nusrat Jahan Nipa, Bangladesh

For both Part 1 and 2, Learning Life does not require but does strongly encourage FD trainees to participate as two or more family members, such as two or more siblings, a mother and daughter, two parents and children, grandfather and grandchildren, or else.

When?

The training starts Sunday, July 9, 2023, 12:00-1:30pm New York/Washington DC time, and will occur every Sunday at the same time until October 29.

Where?

The training occurs strictly via Zoom.  There will be no in-person meetings to save on cost and allow more people worldwide to participate.

Cost?

Synchronous training fees (includes participation in live Zoom trainings on Sundays):

$975 = Whole FD training (Parts 1 and 2) for 1 family (up to 4 family members)

$490 = Whole FD training, (Parts 1 and 2), for 1 person.

$475 = Half FD training (Part 1 or 2) for 1 family (up to 4 family members)

$245 = Half FD training (Part 1 or 2) for 1 person.

Asynchronous training fees (excludes Part 2 on storytelling, and participation in live Zoom trainings on Sundays):

$490 = Half FD training (Part 1 only) for 1 family (up to 4 family members) / $245 = Half FD training (Part 1 only) for 1 person.

The above fees help fund FDI, including publicizing the training, recruiting training staff and participants, developing the curriculum, communications with and about trainees before, during and after the training, cash awards for most improved trainees, and evaluation and reporting.  You can pay your training fee here by credit card, or bank account ACH transfer.  At the payment page, make sure to type “FD training” in the “Note” box.  If you need to pay via another platform, Learning Life also accepts payments via Paypal.  Contact us at email@learninglife.info for Paypal details.

For organizations and individuals who wish to sponsor one or more FDs’ training, click here for details and benefits.

“The family diplomat training has helped me share thoughts with people from different cultural backgrounds.  It has also equipped me to tell better family stories, and advocate for families that have been oppressed, depressed, neglected, scattered and abandoned by societies. My thanks and appreciation to Learning Life staff and interns for making me better able to understand the real meaning and roles of family in society.” – Leroy Quoi, Liberia

A limited number of scholarships are available to cover the whole fee.  Those who cannot afford the above fees can request a partial to full scholarship by email at email@learninglife.info.

Benefits?

All those who complete the requirements below for Part 1 and/or Part 2 of the training will receive a certificate of completion, and are eligible for up to $500 in cash awards (see awards details below).  To gain a certificate, each participant must: 

Part 1 Certificate of Completion: 

  1. Attend at least 5 of 7 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from July 9 to August 20.  
  2. Actively participate in at least half of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Complete a survey before and after the knowledge training.

Part 1 Certificate of Completion, with Honors: 

  1. Attend 7 of 7 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from July 9 to August 20.  
  2. Actively participate in at least 2/3 of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Complete a survey before and after the knowledge training.
  4. Perform at at least a B (85% or higher) level on the post-training survey’s knowledge question.

“Some of the family stories are hard to listen to because of the difficult issues they describe, but we need to listen to them. This [sexual violence] is a common problem in refugee camps in Africa and the entire world. It makes me proud to be part of the Family Diplomacy Initiative, and to use family diplomacy to bring attention to these issues and discuss them.” -Gustavo Carvajal, Costa Rica

Part 2 Certificate of Completion: 

  1. Attend at least 7 of 10 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from August 27 to October 29.  
  2. Actively participate in at least half of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Perform a video-recorded story at the start and end of the storytelling training.

Part 2 Certificate of Completion, with Honors: 

  1. Attend 9 of 10 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from August 27 to October 29.  
  2. Actively participate in at least 2/3 of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Perform a video-recorded story at the start and end of the storytelling training.
  4. Get at least 1 out of 6 more points from the pre-training to post-training performance of your story.

Parts 1 & 2 Certificate of Completion: 

  1. Attend at least 13 of 17 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from July 9 to October 29.  
  2. Actively participate in at least half of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Complete a survey before and after the Part 1 knowledge training.
  4. Perform a video-recorded story at the start and end of the Part 2 storytelling training.

Parts 1 & 2 Certificate of Completion, with Honors: 

  1. Attend 15 of 17 FD Training meetings every Sunday, 12:00-1:30pm (New York/Washington DC time) from July 9 to October 29.  
  2. Actively participate in at least 2/3 of the meetings they attend.  See “Attendance & Participation” section below for what actively participating means.     
  3. Complete a survey before and after the Part 1 knowledge training.
  4. Perform a video-recorded story at the start and end of the Part 2 storytelling training.
  5. Perform (a) at at least a B (85% or higher) level on the Part 1 post-training survey’s knowledge question, OR (b) get at least 1 out of 6 more points from the pre-training to post-training performance of your story in Part 2.

Attendance & Participation

Your full attendance and participation are vital if you want to get a certificate of completion or qualify for the cash awards. We mark any individual as late if you arrive more than ten minutes after we start, or if you leave more than ten minutes before we finish.  So, to be safe, simply attend the full meeting. 

“Actively participate” means: ask questions, answer questions, volunteer your thoughts by voice or by text via the Zoom chat, and have your camera on at all times, unless your internet connection strength does not allow you to have both audio and video on at the same time.  If you must have your camera off in order to be able to listen and participate, please know that we may ask you a question during the meeting to ensure you are paying attention and may mark you as absent if you do not respond.  Participation in the FD training is a privilege, not a right, and given the work we invest in your training, as well as the completion certificates and cash awards we offer, we expect you to do your part by consistently attending and actively participating. 

One caveat/condition to the above: If we see that you are with us throughout, from start to finish of the meeting, but drop in and out, that is a sign your internet connection is not good and you may not have control over that, so we don’t mark you as late or absent for that.  We trust you will not use this to deliberately skip out during the training meetings as this only hurts your chances of learning, connecting, and qualifying for the completion certificate with honors and for the cash prizes.   

Cash awards: 

Up to five most improved FD trainee individuals or families are eligible to receive cash prizes: $250 (USD) for individuals, $500 for families in which two or more family members participated in the training.  To qualify for the cash awards, each person must (a) complete the requirements above for the Parts 1 & 2 Certificate of Completion, and (b) perform at at least a B (85% or higher) level on the Part 1 post-training survey’s knowledge question, OR (c) get at least 1 out of 6 more points from the pre-training to post-training performance of your story in Part 2.  If more than five trainees qualify, the top scorers in (b) and (c) combined will be the winners.  Participants taking part in the training as two or more family members must also perform their pre- and post-training family stories together.

Each individual, whether training alone or with family members, must meet the above criteria (a), (b) and (c) to be eligible for the cash awards.  “Up to five” means there is no guarantee that there will be five awards since fewer than five may meet the criteria. 

A group of Learning Life volunteers will determine who gets certificates with or without honors, and the cash awards by scoring the FD trainees’ Part 1 pre- and post-training surveys measuring citizen diplomacy and global family knowledge, plus their Part 2 pre- and post-training video-recorded story performances measuring storytelling skill.  These volunteers are not storytelling experts, just ordinary people who will use the same scoring rubric to numerically evaluate each knowledge survey and storytelling performance.  Important: the judges will be evaluating who are the most improved storytellers, not the best storytellers.

The certificate recipients and cash award winners will be announced at Learning Life’s end-of-year event, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, December 9, 2023, 2-3pm New York time.  This event will be recorded for those who cannot make the event online or in-person, and the certificate and honors winners will be announced via email and social media after the event.

Cash awards will be paid via Paypal, Venmo, Sendwave, MoneyGram, Payoneer, Western Union, or other means.

“I loved engaging with other people from different nationalities and getting to know the struggles that others are facing.” -Tadiwa Mudede, Zimbabwe

Questions?

If you have questions, feel free to contact Learning Life at email@learninglife.info.

Ready to Apply?

If you feel you are qualified and motivated to participate in the second year of this extraordinary international FD Training Program, please fill out this application survey.  The survey should take you no more than 10 minutes total to complete.  We will then contact you to complete a screening interview.