Due to globalization, the internet, rising education levels, and long-term democratization, citizen diplomacy is growing, and becoming a more important part of diplomacy and international affairs. Thus, in 2020, the Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA), a US-based NGO devoted to advancing the field of public diplomacy, formed the Citizen Diplomacy Research Group (CDRG) to advance the research and practice of citizen diplomacy. In 2023, the CDRG became Citizen Diplomacy International (CDI), a network and program of Learning Life, a Washington DC-based nonprofit devoted to developing innovative learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and diplomacy.
CDI meets every three months online via Zoom for 1.5 hours to share research and news on citizen diplomacy developments worldwide with an eye to building a vibrant global CD sector for a more participatory, equitable and sustainable world.. Meetings typically begin with two presentations on CD research or practice, followed by discussion of the presentations, then news and announcements of past or upcoming international CD-related initiatives, publications, funding, conferences, etc.
Anyone — including scholars, students, citizen diplomacy practitioners, current and retired official diplomats, and others interested — can join CDI to learn, network, and/or present substantial research or practice in citizen diplomacy. For more information or to join the CDI email list, contact email@learninglife.info. You can also connect with CDI members via our Facebook group and Linkedin group, to which you can post citizen diplomacy-related articles, books, events, funding, etc.
Review of meeting agenda. During this time everyone is encouraged to post to the chat a one-paragraph bio about themselves. Introductions via chat saves us time, provides written details about you, and allows us to share your info after the meeting with those who could not attend. In addition, I will share the Zoom chat content to the CDRG email list following the meeting, so whatever you share will get a wider audience.
B) Meeting participants have the opportunity to publicize citizen diplomacy events, publications, projects, programs, and related needs. Participants can also post details and links to the Zoom chat box to share with the wider CDRG email list.
Learning Life Finalist for National “Civvys” Award
This week, the Bridge Alliance announced the finalists for the fifth annual American Civic Collaboration Awards, or “Civvys,” as they have come to be known.
The Civvys are the only national awards program dedicated to celebrating projects that emphasize working together across divides to strengthen communities and empower citizens. By leveraging collaboration as a core strength, these initiatives put community and nation before party, ideology, and narrow interests, embodying a civic spirit that inspires other Americans to take action. This year, in addition to collaboration, impact and scalability, award criteria included an emphasis on building a more diverse and equitable America.
From a record number of nominees, the Civvys Awards Committee announced 16 finalists, across three categories: National, Local and Youth:
National Category
Latinx House
SensibleSchool, Inc.
VoteAmerica
AllVoteNoPlay.org Civic Playbook
American Democracy Project
Local
Uniting for Action on the Maryland Economy
GenUnity
Voters First Virginia
Learning Life
Environmental Justice Coalition
NC Leadership Forum at Duke University
Youth
Certell Inc
Kids Voting Durham
Green Our Planet’s Farmpreneur Program
American Public Square at Jewell: Civics Education Initiative
Kentucky YMCA Youth Association
Learning Life was recognized for its work in building the metro Washington DC Democracy Learning Community (DMV DLC), starting with its regular Democracy Dinners in June 2019. Learning Life has used the Dinners to build a network of over 4,000 democracy sector professionals in the Washington DC metro area whom we invite to the Dinners. Close to 200 people have participated in the Dinners since June 2019, some repeatedly. In 2022, Learning Life is drawing on that growing Dinners network plus further outreach and research to plan for the next steps in the development of the DLC. A vision and action plan is scheduled for release in January 2023. For ways to connect and get involved in the development of the DLC, click the DMV DLC link above.
For more information about the Civvys Award, contact Sachi Bajaj at sachi@bridgealliance.us.
Stakeholder Spotlight: William Schneider
The “Stakeholder Spotlight” is a new occasional series of posts highlighting people who are helping to advance Learning Life’s work. Our second post in this series features Bill Schneider, Ph.D., whom you may recognize if you watched CNN in the 1990s and 2000s. Bill is a frequent participant in Learning Life’s Democracy Dinners and a strong supporter of our broader Democracy Learning Community. To learn more about Bill, click here. For ways you can support Learning Life, click here.
What is your current occupation?
I am currently Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Please tell us more about you.
Besides being Professor Emeritus of Public Policy at George Mason University, I have also been Visiting Professor of Public Affairs at UCLA and Boston College. I was the Cable News Network’s (CNN) senior political analyst from 1990 to 2009. I am now a contributor to Al Jazeera English and The Hill. I am also the author of Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable, published by Simon & Schuster in 2018.
Why did you decide to support Learning Life?
I decided to support Learning Life after being invited to participate in several Democracy Dinner discussions. I found the participants engaging, enthusiastic and deeply concerned about the survival of democratic values and institutions. I am happy to share my long experience writing, speaking and teaching about democracy with them. I believe I was the oldest participant, having observed, covered and taught democratic politics all over the world for more than fifty years.
Seeking Family Storytelling Judges
Learning Life seeks existing groups of people in the USA and abroad interested in family, world affairs, and/or storytelling for an extraordinary opportunity: serving as volunteer judges for the family storytelling performances of international family diplomacy (FD) trainees in October 2022.
From July 10 to October 23 this year, Learning Life, a Washington DC-based educational nonprofit, is training its first cohort of FD trainees, culminating in their family storytelling performances in October live online to audiences of judges. The July-October training is part of Learning Life’s Family Diplomacy Initiative. FDI is an ambitious, long-term effort to connect, train and empower families to participate in decision-making at local to global levels. We envision a world more connected and caring because every family has one or more family diplomats, and those citizen diplomats advocate via nonprofits, businesses, media and governments for the needs, concerns and aspirations of families worldwide.
The ability to tell family stories effectively is one powerful way to speak to family needs, concerns and aspirations. Hence, in July-October, the FD trainees will each create their own story about their own family or a family they know, connect it to a wider issue or topic (happiness or depression, health, love, drug abuse, violence, poverty, wealth, 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 to a live audience of ordinary people who will serve as the storytelling judges. The storytellers who receive the highest scores from their judges will receive cash awards. Hence, Learning Life is now recruiting (a) FD trainees to learn about family storytelling as well as citizen diplomacy and what is happening with/to families worldwide, and (b) FD storytelling judges. For details on the FD trainee opportunity, click here. For details about volunteering as a group of storytelling judges, please read on.
What is involved?
Judging is not a time-demanding task. It requires a minimum of about 3 hours and a maximum of about 6 hours, composed of the following:
On a date and time in September or October for the group, the judges will meet for about 30-60 minutes via Zoom with a Learning Life staff member to (a) learn how to judge the family storytelling performances using a simple online scoring rubric, and (b) discuss audio-visual and any other logistical preparations. Judges will also then be able to ask any questions they have about FDI, or the scoring process.
On one, two or three dates and times in October that works for the group, the judges will meet for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours each time to hear and score the family stories (each story 5 minutes max) of 4-8 FD trainees from different countries. The storytellers will tell their stories in English. Each judge will independently score each story using a scoring sheet that can be printed out or filled in on the internet using their cell phone, then proceed together to the next story. After the storytelling and scoring, the judges will have an opportunity to ask the storytellers questions and hold a discussion to learn more about the storytellers and their families, and have a discussion moderated by a Learning Life staff member and/or a member of the group of judges. It is up to the judging group to determine if they wish to commit to 1, 2 or 3 storytelling sessions.
If all goes well, and each group of judges is willing, they will have the opportunity to judge future cohorts of FDI family storytellers in subsequent years as Learning Life deepens and expands our FD training program.
What are the benefits?
Judges get the opportunity to connect with people from different countries and walks of life, learn about their families, reflect cross-culturally about family life, and help support the training of family diplomats for a more caring world.
What do judges need to qualify?
Groups of judges must:
Speak English at an advanced to fluent level.
Be existing formal organizations or associations of people with explicit interest in world affairs, family, and/or storytelling. The group must have at least ten individual members able and willing to participate. These groups can be mothers/fathers/parents or family clubs, international affairs associations, performing arts or storytelling groups, high school or college classes, or else. No storytelling or judging experience is required.
Have one person from your group who will take the lead in communicating with Learning Life staff and collecting and reporting your group’s scores.
Have a public or private room (e.g., in a library, or someone’s home) to meet that is quiet, and visually non-distracting. The room should ideally have a screen on which you can project a live Zoom session and audio strong enough to listen to storytellers, or otherwise one person’s computer around which your group can gather to watch and listen clearly to the storytellers.
How do we get involved?
Is your group interested in serving as storytelling judges, or do you have questions? Contact us at email@learninglife.info.
Know someone interested in participating as a storytelling FD trainee? They can click here for more information.
