One of the most interesting efforts I’ve encountered as Ambassador is the Global Partnership Initiative, launched by former Secretary Clinton in 2009 as part of the Department’s commitment to deploying new tools and approaches of 21st Century Statecraft.

The Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) promotes the creation of strategic collaborations among business enterprises, civil society NGOs, and public institutions to solve problems, maximize the impact of development aid, and stimulate innovation in diplomatic engagement through collective action. It creates a platform to include new participants in development and diplomacy activity in highly impactful ways.

Serving as convener, catalyst, and collaborator, the GPI has thus far worked with more than 1,000 partners and bundled approximately US$ 650 million from private and public sources to tackle chronic problems and address challenges that often get overlooked in traditional diplomatic practice. To give you a flavor of the nature of the effort, I summarize below the GPI’s four flagship initiatives and several of its other projects.

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

Nearly half of the people in the world rely on open fires and stoves that emit toxic gases to cook their meals each day, resulting in (by some estimates) up to four million deaths annually. Launched in 2010, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves seeks to address this preventable health risk by creating a cost-effective, clean cookstove market. The Alliance’s interim goal is to help 100 million homes adopt clean cooking solutions by 2020.

In 2012, the Alliance reached several key milestones including doubling its size to more than 500 partners in 38 countries; publishing a groundbreaking strategy for universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels; establishing the first-ever set of international cookstove standards; commissioning several cookstove research and testing centers; and catalyzing more than US$ 150 million in investments for clean cooking research.

That’s an extraordinarily powerful set of steps forward on a serious problem that you probably didn’t know existed. To learn more about the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, including how you can become involved, check out cleancookstoves.org.

Partners For A New Beginning

Launched in April 2010 and chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Partners for a New Beginning (PNB) provides a coordinating platform to address youth unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa, which are the highest in the world. The program seeks to create partnerships that will produce 20,000 new jobs initially, job training for 40,000 young people, and an ongoing focus on sustainable job creation.

To date, PNB chapters have been launched in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Jordan, Mauritania, and the Palestinian Territories. Each local chapter identifies country-specific priorities, develops projects that address employment gaps, and works with local and American partners on implementation. PNB and its partners — including Cisco, Coca-Cola, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the International Youth Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, Souktel, and IBM — have launched more than 120 new projects since September 2010. The Aspen Institute serves as the PNB Secretariat. To learn more about the program and how you might be able to get involved, click here.

International Diaspora Engagement Alliance

“Diaspora,” the Greek word meaning “to scatter,” is used in English  to refer to a community of people who live outside their shared country of origin or ancestry but maintain some sort of link to it. In many respects diaspora is a very American concept because the U.S. is home to more immigrants (including my grandparents) than any other nation, and those immigrants send billions of dollars in remittances each year to their families overseas (as my grandparents did). This America-based, global diaspora community holds great potential to connect the U.S. and the rest of the world in a transformative fashion, as well as to influence the direction of development and diplomacy.

Launched at an inaugural Global Diaspora Forum in May 2011, our International Diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA) is structured as a non-partisan, non-profit organization managed via a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Migration Policy Institute. More than 1,500 diaspora communities groups, businesses, and public institutions have already convened on IdEA collaborations including investment, capacity-building, enterprise mentoring, and volunteer projects overseas driven by diaspora communities in the U.S.

 

IdEA has also sponsored four competitions to spur entrepreneurship and business development in target regions. The Caribbean IdEA Marketplace, African Diaspora Marketplace, and Latin American Idea Partnership (La Idea) have all effectively leveraged the strength and expertise of diaspora communities to stimulate economic activity. I was pleased to join Secretary Clinton in the Cook Islands during the Pacific Islands Forum in July 2012 to launch the fourth competition – the Pacific Islands Diaspora Marketplace.

Our intention is to continue to catalyze innovation, engagement, and impactful giving by diaspora communities through an annual Global Diaspora Forum. The 3rd Forum is scheduled for May 14-15, 2013 and will expand to multiple cities instead of just Washington, DC. This year’s focus will include developing a diaspora volunteer corps and creating a more structured platform for diaspora philanthropy.

Accelerating Market-Driven Partnerships

The fourth and newest anchor program of the GPI is called Accelerating Market-Driven Partnerships, or AMP. Announced last April during the Secretary’s Global Impact Economy Forum, AMP is intended to bring together a coalition of government, business, and non-profit entities to develop, seed, and scale innovations that generate revenue opportunities while also strengthening communities and protecting the environment.

The first AMP pilot project is in Brazil, where recent economic growth lifted more than 30 million Brazilians out of poverty but created significant environmental and social challenges. AMP is working to facilitate strategic relationships between the government and potential corporate partners to address those challenges through development of new business models that will attract private enterprise. For example, AMP is working to bring to market new solutions in waste recycling, e-waste, and bio-degradable packaging — a multi-billion dollar potential market opportunity that creates jobs, relieves pressure on the government, and benefits the environment.

Other Projects

In addition to the four large flagship programs described above, the Global Partnership Initiative is working to facilitate a number of other collaborative, enterprise-based, cross-border projects. I will just mention a few of those by way of example.

Liberalizing Innovation Opportunity Nations (LIONS@FRICA). In 2012, the State Department launched the LIONS@FRICA partnership at the World Economic Forum on Africa. Linking key public and private sector partners, the effort is intended to strengthen Africa’s startup and innovation ecosystem, promote and facilitate new investments in Africa’s technology entrepreneurs, and foster innovative business models.

Mekong Technology Innovation Generation and Entrepreneurship Resources (TIGERS@Mekong). This month (February 2013), GPI is launching TIGERS@Mekong, a new public-private platform designed to boost competitiveness and stimulate growth in target Mekong Delta economies by training and supporting young innovators and entrepreneurs.

The Global Equality Fund. Last year GPI launched a new partnership with the mGive Foundation to promote the State Department’s Global Equality Fund by means of a mobile giving campaign. The Global Equality Fund provides support for civil society groups around the world that are working to protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

I have occasionally quarreled with diplomacy traditionalists who don’t see the foreign affairs point of any of the above activity. I think that a Metternichian focus is far too narrow and self-defeating in our modern era. Diplomacy has always been about building relationships, finding commonalities, and creating productive networks and partnerships. When practiced wisely, diplomacy uplifts, empowers, and stabilizes. It defuses potential conflict and avoids potential upheaval.

That’s what the Global Partnership Initiative is intended to do. It is impactful, strategic diplomacy at its finest, an inclusive idealism firmly rooted in pragmatic, results-oriented realism. And it saves, enriches, and enhances the lives of millions of people around the world, which elevates all of us. Sounds right to me.

This 11th installment in my series of articles about great American universities brings us to a place I haven’t discussed previously, the “Show Me State” of Missouri, near the geographic center of the continental U.S.

The University of Missouri — the flagship of the State’s university system — is one of the most well-regarded tertiary education institutions in the Midwest. It was the first school in the world to offer a degree in journalism, and U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks it in the Top 100 of America’s thousands of universities and colleges. 

I have never been to the University myself, but my Educational Adviser, Drew Dumas, is an expert — he earned a bachelor degree in journalism there and then worked in the school’s international office. I’ve picked his brain for insights and personal recollections, and this article is based on his experiences. 

Colloquially referred to as Mizzou, Drew’s alma mater was established in Columbia, Missouri in 1839 as the first public university west of the Mississippi River. The University grew rapidly from its initial focus on agriculture and engineering, and now comprises 19 individual schools and colleges. Mizzou is one of only 34 public schools in the elite Association of American Universities.

Mizzou is home to more than 34,000 students and 2,100 professors and instructors. The majority of students take classes on the main campus, which consists of 345 buildings spread across 1,250 acres (505 hectares) of land just south of the Columbia downtown. If all of the experimental labs, farms, and other off-campus locations are taken into account, Mizzou occupies an astounding 19,425 acres (7,861 hectares).

The main campus is divided in two by color. The old core of the University is situated around Francis Quadrangle in the Red Campus, so called for the color of the bricks used. This section of campus also contains The Columns, the last remnants of the University’s original building — old Academic Hall — which burned down in 1892. The 6 columns of the Hall’s entrance stand where they always have, preserved as a National Historic Landmark.

The White Campus, with neo-Gothic-style buildings, is named for the color of the limestone used in its construction. Memorial Union, built in remembrance of Mizzou alumni who died in World War I, is the central structure on White Campus. To the south lie most of the student residence halls, the University Hospital, and extensive sports facilities.

Journalism has been one of the University’s many academic strengths since Mizzou established the world’s first school of journalism on September 14, 1908. The program is internationally well-regarded for the depth and diversity of its courses and for its “hands-on” approach. It consistently places high in elite rankings, particularly with respect to post-graduation job placement.

There is great flexibility to craft your own custom curriculum, and students may choose from a wide range of work/study environments including a local NBC newsroom (the only commercial affiliate newsroom used for university training in the country), a public radio studio, the local newspaper or magazine, and alternative studios such as Newsy. The famous “Missouri Method” puts students in a position to actually write, lay out, report, or produce the news, rather than simply observe professionals.

Drew tells me that the journalism school excels in networking, each week bringing speakers to town from media giants such as Google, CNN, and the Associated Press to interact directly with students. Also, there’s a powerful Mizzou Mafia — composed of the large number of prominent alumni of the journalism school — which actively seeks and hires Mizzou grads.

Another highly regarded school at Missouri is the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business. Its MBA program was recently ranked among the best in the United States by Business Week, the undergraduate program ranked in U.S. News & World‘s top 50, and the school ranked #1 overall for having the lowest cost to students. Public Accounting Report ranked Mizzou’s masters and PhD degress in accountancy 13th and 11th in the country, respectively.

The business school places significant emphasis on out-of-classroom learning and provides several workshop and professional seminar series for network-building purposes. MBA students formed the Trulaske Consulting Agency, which runs a supplemental, well-funded program of case studies, strategy sessions, and seminars. The school’s Dean – Joan Gabel – was recently honored as one of the rising women stars in business school deanships.

One of the first schools established at Mizzou was the College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (CAFNR). For all of its more than 170 years in existence, CAFNR has been considered one of the nation’s elite agricultural education institutions. Particularly well-regarded is its program in plant and animal science research, which is ranked 15th worldwide by Thomson Reuters.

CAFNR’s research programs are a powerful draw for students. The College’s annual research expenditure is the highest at Mizzou, totallying about US$ 32 million each year. The College operates the Agricultural Research Station, a series of strategically placed farms and research centers around Missouri that afford students and researchers the opportunity to engage in targeted, impactful research on a wide range of issues including drought resiliency, agricultural emissions, and cattle growth.

There are many other excellent programs at Mizzou. I’ll singleout just one more, the College of Engineering. Ranked in the top 5% internationally by Fiske, this College offers rigorous programs at all academic levels which integrate internships, practical field work, independent research, and theoretical discussion in class. Plus, Mizzou engineering students have access to the largest nuclear research reactor of any university in America.

Major corporations (such as Boeing) employ engineering students on campus for commercial research projects, including analysis of different alloys and stress-testing of components. Even undergraduate students work with faculty and major corporations on such projects, and this intense real-world experience coupled with constantly upgraded facilities contribute greatly to the program’s stature.

Among Missouri’s esteemed alumni are entertainment figures such as Brad Pitt (who remains 1 credit shy of his degree), Sheryl Crow, Jon Hamm, and Sally Ann Salsano (creator of Jersey Shore) … sports superstars such as Mike Shannon, Ian Kinsler, Lloyd Carr, and Roger Wehrli … and business icons like Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. And then there’s New Zealand’s own Charlotte Bellis of Sky News and 60 Minutes.

In addition to a loyal alumni corps, Mizzou has deep-set traditions that often date back more than 100 years. The athletic teams are called the Tigers in homage to a local pro-Union Missouri militia of the same name during the American Civil War which guarded the University and town from Confederate raiding parties.

Mizzou’s colors are the black and gold of the stripes of the Bengal tiger, the University’s mascot. Truman the Tiger — named after President Harry S. Truman, a native Missouran – attends most athletic contests as well as many of the community events held on campus and around Columbia during the year.

Competing in the fierce Southeastern Conference, Mizzou is home to an intense sporting culture. For example, in just the last 13 years, 40 of the school’s baseball players have been signed to pro contracts. The football team draws huge crowds, playing at the 70,000-seat Faurot Field, better known as The Zou (a shortened form of Mizzou).

Mizzou’s rivalry with the University of Kansas is one of the most bitter in American collegiate sports, stretching back to the American Civil War. There was exceptionally vicious fighting across the Missouri/Kansas border during the war. Relentless attacks from Kansas provoked a group of Missourans to raid and burn Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. More than 150 years later, neither side has forgiven or forgotten.

Physical combat aside, a particularly beloved area of campus is Speakers Circle, concentric brick and cement circles with slightly raised tiers. On this protected ground anyone may exercise their right to free speech without fear of retaliation, whatever their message. The Circle draws many different characters to the campus, some of whom are eccentric or provocative, fanning vigorous debate.

Then there’s the special relationship with St. Patrick, patron saint of engineers. Engineering Week is celebrated the week of St. Patrick’s Day, with students wearing green to show their affiliation and the dome of Jesse Hall illuminated in vibrant green each night. There is even a stone shamrock inlaid in the walkway of Francis Quadrangle, outside the engineering building. Tradition holds that all those who step on the shamrock at any point while at Mizzou are destined to marry an engineer.

Drew tells me that there are 7 unspoken traditions in which a student must participate in order to be truly considered a Mizzou Tiger. The most innocent of the 7 include standing in Speakers Circle and shouting “I love Mizzou” three times as loudly as possible, riding the bronze tiger statue in Tiger Plaza, and swimming in Brady Fountain. I’ll leave the others to your imagination (or to your googling pleasure), since they are slightly less seemly (including one involving streaking).

Every August freshmen students gather at the iconic Columns in the Quad for Tiger Walk. Students walk or run through the Columns toward Jesse Hall to symbolize their entrance to the University. The event provides an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow students, and most student organizations set up booths and displays around the Quad. Tiger Prowl, a corresponding celebration that takes place each May, involves senior students walking away from Jesse Hall back through the Columns, to symbolize their imminent graduation and reentry into the world.

Mizzou is credited with founding Homecoming, one of America’s greatest and most beloved school traditions. Widespread in high schools and universities, homecoming generally involves the return of alumni, student parties and contests, a parade, speakers, afternoon tailgate parties, and an evening football game, all in celebration of love of and loyalty to school.

Homecoming at Mizzou is invigorated by the more than 70 fraternities and sororities that make up one of the oldest and largest Greek systems in America. About 22% of all Mizzou students participate in the Greek societies, most of which are located just west of campus in million-dollar mansions in what’s known as Greek Town. There is also a line of Greek houses through the middle of campus called Frat Row.

As with many American schools, one of Mizzou’s great assets is its location. Columbia is a vibrant college town of approximately 110,000 residents with rich history, vibrant nightlife, and a friendly, small-community atmosphere. It is surrounded by a sea of corn fields, forests, and beautiful hills and valleys, and the friendly country atmosphere of rural Missouri permeates and enriches the quality of life at the University.

Downtown Columbia (known as “The District”) has historic shopfronts, cobbled streets, parks, clubs, music and other performance venues, hip restaurants, and pubs heavily frequented by students. Drew tells me that among his favorites were (and are) Shakespeare’s Pizza, Harpo’s, and the Broadway Diner.

Perhaps the largest public event in Columbia each year is the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival. The celebration kicks off late each summer and brings some of the best jazz and bluegrass bands from around America to town. All day and night the Festival hosts live concerts on stages set up in the streets. And there’s a world-class barbeque competition in which the nation’s best grill-masters come to battle for huge prizes. The competing teams grill samples to hand out, giving everyone a chance to taste some of the world’s best BBQ.

Outside Columbia, students and visitors can explore unspoiled nature areas and wilderness. The beautiful Ozark Mountains are nearby. There are caves and walking trails at Rockbridge Park for spelunking, as well as the Katy Trail (the longest recreational rail trail in America), which passes through Columbia on its 240 mile (390 km) run across Missouri.

As you would expect, close at hand are a full array of recreational options …  excellent hiking and camping … fishing … hunting … boating, swimming, sailing … agricultural and ethnic festivals … tractor races … farmers’ markets … huge corn mazes (one of my own favorite challenges) … and much more.

When you’re hankering for a road trip, metropolitan Kansas City is just a 2-hour drive west, and St. Louis is only 1.5 hours east. Just a half hour away is Fulton, where Winston Churchill gave his iconic Iron Curtain Address. And then there’s Branson, a great getaway famous for country-western entertainment and theme parks.

To learn more about life in Columbia and its immediate environs, check out the city’s website. To get a sampling of all the great things to see and do in the State of Missouri, browse VisitMo.com.

For more information about the University of Missouri, including the many fields of study, graduate programs, and opportunities for international students, visit the school’s main website. And of course, feel free to email our Educational Adviser, Drew Dumas, at DumasAG@state.gov with any questions that you may have about Mizzou. He’s got first-hand experience and would be delighted to discuss whether Missouri is right for you.

Next up will be Stanford University in my home state of California, followed by my alma mater, Princeton University. Let me know if you have suggestions for other features thereafter.

Just before 4:00 p.m. today, Friday, February 1st, Senator John Kerry was sworn in as America’s 68th Secretary of State. The oath was administered by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in the hearing room of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which the Senator had chaired.

Secretary Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado and educated at Yale University. He served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, was decorated several times, and became a prominent anti-war activist upon his return from Vietnam. After graduating from Boston College Law School, he worked as a prosecutor in the Boston area, and then in his own private law practice. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1982 and as one of that State’s U.S. Senators in 1984, a position he has held for the past 28 years. In 2004 he was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Secretary Kerry joins a long line of chief American diplomats marked from the iconic Thomas Jefferson, who served as the United States’ first Secretary of State years before becoming President. (John Jay, America’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, served as Acting Secretary for several months before Jefferson was sworn.) The esteemed roster of Secretaries of State also includes several other future Presidents including James Madison and James Monroe … legendary orators such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and William Jennings Bryant … five Nobel Peace Prize laureates including Cordell Hull …

… grand strategists such as George Marshall, Dean Acheson, John Foster Dulles, Henry Kissinger, and James Baker … the first female Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright … the first African American Secretary of State, Colin Powell … and of course former First Lady and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Our new Secretary is no stranger to diplomacy. His father was a Foreign Service Officer and held posts abroad. He himself served for years as chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. (I was honored by his presence at my own confirmation hearing 4 years ago, in the room in which he was sworn into office today.)

As Secretary Clinton stated as she left the Department, “John Kerry brings judgment, experience, vision, and a deep understanding of what diplomacy and development require. He’ll be an excellent Secretary of State.”

Secretary Kerry is well-known for his commitment to environmental protection, education, free trade, and expansive international engagement. He worked on acid rain issues as Lieutenant Governor early in his career, and he is committed to addressing the grave risks posed by climate change. He has a firmly held, nuanced vision of America’s place in the world developed over a lifetime of service at home and abroad.

As he left the Capitol after being sworn, the Secretary told the assembled media that he was honored to have been nominated and confirmed, and that he is anxious to get to work. Welcome to Foggy Bottom, Secretary Kerry.

A special highlight of my time as Ambassador has been getting to know and working with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A tenacious advocate of innovation and inclusion, she has remolded the Department and refocused American policy in powerful ways that harrumphing old-boy insiders in smoke-filled clubrooms may never fully appreciate.

I have been particularly impressed with — and grateful for — her tireless efforts to advance the cause of equality for women and minorities around the world, what she refers to as the “unfinished business of the 21st century.” In her powerful last public speech as Secretary of State, delivered to a distinguished audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, she forcefully restated that point:

“The jury is in. The evidence is absolutely indisputable: If women and girls everywhere were treated as equal to men in rights, dignity, and opportunity, we would see political and economic progress everywhere. So this is not only a moral issue. Which of course it is. It’s an economic issue and a security issue … It therefore must be central to U.S. foreign policy.”

She also forcefully and candidly emphasized the importance of maintaining a muscular foreign policy in a “dangerous and complicated world,” of being strategic about all levers of global power, and of embracing creative diplomacy and smart power. The speech was a tour de force review of her four years in Foggy Bottom and her vision for America’s diplomatic future. You can watch for yourself below, or read the full transcript here.

 

Tomorrow will be the Secretary’s last day on the job. At 2:30 p.m. Friday (8:30 a.m. Saturday, New Zealand time), she will take the elevator down from the 7th Floor, address State Department officers and employees in the C Street Lobby, and then leave the building for a final time. Her goodbye remarks will be live streamed on the State Department’s YouTube Channel.

It has been a great privilege to work with Secretary Clinton and to host her landmark visits to New Zealand and the Cook Islands. I have been a more positively impactful Ambassador because of the vision she articulated, the new tools she deployed, the tangible commitment she demonstrated to our Pacific region, and the experiments that she encouraged.

On a personal note, I am deeply grateful for the warm, natural, and inclusive way in which she embraced my spouse and the same-gender spouses of thousands of other LGBT colleagues in the Department. At a time when overt, state-sanctioned discrimination at home and abroad still inflicts very real damage on same-gender couples trying to serve their country, she offered tangible as well as moral support and a refreshing, encouraging glimpse of a better future.

Secretary Clinton, thank you for your service to the United States and the world. Bon voyage.