SDDC Board Member and longtime supporter, Susan Flieder, showed the ultimate commitment by traveling to Washington D.C. with us in March 2024 to attend the Global Ties U.S. National Meeting. Below, Susan shares her thoughts on the experience, and why she sees immense value in citizen diplomacy.
The first time I ever flew on a plane was from Chicago to London when I was in 11th grade. My best friend’s father, Ian Lisk, had organized for our 75-member suburban high school church choir to tour England and Mr. Lisk’s home country, Scotland. Throughout our two-week trip, we stayed in the homes of locals, who welcomed us with open arms. Although we didn’t call it that, this was my first experience with citizen diplomacy. I loved it!
Fast forward to early 2020, now after years of traveling abroad and growing up with a father who could communicate effectively in at least 17 languages, I was excited to have the opportunity to join the Board of the San Diego Diplomacy Council. Never mind that, thanks to the pandemic, this was the end of any international travel for a while the idea of the SDDC intrigued me. Still, and maybe because of the shutdown around the globe, it was not immediately evident to me how the SDDC worked and why its various programs are important.
Following a remarkable SDDC sponsored trip to Colombia in the fall of 2022, I wanted to dig in more deeply. When our Executive Director, Heidi Knuff, invited me to attend the Global Ties U.S. National Meeting in March 2024, I jumped at the opportunity. From day one the conference was incredibly memorable and meaningful as I accompanied our delegation to Capitol Hill to advocate to reinforce the importance of international exchange and citizen diplomacy, until the last evening, when I attended a beautiful reception at the U.S. Department of State.
This year’s theme was well-chosen Democracy in Action: Raising Community Voices.. We heard stories from people from around the globe who have participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) with outstanding outcomes. We heard from Zheng Quing Qu, of China, who participated in the program and went home to engage in work to empower youth through civic and community engagement; Sachiyo Sakaguchi, who is now a policy secretary in the Japanese House of Representatives, and had attended a program in Austin, TX, where she learned about the skills and training required for U.S. political leadership and now works to promote the advancement of Japanese women in politics; Frei Sangil who was inspired by her visit to MIT and their free resources and approach to inclusive engineering, and so went home to launch the Learn2Code program for high school students and created “Coding out of Poverty,” which trains girls from rural, underserved areas in the Philippines using MIT engineering resources; and, Connor Clarke, of Australia, who is now a senior policy advisor for the government of Western Australia’s Native Title Negotiation Team, and credits a transformative visit with the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs for his work supporting Indigenous Australians as they seek empowerment, and economic and social prosperity. These stories reinforced the importance of continuing a strong IVLP program.
Speakers from the Department of State really brought home that the IVLP program is a critical component of our country’s efforts to create long-lasting citizen diplomacy by building bridges with those of other backgrounds, cultures and ideologies. Moreover, after spending significant time with those on the front lines regarding staffing and hosting IVLPs, I gained a greater understanding of the incredible amount of work that goes into making these connections happen.
There was so much more to the conference, but I will leave it at that. On my way home, I stopped in my hometown to attend a memorial service for Ian Lisk, who had passed away peacefully just before reaching the age of 93. The mournful bagpipes, and the beautiful tartans and kilts, brought back memories of that amazing trip that Mr. Lisk organized so very long ago that introduced me to citizen diplomacy.
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