The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 Such coordinated engagement becomes even more effective and enduring when manifested in terms of what I like to call “monuments” and “people on the ground.” Let me use my recent experiences as a pub- lic affairs officer in Ethiopia and Kosovo to highlight the impact of such an approach. A Tale of Three Universities Earlier this year I visited Haramaya University, located near the historic Muslim city of Harar in northeastern Ethiopia. USAID established it in 1954 as an agricultural college to train Ethiopian agronomists and other agricul- tural experts. As I entered the administration building’s lobby, I saw a series of almost two dozen portraits of the university’s presidents. The first six were all Americans; in fact, it was not until 1963 that an Ethiopian was appointed to head the school. Since then, all presidents have been Ethiopi- ans. The current holder of that office, Dr. Belay Kassa, proudly declared that his university was “built by the Americans” and all the students and faculty know it as the “American university.” On the wall outside the main door is a large marble plaque that details the founding of the school, and explains how the U.S. government built it and Oklahoma State University ran it for several years until the Ethiopians could take it over. Soon after the communist Derg regime overthrew Em- peror Haile Selassie’s government in 1974, however, the marble sign was plastered over with cement and the por- traits of the presidents removed, to deny the United States any credit for the university. For almost 20 years, students in this predominantly Muslim region of Ethiopia came and went without any mention of the founding role of the U.S. That all changed in 1991, when the regime was over- thrown. Once it became clear that communismwould not return and it was politically safe to acknowledge America’s contributions, an older member of the faculty told the new president about the marble sign. The university quickly uncovered, cleaned and restored it, and it now speaks proudly to the many visitors who come and go every day. Likewise, the portraits of the presidents were pulled out of storage and restored to their rightful place. At Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia’s flagship univer- sity and the alma mater of almost all of the nation’s leaders for decades, the John F. Kennedy Library stands proudly in the center of the cam- pus. Its American “look” and 1960s-style architecture mark it as a unique structure, reminding every student that it was a gift from the American people. After nearly 50 years, the library continues to be one of the most at- tractive buildings on campus. Likewise, while I was PAO in Pristina we took the lead in establishing the American University of Kosovo as a public-private partnership that received no U.S. funding in its startup phase. It has since been able to obtain USAID funding and benefits from USAID scholarships, but that was not true in the beginning. Since opening its doors in 2003, the AUK is now considered the most prestigious uni- versity in Kosovo, and its impact as an American institution with American administrators and faculty can hardly be overestimated. It has already educated more than a thou- sand students, and its graduates are starting businesses, working throughout the government and making a differ- ence across all areas of society. As an English-language institution, the American Uni- versity of Kosovo is also beginning to attract Serbian stu- dents. Studying alongside Albanian peers, they are making friends across the ethnic divide and building relationships that will have a long-term impact on Kosovo’s society. Rethinking Foreign Assistance These kinds of “monuments” would seem to be an ex- tremely cost-effective way of achieving public diplomacy benefits in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. Each project is usually a one-off expense that does not require a long-term financial commitment or ongoing support, yet can generate decades of positive publicity. Sadly, though, they are no longer the stuff of our foreign aid. Current U.S. assistance to Ethiopia is heavily focused on food security and health (HIV/AIDS and malaria). While these needs are certainly important, in both cases our commitment is unending, with little chance of the as- sistance program ever becoming self-sustaining. Both types of aid cost vastly more than either the university or the library in today’s dollars, and ending either program will generate negative publicity for the U.S. Further, as is usually the case with humanitarian assistance, the mem- F O C U S Public diplomacy has never been the sole purview of one government agency or one embassy section.