non-governmental organizations

Palestinians insist that the Israeli occupation means that they are consistently denied their water rights which is why they have to live on 50 litres of water a day while Israeli settlers enjoy the luxury of 280 litres. Clearly, water is at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but commentators are now insisting that shared water problems could help motivate joint action and better co-operation between both sides, which could in turn help end the conflict.

“We are currently sponsoring a police officer to study Chinese at the Confucius institute at the University of Botswana to help eliminate language barriers.” China is allegedly trying to strengthen people to people relationships in a renewed bid to further nurture exchanges and co-operation, improve good will, enhance enrichment of development experiences and provide intellectual support...

In the States, we hear of hip-hop projects to keep kids off the streets. In Sana'a, the stakes went up a notch. Hip-hop, the hope was, could keep youth out of al-Qaeda. And the charming and unassuming AJ easily endeared himself to embassy staff, government officials, and NGOs that wanted to support his efforts.

Under the new diplomacy, we feel talking with governments is not enough, and want to build contacts at people, business and NGO levels. Increasingly, this is how foreign policy will be conducted. In fact, the US is most enthusiastic about what we call ‘smart power,’ as opposed to hard power (using force) or soft power (the traditional non-military stuff).

"...Building on Microsoft's support to NGOs around the world, the Microsoft NGO Connection Day Nigeria 2011 will help fill a huge gap that will improve organizational efficiency while also helping many non-profits save cost," PIN's Executive Director, Mr. 'Gbenga Sesan, said.

"I was struck by how [the SFCG] overlaps so much with the stated articulated mantra of U.S. Africa Command in terms of sustained engagement," said Holmes. "The first item in the approach is making long term commitments using an integrated approach, becoming engaged in order to see the possibilities, become immersed in local culture.

Additionally, the academic community has been increasingly active in considering the burgeoning political landscapes in the Arab World. In Washington, think tanks, NGOs, and government branches have sponsored vigorous debates and dialogues on new regional questions and uncertainties in scholarship and foreign policy.

Dr. Maitha Salem Al Shamsi, Minister of State has underlined the role of public diplomacy in globalizing world of interdependence.

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