Win the War
of Ideas through Community Development
By Jason Ben-Meir
New York, NY
The perception of the United
States in the Islamic world remains very dismal
in the great struggle for the hearts and minds
of the Muslim people. Western nations are competing
against an ideology that seeks to impose a severe
way of life on Islamic countries which may not
reflect the views of the majority of their people
and could pit the two civilizations against each
other with potentially disastrous global consequences.
In 2003, the State-Department sponsored Advisory
Commission on Public Diplomacy called for a new
strategic direction “in this time of peril,"
which has not yet been formulated. Roughly half
of the $620 million budget for public diplomacy
still supports cultural exchanges, which annually
brings 35,000 people from around the world and
all walks of life to the United States for important
relationship and skills building experiences.
However beneficial these exchanges and other programs
are, a dramatic shift in direction is needed to
significantly impact the war of ideas, or else
a vital opportunity will be lost.
The new strategic direction of US public diplomacy
ought to require that the act of delivering the
message of the basic values of freedom and democracy
translates into engaging people in the socio-economic
development of their communities. Words alone
can no longer turn the tide of anti-Americanism
that has swept across Muslim nations and is now
deeply embedded in hearts and minds of hundreds
of millions of people. As the Dean of Harvard's
School of Government, Joseph Nye, suggested, actions
should be the communicator, which is louder and
more genuine than words.
The basic principle of a new direction should
lie in what former Undersecretary of State for
Public Diplomacy, Magaret Tutwiler, did in 2003
when she was the United States Ambassador to Morocco:
she obtained funding from USAID for a project
that rural Moroccan communities determined for
themselves to be a top priority -- fruit tree
planting. Yes, the modest-sized project was in
the interest of the United States because it diversified
rural incomes, which helps to prevent urban migration
in Morocco during free trade with the United States.
However, the project's impact on public diplomacy
was clear: tremendous goodwill was generated among
the benefiting communities towards the United
States because it funded a project that local
communities designed and acknowledged the development
goals the public expressed.
Community participation in development planning
is a federalist democratic process that results
into successful projects that meet the self-described
needs of local people. This approach engenders
in the beneficiaries a sense of partnership with
those agencies that assist the projects' implementation.
As such, it is a powerful form of public diplomacy.
For communities to determine their development
goals requires trained local facilitators in participatory
planning and consensus-building methods. Facilitators
catalyze and help coordinate community development.
The public diplomacy apparatus of the United States
ought to focus more on training people, such as
teachers, in development facilitation skills in
their own country. In addition, former Under Secretary
of State for Public Diplomacy, Charlotte Beers,
called American English teachers a “'secret
weapon" because they are needed everywhere
in the world. Training teachers that serve in
Muslim nations in methods for facilitating participation
in development will allow them to assist local
communities in achieving their goals. The Peace
Corps should set an important example and train
in development facilitation their 3,500 English
teachers who volunteer around the world, which
is currently not being done.
Films and/or videos of community meetings that
take place across the Middle East and other Muslim
countries that show local people working together
to improve their lives by creating projects funded
by the United States, are very effective tools
of public diplomacy. These films and videos are
also helpful for training people in the skills
that promote local development.
Of course, the United States needs to provide
funding for the community projects that will come
about through this new direction for public diplomacy.
American Ambassadors should have an “empowerment
fund" for local projects in the countries
they serve, just as the current Ambassador to
Morocco, Thomas Riley, is creating (and who continues
to support tree planting). Ambassadors need to
have more discretion on the funding of projects
that further public diplomacy, as they are well
positioned to know the projects that will make
a difference for communities and well-represent
the United States.
As public trust is built, the United States will
have the opportunity to explain its policies in
the Middle East, particularly regarding Iraq and
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to more receptive
audiences in the region. For this to be happen,
however, the United States needs to actualize
its message to the world. It needs to explain
by doing, which is to promote international development
based on the desires of local people. Only then
will the public diplomacy of the United States
play an indispensable role in winning the war
of ideas.
(Jason Ben-Meir is president of the High Atlas
Foundation, an American nonprofit organization
that promotes community development in Morocco.
He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer that served
in Morocco, and is writing his PhD dissertation
in sociology at the University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque.)
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