A F.A.C.T. Approach to Citizen Diplomacy

Note: Learning Life’s Citizen Diplomacy Initiative (CDI) works to nurture peace and educational development through international, family-to-family dialogue and collaboration.  This post explains the directions in which we are considering going with the family-to-family collaborations.  This is a working document subject to revision.  

The Problems:

Worldwide, families are looking for ways to make a living.  But often, this means working for employers, foreign or domestic, who dictate harsh terms of employment (i.e., where, when and how you will work and for how much pay) and care more about profits than their employees and the families and communities their workers support.    

Further, globalization is enriching a relative few who make and shape international relations through businesses, governments or nonprofit organizations they own or direct.  In the globalization process, people and their communities are, for better or worse, becoming more like each other as millions of individuals across the world become the employees and consumers of major transnational companies like Walmart, Apple, Toyota, ExxonMobil and McDonalds.  Transnational companies are not going away, but people and their communities do not have to, nor should they, lose what makes them unique.    

What if there were ways for people to provide for themselves, nurture local ownership, and build the unique assets of their families and communities?    

The F.A.C.T. Nexus:

People can and do often pursue food, art, community and tourism (FACT) separately.  However,  they can form a complementary nexus for people to provide for themselves, nurture local ownership, and build family and community assets.  

Food

Everyone needs to eat every day, and many if not most people enjoy eating.  Moreover, growing, processing and serving food constitute major sources of jobs in communities worldwide.  In many places, food sector workers work for chain restaurants controlled by large domestic or transnational companies.  But they could, alternatively or in tandem, work for themselves, offering residents and visitors a unique taste of their family, region and country’s culinary traditions at home, in restaurants, or community spaces and events.      

Art

Art in all its forms — paintings, photography, video, dance, music, jewelry, makeup, clothes, etc. — is a way to nurture creativity and expression, and to make homes and communities more meaningful and attractive.  Art can also be presented or sold to residents and visitors to help families and communities earn a living.  

Community

Every community has stories about its past, present and future.  These local stories often connect with national and international stories that can make local stories interesting to residents and visitors alike.  Examples include a local person who became famous, a product made locally yet widely known, the local imprints of a national or international war, remarkable local events that connect with universal human experiences.  Families and communities can record and tell these stories in unique, engaging ways, using manifold media — photos, audio, video, painting, music, dance, etc. — to create temporary and permanent community exhibits and events that can attract local to global viewers.

Tourism

Tourism can be top-down or bottom-up.  In many places tourism is top-down: controlled to varying extents by large foreign or domestic hotel and entertainment chains that create profitable, packaged experiences.  Perhaps the most problematic are deluxe resorts that fly vacationers in and out of their all-inclusive enclaves, with no need for their clients to experience let alone connect with the (often poor) communities that surround and serve the resort.  

However, tourism can be and sometimes is bottom-up or grassroots: owned by local businesses, employing local people, and devoted to building the assets of their people (e.g., experiences, knowledge, skills, products) and communities (e.g., art exhibits, museums, memorials, murals, monuments, gardens, parks, farms, restaurants, cafes, markets).              

Our F.A.C.T. Approach:

Learning Life envisions people in international dialogue to nurture their children, families and communities through shared food, arts, community and tourism projects.  

Accordingly, where CDI families are in international dialogue, Learning Life mentors will work with their families to engage parents and children in short to long-term projects that build the FACTs of their own community.  Our mentors will work with local nonprofits and advisors to provide their families’ children with training and hands-on experiences in food, arts, community and/or tourism.  The paired families and their mentors will then come together via video chat for the children to report and discuss what they have learned through their project work since they last talked.  

These opportunities to share project learning and work with other families in other nations working on similar projects will help circulate ideas, methods and lessons learned in order to deepen learning and enrich local projects.  In addition, through shared FACT projects, families will have the opportunity to collaborate to create joint products, like comparative photo or video displays that can add an eye-catching international component to local art or community exhibits and installations.  

As the children learn and do more, they can move from simpler to more complex and ambitious projects.  In so doing, they can learn how to provide for themselves and their families, nurture local ownership, and build the unique assets of their families and communities.  And, when the families and/or communities are able and willing, simpler projects can lead to more ambitious for-profit and non-profit international collaborations for mutual benefit.     

Call to Action:

Individuals interested in getting involved in Learning Life’s CDI as families, dialogue organizers, youth mentors, language interpreters, or project advisors should contact Learning Life at email@learninglife.info.   

Paul Lachelier, Ph.D.
Founder, Learning Life