The power of citizen diplomacy


The future of the world depends on citizens connecting with one another. Let me explain.

About a month ago, I found myself sitting in a cozy but cluttered dining room in a modest apartment in Brussels. A friend and I, Americans visiting from the United States, were about to share a home-cooked meal with a lovely middle-aged couple whom we had just met.

Our hosts’ two small children ran around, hurdling over toys scattered across the carpeted living room. Delicious smells wafted from simmering pots and pans lining the galley kitchen. The bustle of multiple conversations filled the air.

As we began to eat, we learned more about each other. Our gracious hosts were Slovak and Slovenian immigrants. Both had accomplished careers in government and public service. Both were passionate about family and loved to travel. My friend and I, in turn, shared more about our own careers, families, backgrounds and interests. By the end of the meal, new friendships were born.

When we finished, one of our hosts left the table and headed to the back of the apartment, out of sight, for an extended period of time. When they returned, I asked if everything was OK. I was unprepared for the response.

In a very nonchalant tone, they explained that they were checking on a Ukrainian family living in the spare room of their two-bedroom apartment. Stunned and confused, my friend and I leaned in to listen. The family of three — a mother, father and daughter — had been living with them for several weeks. Both parents worked, bought their own groceries and used the kitchen when their hosts were sleeping. I wondered aloud whether the family may want to come out and meet us. Our hosts replied that even though they encouraged the family to treat the apartment like it was their own, they rarely left their bedroom, for a simple but understandable reason: They did not want to be more of a burden.

As devastating as it was to be a refugee family, the fact that they felt like a burden was almost too much to process. After finishing our meal and departing, I spent that night reflecting on that meal and thinking about that Ukrainian family.

For one, the generosity, openness and normality with which our hosts opened up their modest apartment to the Ukrainian family was remarkable. But at the same time, while we had just befriended this lovely family, we had missed an opportunity to engage with and learn about another.

As a husband and father myself, I couldn’t imagine the pain, suffering and grief they were going through, and I respected their right to privacy and anonymity. But I still felt a responsibility to talk to them, sympathize with them and hear their story. Indeed, deep down I felt a duty to understand more. And then an ultimate duty to share their story.

Which is why I was there in the first place.

My friend and I were part of a cohort of Americans who traveled to Europe under the auspices of the German Marshall Fund of the US’ monthlong Marshall Memorial Fellowship. We were there to engage in something quite simple: citizen diplomacy, or the pursuit of citizen -to-citizen connections, cross-cultural understanding and common values. Our mission, in essence, was to have encounters just like the one I described.

My story is but one of many stories of not just my colleagues, but of a breed of citizen diplomats seeking better international relations by creating open spaces to better connect and communicate. For it is exactly these safe, open and unifying spaces that the world needs more of right now.

Today, we face unprecedented global challenges. The rise of great power competition. An impending climate crisis. Global democratic backsliding. Rapid advances in disruptive technology. A loss of trust in institutions. Each of these problems creates and sows division and is not bounded by borders.

The world desperately needs more citizen diplomacy that focuses on grassroots engagement, rallies around common values, celebrates what makes us different and seeks a common future. We all need to tell our stories. We need to listen and empathize with others, help lift up the weak and act as examples of the glorious power and change that an engaged citizen can bring forth. We need more meals like the one I had that evening.

My one regret on that trip was that I didn’t meet that Ukrainian family. But I still hold out hope that others may and that they will continue on the journey of forging a global social fabric that values ​​everyone for the one thing that truly unites us: our humanity.

Tom Koch currently works as a director of global capital and strategy at FCA Corp. in Houston, the adviser to an Africa-focused investment fund. He is also currently a major in the US Marine Corps Reserve and served for almost 10 years on active duty in the Marines.




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Jorge Oliveira

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketing-online-ireland/ https://muckrack.com/jorge_oliveira

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