In March 2019, we welcomed five Ugandans to Pensacola who were invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. FHI 360 arranged their national program and Gulf Coast Diplomacy arranged the local one. The program was titled Mental and Physical Disabilities. While in Northwest Florida, their...
The Open World Leadership Center, an agency of the U.S. Congress, sent a delegation of Russian professionals to Pensacola, Florida, from February 14-22, 2020. The delegation consisted of five professionals and was accompanied by a bicultural facilitator and an interpreter. FHI-360 in Washington, D.C., facilitated their national project while Gulf Coast Diplomacy crafted their local...
On Wednesday, February 11th, I had the pleasure to join about twenty individuals from all around the United States at a Small World Cafe hosted by Gulf Coast Diplomacy and Global Ties Detroit with guest speaker Fred Ketchem. Ketchem had a long and fulfilling career at the Department of State, serving in nearly 200 countries...
Global Ties U.S. selected me to participate in their January 2020 Emerging Leaders Program. Through a series of workshops at the National Meeting on Citizen Diplomacy, the program focuses on empowering college students and recent graduates interested in the sector of citizen diplomacy. I was excited when I received the confirmation email, as I knew...
In June 2020, the Small World Café was pleased to host Marini DE LIVERA of Sri Lanka who was a 2019 International Woman of Courage (IWOC). This award recognizes women across the globe who are doing important work, often at risk to themselves, and is part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). DE LIVERA...
Racine Frank joined us at the Small World Café to share her experience as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who evacuated from Ethiopia in March 2020 due to COVID-19. Frank is a graduate of the University of West Florida and a former team member at Gulf Coast Diplomacy. Calling in from her new home in...
Rabi WILSON is currently the Assistant Director, Economic Shocks at the United Kingdom’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In December 2020, she joined members and supporters at the Small World Café in her previous role as a Senior Portfolio Manager at BEIS where, among other things, she focused on policy and culture,...
How much fun, learning, and reflection time is possible in a two-week period? Teen participants with the U.S. Department of State’s Youth Ambassadors Central America project found out when they traveled to Northwest Florida. For two weeks in January & February 2020, students from Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua plunged into discussions, site visits,...
International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumna Fitore MISINI was our honored guest at a Small World Café focused on Kosovo. MISINI is a program assistant at the American Corner of the National Library Kosova and came to Pensacola in April 2019 on an IVLP focused on civic engagement for high schoolers. That in-person project was...
Now is the time to think about post-pandemic travel. To help inspire the planning, Þuríður H. Aradóttir BRAUN of Iceland joined the Small World Café. BRAUN visited Northwest Florida in 2009 on a U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) focused on parks, biodiversity, and ecotourism management along with colleagues from Israel, Kenya,...
