The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2009

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 9 A Boost for Public Diplomacy The ingenuity and success of pub- lic diplomacy officers worldwide in “telling America’s story” and promot- ing foreign policy objectives —despite acute shortages in personnel and re- sources —was celebrated by the Pub- lic Diplomacy Alumni Association on May 3 ( www.publicdiplomacy.org ) . The association announced this year’s recipients of its Award for Achieve- ment in Public Diplomacy, naming three individuals and a State Depart- ment team for special recognition. Embassy Skopje Public Affairs Of- ficer Ryan Rowland and Assistant PAO Amy Storrow earned top honors for reaching youth and emerging leaders in a challenging, multi-ethnic society. Macedonian-speaker Rowland and Al- banian-speaker Storrow created a sys- tematic outreach to the younger generation in this fledgling democracy, where ethnicity shapes virtually all as- pects of life. Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Bulgars, Bosnians and others comprise a society requiring remarkable ingenu- ity for PD outreach to be successful. Highlights of their effort include youth camps for more than 1,100 young people, an expanded Fulbright program and a creative writing program. A day- break fest around the U.S. election hosted by Ambassador Philip Reeker drew more than 500 guests, including students and professionals. Tristram Perry, assistant informa- tion officer for broadcast media in Jakarta, scored high for his initiative and professionalism. He master- minded the outstanding media expo- sure of Secretary Clinton during her February visit to Indonesia, which ad- vanced her “smart power” approach. Her appearance on a trend-setting TV youth show, “Awesome,” triggered a wildly enthusiastic reaction. Perry also arranged for a popular Indonesian journalist to join Clinton’s traveling press team to produce major “inside” stories. And he organized a yearlong “Go Green” theme involving Earth Day and supported by National Geo- graphic that focused attention on the environmental challenges ahead. The PDAA also saluted three PD officers in Washington’s International Information ProgramBureau who pro- duced the engaging worldwide video contest, “Democracy’s Video Challen- ge.” Outreach Coordinator Lori Brut- ten, Director of Publications George Clack and Director of Current Issues David Shelby planned and executed this creative program to involve foreign audiences, especially youth, in a global dialogue about democracy. Partici- pants began their two-minute videos with the phrase “Democracy is…” Ninety PD posts joined the “Chal- lenge.” Nearly 900 videos were re- ceived — including 70 from Iran, along with many from China, Russia, Cuba and Burma. Entrants posted their videos on YouTube. Jurors se- lected from NGO partners will name the finalists, and the winners will be chosen by public voting on YouTube. Meanwhile, on May 21, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved Judith McHale as the under secretary of State for public diplomacy. The former president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, McHale is the daughter of an FSO. She was born in New York City and grew up in Britain and apartheid-era South Africa. C YBERNOTES D emocracy promotion has no party. If anyone here thinks that democracy promotion is the property of Republicans or of Democrats, that it rises and falls with the polls and fades in and out from administration to ad- ministration, I am here to disa- buse them. Democracy promotion is not the policy of President Bush or President Obama — it is the policy of the United States of America. — House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., address- ing the board of the Interna- tional Foundation for Electoral Systems on June 2, www.ifes.org