The Foreign Service Journal, December 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2015 37 problems, transcending the never-ending compromises of diplo- macy, which seem to many both old-world and old-hat.” How can the IVLP evolve to meet the changing dynamics? Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel has called on his colleagues at the State Depart- ment and the wider public diplomacy community to take more risks and “get caught trying” new solutions to both old and new challenges. In that spirit, Global Ties U.S. (formerly the National Council for International Visitors) turned to its IVLP partners and the broader diplomatic community to pinpoint the specific pressures the program faces and asked interviewees to offer rec- ommendations on how the programmight renew itself to ensure continuing success over the next 75 years. The challenges and accompanying recommendations they offered fell into four primary categories: budget, role of technol- ogy, IVLP brand and alumni engagement. Budget Issues: Is This the Cadillac We Can’t Afford Anymore? The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy’s 2015 Comprehensive Annual Report released in September contains a listing of the most expensive and least expensive ECA exchange programs based on cost per participant per day. The IVLP sits at the very top of that list as the most expensive program at $1,138 per participant per day. During the last 20 years the number of IVLP participants has grown steadily. From 2008 to 2011, the number of participants peaked at approximately 5,250 a year. Since 2012, the number has slowly decreased, and in 2014 it was 4,665, in spite of the fact that federal funding for the program had increased. The overall budget for the program is just under $90 million. Despite a modest overall increase in the program budget, the fact is that the dollar is not stretching as far as it used to. For example, the price of airline tickets over the past 40 years has increased nearly 30 percent, even after an adjustment for infla- tion. More recently, hotel rates have been steadily increasing as the economy rebounded during the past three years. To solve budgetary challenges one must either cut costs “If we can find a way to combine both in-person and virtual experiences, I think we can achieve an impactful but more cost-saving format.” —Michelle Kulikauskas, Cultural Vistas IVLP participant from Nigeria Doris Philip Balami Yaro, the executive director and founder of Gabasawa Women and Children Empowerment Initiative, meets students during a school visit in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2014. CASSANDRA MCGUINESS/MINNESOTA INTERNATIONAL CENTER/COURTESY OF GLOBAL TIES U.S.