#GWElliott – Page 2 – The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication

January 2, 2024January 2, 2024

World Expos: Grand scale public diplomacy effort

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

At last year’s December First Monday Forum, a panel of Senior Foreign Service Officers discussed the importance of expos in the 21st century. The First Monday Forums are a recurring partnership between IPDGC and the Public Diplomacy Council of America.

The panel comprised of Matthew Asada, U.S. Public Diplomat in Residence 2022–24, Nini Forino, the Director of Alumni Affairs in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Beatrice Camp, Senior Advisor at the Department of State on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) shared their experiences and knowledge of these mega-events.

Chairing the panel was Mark Ritchie, former Minnesota Secretary of State and co-founder of Expo USA.

The panelists underscored the significance of expos when it comes to cultural exchange and public diplomacy. Asada had been the Deputy Commissioner of General of the USA Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. “It is important to have an eye for metrics,” he said, outlining the partnership and planning strategies he kept in mind during Expo 2020 Dubai.

Asada broke down expos through four lenses: the governing body, the organizer, the participant, and the spectator. According to him, each of these elements contributed to the advantages and challenges of participating and hosting mega-events that have a large reach.

All the panelists supported the argument that expos do have a place in the 21st century, despite the alternative views in the broader public diplomacy community about their efficiency given the high costs of organizing, building, staffing, and running world expos. To the panelists, expos are platforms that connect people and businesses, and build networks that can have a positive impact.

The main takeaway for the FMF audience was that the opportunities for introducing foreign perspectives and ideas to a country’s national economy and inspiring innovation are – as the saying goes – priceless!

https://youtu.be/VTOvWUwxOJ4?si=ya4BZqYjzzglMstp

December 19, 2023April 23, 2024

Climate Diplomacy

Iceland’s Ambassador talks about the urgency to take on the challenges of climate change

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

At the 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture, Iceland’s Ambassador to the U.S., Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, spoke on Iceland’s position on climate change, especially in the Arctic region.

She discussed the challenges that her country has faced advocating for climate change as the most pressing global issue. The Lecture was attended by an in-person audience at GW’s Lehman Auditorium at the Science and Engineering Hall, and live-streamed.

Photo (L-R): William and Patricia Roberts (representing the Walter Roberts Endowment), Ambassador Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, Frank Sesno, Executive Director of Planet Forward, and William Youmans, Director of IPDGC.

Titled “Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency”, the Lecture featured Ambassador Ellertsdóttir talking about Iceland’s energy development. Being one of the poorest countries in Europe, Iceland began with fossil fuels but started searching for more sustainable energy sources after World War 2. As the world’s largest green energy and electricity producer per capita, Iceland has been using renewable energy for over a century.

“We are powered by 100%. By renewable energy – geothermal and hydro. (It) made perfect economic sense, and…changed our (Icelanders) life drastically,” she said.

Ellertsdóttir noted: “But still, global warming is felt in Iceland, and we can see our glaciers melting. I can see it with my own eyes, I remember the way the glaciers looked when I first traveled. And what they are looking like now is a great difference. (Some) of them have vanished completely.”

The challenge for Iceland is to encourage these efforts on a global scale. Ellertsdóttir explained that the Icelandic government has been working to fulfill the goals of the Paris Agreement, … focusing on local municipalities, private companies, and rallying individuals in a collective effort to reduce emissions. The Icelandic Climate Action Plan calls for the country to be independent from fossil fuels by 2050, and carbon neutral before 2040. Currently, efforts are being made to cut greenhouse gases by 55% by 2030.

While she had hopes that research, innovation, and technology will help along the way, she said that governments must lead by example. In fact, current global conflicts show how important it is to focus on energy security.

In taking questions from the audience, Ellertsdóttir answered an undergraduate student, studying International Climate Policy at GW, who asked about public transportation and reducing private car use. “I’m a public transport person,” Ellertsdóttir admitted but noted “For me, it would have been a no-brainer to have like electric cars, electric buses from many, many years ago. (But) people are so attached to their cars… I mean, people get so angry if someone wants to take away the car.”

At the close of the Lecture, Ambassador Ellertsdóttir reminded all that climate action is a human rights and justice issue and needed to be inclusive – women and girls, indigenous groups, rural and urban communities all need to have a seat at the table. “We need champions for our planet”.

This Walter Roberts Endowment, event is organized by the GW Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication with support from Planet Forward, an initiative to teach environmental storytelling to GW students.

Additional information by Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator.

November 16, 2023November 30, 2023

Communicating climate change

Iceland’s ambassador speaks at the 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture

The 2023 Walter Roberts Annual Lecture will feature HE Ambassador Bergdis Ellertsdottir, Iceland’s ambassador to the U.S.

Ambassador Ellertsdottir (left) will speak on the topic of “Climate Diplomacy: Communicating with Urgency”. In this talk, she will discuss the unique position of Iceland in global debates about climate change, particularly the Arctic region. She will discuss the communication challenges and her country’s advocacy on what scientists recognize as the most pressing global issue.

It is no surprise that Arctic affairs are a top priority for the country. Iceland lies completely within the Arctic, with the Arctic Circle passing through its northernmost community, Grimsey Island (circled), 40 kilometers off its north coast. The effects of climate change are very evident in the receding of Iceland’s glaciers and ocean acidification impacting the surrounding marine environment.

Following Amb. Ellertsdottir ‘s lecture, SMPA Professor Frank Sesno will host a conversation and moderate the Q&A session. Sesno is the Founding Director of Planet Forward, a project of the Center for Innovative Media that teaches environmental storytelling to GW students. The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) and the Walter Roberts Endowment are collaborating with Planet Forward for the Annual Lecture.

Dr. William Youmans, Director of IPDGC, will deliver welcoming remarks at the start of the event.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm ET(A light reception will be provided at 5:15pm)

Venue: Lehman Auditorium, Science & Engineering Hall, B1220, 800 22nd Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20052

RSVP for the event

November 13, 2023November 13, 2023

Cybersecuring Democracy

First Monday Forum on election cybersecurity as a PD Focus

By Alexis Posel, IPDGC Communications Assistant

Adam Clayton Powell III and Judy Kang, Executive Director and Program Manager respectively of the USC Initiative on Cybersecurity (pictured with Joel Fischman, PDCA President), spoke on the challenges of election cybersecurity in the digital age. Powell and Kang spoke as a part of November’s First Monday Forum, a recurring collaboration between IPDGC and the Public Diplomacy Council of America (PDCA).

The message was simple: adversaries are attacking democratic elections. Powell explained that non-governmental entities access information such as donor lists and contacts to gain entrance into defense facilities that can disrupt campaign operations. After doing so, these entities, mainly from Russia and China, cause chaos and insecurity in election freedom in democratic nations worldwide.

Powell underscored that “ the reality is that we’re in a race with no finish line,” when it comes to solving cybersecurity challenges for democracies around the world. He expressed concern that the upcoming 2024 election may be more vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks than any other election cycle.

The reason, Powell stated, is that there are more common attack vectors worldwide such as weak passwords, multi-factor authentication, social engineering such as phishing, and unprotected data on electronic devices.

The main concern in 2024? Artificial intelligence flooding campaigns and voters with fake videos and misinformation that could falsely sway the electorate.

https://youtu.be/6hZviJy1beQ

The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative began as a non-partisan project to help educate and protect US campaigns and elections, with support from Google. The initiative expanded in 2022 to include democracies in Europe, Asia, and Africa to exchange best practices in election security.

November 1, 2023April 23, 2024

Bringing the world to Boise

Global Ties Idaho promotes mutual understanding between Idahoans and visitors from across the globe

By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator

In May this year, IPDGC and the Walter Roberts Endowment recognized Idaho Senator James Risch for his contributions to U.S. global engagement. As part of that recognition, nonprofit Global Ties Idaho was awarded a small grant of $5000 to organize public diplomacy programs that serve the Idahoan community.

Recently, Global Ties Idaho participated in the Idaho State Museum Hispanic Heritage Day celebration, ¡Fiesta! The museum event was a celebration of Idaho’s Hispanic heritage and diverse cultures that featured music, art, food, and performances.

Global Ties Idaho organized a booth to introduce participants in a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) who were from Latin America. Maya Duratovic, a member of the board, said that “while Idahoans are familiar with Hispanic Mexican culture, this was an opportunity to meet people from other countries in Latin America – El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Guatemala”.

The IVLP participants were law enforcement professionals visiting the U.S. to learn about Community Policing and were in Boise for a week.

From left: Jaime Enrique Carballo Castro (El Salvador), Capt. Francisco Perea Fuentes (Panama), Maya Duratovic (Global Ties Idaho), Patricia Fernanda Feijoo Gallo (Ecuador), Ariel Fabrizio Ojeda Aguilera (Paraguay), Carole Schroeder (Global Ties Idaho), Jorge Luis Cartejena Nunez (Honduras)

By creating this opportunity at the museum, over 1000 visitors were able to meet the IVLP participants and learn more about their country’s diverse cultures, people, and histories.

IPDGC has been able to support nonprofits in other states in creating programs for their community; thanks in part to their Congressional representative’s understanding of U.S. public diplomacy and efforts to support that engagement. Read more about past programs supported by these microgrants.

October 10, 2023April 23, 2024

Remembering Fulbright: The Senator, The Program, And Public Diplomacy

Dr. Lonnie R. Johnson, former Executive Director of the binational Fulbright Commission in Austria, spoke on the history of the education exchange known as the Fulbright Scholars Program, named after its founder Senator J. William Fulbright from Arkansas. This presentation was October’s First Monday Forum, IPDGC’s collaborative event with the Public Diplomacy Council of America.

Fulbright’s commitment to global peace came followed the horrific experiences of World War 2; he would become an outspoken opponent of US involvement in Vietnam. However, as a Southern man of the time, he was also consistently opposed legislation that would protect the civil rights of Black Americans during the 50s. This has resulted in the struggle within the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to rebrand the program.

Johnson disagrees with this move and has written about the need to recognize the need for a truthful telling of this history and questions efforts to exclude references to Fulbright and his foundational vision. “U.S. public diplomacy should be fact-based… the Fulbright program without J. William Fulbright doesn’t make sense,” Johnson said.

He added that the erasure of Fulbright and his contributions from his namesake program runs counter to its commitment to a free and honest exchange of ideas, and threatens to damage public perception of the program at home and abroad. In April this year, he posted his views in an open letter to the global Fulbright community. Johnson is currently writing a book on the history and contributions of Sen. J. William Fulbright to foreign policy and international education programs.

Joel Fischmann, PDCA President in closing the forum commented, “We need the reminder that these bigger-than-life historical figures have flaws”.

Johnson traveled from Vienna, Austria to speak at the event held at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs.

https://youtu.be/T_AaM-a8QJE?si=E2OG2NPOdrViyjDM

Recording of the October First Monday Forum: Remembering Fulbright