Sister Cities and Citizen Diplomacy (2010)

We have created the Sister City relationship between Richmond in Virginia, and Ségou the second city of Mali. Hurra! But why?

The idea is that people who know each other, may like each other, gain respect for each other, and promote peaceful understanding.

Allan Levenberg Kouyaté, RSCC Commissioner, is in Ségou and he has just signed for Richmond the Sister City Agreement

Citizen diplomacy and the Sister City idea

It was Dwight Eisenhower who, as President, organized the conference and provided the money and philosophy that launched the movement known as Sister Cities International.

The Sister Cities website explains how President Eisenhower’s ‘citizen diplomacy’ works in practice:

“Sister city relationships offer the flexibility to form connections between communities that are mutually beneficial and which address issues that are most relevant for partners. A sister city organization is a volunteer group of ordinary citizens who, with the support of their local elected officials, form long-term relationships with people and organizations in a city abroad. Each sister city organization is independent and pursues the activities and thematic areas that are important to them and their community including municipal, business, trade, educational and cultural exchanges with their sister city. Sister city organizations promote peace through people-to-people relationships—with program offerings varying greatly from basic cultural exchange programs to shared research and development projects between cities with relationships.”

Virginia Friends of Mali (VFoM) was formed as the sister city organization for Segou, founded at a meeting held in Virginia Commonwealth University on November 12th, 2005 exactly one week after the Malian Prime Minister presented the idea in the same room. VFoM is a 501.c.3. civil society organization with an agreement by the U.S. tax authorities that we are exempt from paying tax.

Our study of the Segou-Richmond sister city relationship digs into the meaning and practice of President Eisenhower’s ‘citizen diplomacy’. How has it helped form relationships and “build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts?” How have we Virginians and we West Africans managed to “share research and development that advance peace and prosperity through cultural, educational, humanitarian, and economic development exchanges?” How do both our cities benefit, and how – a personal injection, this - have women in both cities been able to expand their horizons and partake, equally with men, in the benefits of sister cities?

Sister City success is based on growing friendships. People from Segou come to Richmond every year. Frequent visits to Segou from a varied number of Richmonders keep up the momentum of our activities. Though emails are a wonderful tool, and Skype is useful for those of us who speak French, Segou receives two or three visits from one of us every year. These visits keep both us and the Malians on our toes. The frequent visits in both directions enrich friendships and broaden the experience beyond the committee. By the end of 2014, we can estimate that as many as 30 Ségoviens have visited Richmond, some of them multiple times, and four or five have even spent several weeks living in Richmond, staying in the homes of Friends of Mali to study English.

Kadidia Samaké is our first full-time undergraduate studying business economics at VCU (2013-2017), and we expect other Malians to choose Richmond for their studies because their parents will know that there is a support system for their kids.

In the other direction, we have taken groups to Segou every year since 2007; more than 30 Richmonders have now visited Segou. Members of the Executive Committee have visited many times. Several Richmonders have spent significant time in Mali. There were two volunteers, Lakshmi and James, who worked there for several weeks. Two high school girls, Rachel and Virginia, spent their whole junior year in a Malian lycée. Ana was artist-in-residence who exhibited at the Segou Festival in 2012. And we have several musician friends (Heather Maxwell, Corey Harris, Seth Swingle Diabaté, Chuck Kerwath, Allan Levenberg, Joshua Stevens, Rusty Ekland, Orimolade Ogunjimi, Julie and Andrew Moore) who have spent years learning to play Malian instruments while searching in West Africa for Virginia’s musical soul. We are not in touch with all of them, but we have been.

Any civil society group runs the risk of exclusivity. We must not become closed to outsiders. One of our secrets has been spreading the net so as to include an ever wider number of people in the sister city experience. Each year, we search for new Friends of Mali who offer accommodation in their homes to one or two Malian visitors, leading to blossoming friendships.