This spring we were pleased to host a 2017 International Woman of Courage. The award, as explained by the U.S. Department of State, “is the prestigious Secretary of State’s Award which annually recognizes women around the world who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment. Through this annual award,...
In early April, a group of six Nepalese visitors arrived in Pensacola as part of a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project titled “Change Makers.” The purpose of this exchange was to examine the role of woman in the military and in other professional fields where women have traditionally been underrepresented. The...
In mid-March, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council hosted a group of 22 young environmentalists from around the world as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project titled “Our Ocean: Young Ambassadors.” The visitors came from Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, the Federated States of Micronesia, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands,...
In early March, a group of 10 professionals from Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam arrived in Pensacola as part of a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project titled “ASEAN: Community Engagement with Youth.” The purpose of the exchange was to highlight creative ways communities and institutions...
In mid-March, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council welcomed a group of six African visitors from Angola and Sao Tome and Principe as part of a U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project focusing on accountability in government. For the project, they traveled to Washington D.C., Salt Lake City, Pensacola, and Cleveland for...
In mid-February, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council hosted five visitors from Colombia as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) project titled “The Road to Markets and its Role in Rural Development.” These visitors were in the country to look at the themes of agricultural and rural development. The group arrived on a...
In early February, the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council hosted seven international visitors from Australia, Cyprus, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, and Nigeria as part of an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) exchange titled “Education and Activism for Young Women.” These visitors came to Pensacola to meet with women leaders in the community and representatives of...
The 2017 Youth Ambassadors Brazil exchange brought a group of 10 teens and one adult mentor from all across Brazil to Pensacola for 12 days in January. Their time here illustrates how ours is a generous, passionate community which continually steps up to support the concept of citizen diplomacy and the power it has to...
I was pleasantly surprised to be chosen to attend the Global Ties U.S. National Meeting. As a first-time attendee, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but with my involvement with the young professional’s committee of the Gulf Coast Citizen Diplomacy Council, I was excited to learn more about international exchange and foreign relations. I arrived...
DYLEP stands for Digital Youth Leadership Exchange. It’s a fully funded digital exchange between American high school students and their counterparts in Iraq that lasts from June to August 2017. Participants (ages 15-18 at the time of June 1st) engage with each other on designing community service projects and youth leadership activities through online forums,...
