.
In the world we live in, where global conflict is on the rise, one of the best weapons we have to promote peace is promoting equal public access to policy, resources, and information. With advances in mobile technology in the last 10 years—from the proliferation of social media like Facebook, which now boasts over 1.23 billion monthly active users, to the advent of virtual classrooms— access to the internet has done two very important things: given the disenfranchised a means to amplify their voice, and more importantly, given policymakers broader audiences that is not only receptive to the influx of data and information but which also serve as responsive and interactive virtual participants. Technology is a means to an end, allowing organizations to connect directly with new audiences in a way that would have been impossible even a decade ago. What is perhaps most exciting is the different ways that the private sector, government, and civil society are using technology to further their own goals, as well as increasingly work together to create enabling environments and foster collaborations that hold the key to the future of peace.
Academia has long been a collaborator for peace in the broadest sense—creating a safe environment, convening intelligent thinkers, and spreading information and ideas. It’s no surprise that universities have been one of the best partners when it comes to finding new ways to promote peaceful solutions to global problems. With the increasing connectedness of our technological world, colleges and universities are able to connect like never before with the subjects of their studies, bringing real-world examples to their coursework, whether in political science, engineering, or graphic design.
Here at the State Department, we’ve recognized the potential of collaborating across sectors, harnessing innovation and using technology to make sure we’re both getting our message out to as many people as possible, as well as bringing new groups into our policy-making. To that end, we’ve created a public-private partnership that empowers university students across the country to connect to policymakers.
Through the ongoing Diplomacy Lab partnership, academics and students are given direct access to policy makers and influencers in foreign policy. Diplomacy Lab allows students and faculty the opportunity to address current global issues identified by the State Department offices here in Washington, as well as all of our embassies and missions overseas. Student teams work on complex policy issues in conjunction with subject matter experts, enabling the State Department to “course-source” research and broaden its engagement with university students across the nation.
In the six semesters that Diplomacy Lab has been around, our university partners have delved deep into topics including researching the impact of local peace agreements and conflict prevention, analyzing radical ideology messaging on social media platforms, and using open data and research to produce actionable guidance in public diplomacy. Our colleagues here at the Department are then able to use this research to better inform their programming and policy recommendations around the world. And this spring, teams were invited to present their findings in person to a larger audience of both their State Department “clients” and the public at the first ever Diplomacy Lab Project Fair and Wonk Tank Competition.
An initiative within Diplomacy Lab, the new Wonk Tank student policy pitching platform adds an extra component to our engagement with universities. Wonk Tank reverses the direction of the idea-making that Diplomacy Lab started—rather than giving university teams a research project to work on, it asks students to pitch us their best ideas in foreign policy. The competition was born out of our desire to use challenges and crowdsourcing to foster innovative solutions to the proliferation of today’s global foreign policy challenges, from reforming food assistance to fighting ISIS. By giving university students access to share their innovative ideas with influential decision makers, we hope to empower the next generation of leaders to buy in early and help disrupt the closed-circuit of the policy making process.
Our Wonk Tank finalists this year presented to a judging panel of high-level policy makers, subject matter experts, and Diplomacy Lab university delegations to great success. Each student brought her passion to the pitch, from Millicent Smith of the University of Tennessee, who spoke of promoting gender inclusion education programs in India, to Shoshanna Goldin of Yale University who made the case that preparation is needed to prevent a religious extremist-led smallpox epidemic.
The encouraging responses we’ve received from students and our partners signal a bright future ahead for the partnership. As Elisabeth Thomas, Wonk Tank finalist and undergraduate chemical engineering major, put it: “Before this competition, State seemed rather inaccessible to students. Now, we have had a chance to directly engage and communicate with the State Department about foreign policies.” We have high hopes that Diplomacy Lab and Wonk Tank will encourage continued collaboration with students and other enthusiastic audiences for peaceful dialogue and discourse to better inform our diplomacy and development worldwide.
About the author: Thomas Debass is Deputy Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
a global affairs media network
Promoting Peace Through Participation
World map painted on hands isolated on white
June 24, 2016
In the world we live in, where global conflict is on the rise, one of the best weapons we have to promote peace is promoting equal public access to policy, resources, and information. With advances in mobile technology in the last 10 years—from the proliferation of social media like Facebook, which now boasts over 1.23 billion monthly active users, to the advent of virtual classrooms— access to the internet has done two very important things: given the disenfranchised a means to amplify their voice, and more importantly, given policymakers broader audiences that is not only receptive to the influx of data and information but which also serve as responsive and interactive virtual participants. Technology is a means to an end, allowing organizations to connect directly with new audiences in a way that would have been impossible even a decade ago. What is perhaps most exciting is the different ways that the private sector, government, and civil society are using technology to further their own goals, as well as increasingly work together to create enabling environments and foster collaborations that hold the key to the future of peace.
Academia has long been a collaborator for peace in the broadest sense—creating a safe environment, convening intelligent thinkers, and spreading information and ideas. It’s no surprise that universities have been one of the best partners when it comes to finding new ways to promote peaceful solutions to global problems. With the increasing connectedness of our technological world, colleges and universities are able to connect like never before with the subjects of their studies, bringing real-world examples to their coursework, whether in political science, engineering, or graphic design.
Here at the State Department, we’ve recognized the potential of collaborating across sectors, harnessing innovation and using technology to make sure we’re both getting our message out to as many people as possible, as well as bringing new groups into our policy-making. To that end, we’ve created a public-private partnership that empowers university students across the country to connect to policymakers.
Through the ongoing Diplomacy Lab partnership, academics and students are given direct access to policy makers and influencers in foreign policy. Diplomacy Lab allows students and faculty the opportunity to address current global issues identified by the State Department offices here in Washington, as well as all of our embassies and missions overseas. Student teams work on complex policy issues in conjunction with subject matter experts, enabling the State Department to “course-source” research and broaden its engagement with university students across the nation.
In the six semesters that Diplomacy Lab has been around, our university partners have delved deep into topics including researching the impact of local peace agreements and conflict prevention, analyzing radical ideology messaging on social media platforms, and using open data and research to produce actionable guidance in public diplomacy. Our colleagues here at the Department are then able to use this research to better inform their programming and policy recommendations around the world. And this spring, teams were invited to present their findings in person to a larger audience of both their State Department “clients” and the public at the first ever Diplomacy Lab Project Fair and Wonk Tank Competition.
An initiative within Diplomacy Lab, the new Wonk Tank student policy pitching platform adds an extra component to our engagement with universities. Wonk Tank reverses the direction of the idea-making that Diplomacy Lab started—rather than giving university teams a research project to work on, it asks students to pitch us their best ideas in foreign policy. The competition was born out of our desire to use challenges and crowdsourcing to foster innovative solutions to the proliferation of today’s global foreign policy challenges, from reforming food assistance to fighting ISIS. By giving university students access to share their innovative ideas with influential decision makers, we hope to empower the next generation of leaders to buy in early and help disrupt the closed-circuit of the policy making process.
Our Wonk Tank finalists this year presented to a judging panel of high-level policy makers, subject matter experts, and Diplomacy Lab university delegations to great success. Each student brought her passion to the pitch, from Millicent Smith of the University of Tennessee, who spoke of promoting gender inclusion education programs in India, to Shoshanna Goldin of Yale University who made the case that preparation is needed to prevent a religious extremist-led smallpox epidemic.
The encouraging responses we’ve received from students and our partners signal a bright future ahead for the partnership. As Elisabeth Thomas, Wonk Tank finalist and undergraduate chemical engineering major, put it: “Before this competition, State seemed rather inaccessible to students. Now, we have had a chance to directly engage and communicate with the State Department about foreign policies.” We have high hopes that Diplomacy Lab and Wonk Tank will encourage continued collaboration with students and other enthusiastic audiences for peaceful dialogue and discourse to better inform our diplomacy and development worldwide.
About the author: Thomas Debass is Deputy Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
