ECA is kicking off the tenth anniversary of the Community Solutions Program (CSP) with events for alumni, host organizations, and community partners around the world. The CSP is a four-month fellowship that provides professional placements in community-based nonprofits, public, and government offices across the United States that culminates with a Community Action Project that participants develop for their home communities. This civil society development program for leaders across the globe has grown to include 630 alumni from 83 countries and over 340 U.S. host partners across 40 states and Washington, D.C.

To celebrate the ten-year anniversary and a decade of community impact, CSP hosted the first annual #CSP10YearReunion May 17-21 where alumni and partners gathered virtually to reconnect, share memories, and foster new relationships with members of the CSP family. CSP will also host two celebratory virtual events in the fall and publish an Impact Brief highlighting ten years of innovation, progress, and positive change at the community level. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help us celebrate CSP's ten-year anniversary by using #CSPturns10 on social media.

https://share.america.gov/us-government-returns-523-artifacts-mexico/

The U.S. government has returned to the Mexican government 523 pre-Hispanic era archaeological pieces a Texas man smuggled into the U.S. and tried to sell.

These are among the 523 pre-Hispanic era artifacts that the U.S. government returned to Mexican officials. (Homeland Security Investigations)

The stolen artifacts include arrowheads, knife blades and tools dating back to a time before the 16th century when Spanish conquistadors colonized large parts of the Western Hemisphere. Some of the items were likely from a civilization in present-day Mexico broadly called the “Coahuila Complex.” The artifacts date from roughly 4500 B.C.E. through 1300 C.E.

Homeland Security Investigations, the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, repatriated the artifacts in April during a ceremony at the Mexican consulate in El Paso, Texas. Mexican Consul General Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de León accepted them on behalf of Mexico. Homeland Security Investigations is a member of the Cultural Antiquities Task Force.

“The return of these pre-Hispanic pieces highlights the active cooperative between the governments of Mexico and the United States in the protection of cultural goods, as well as a commitment for historical and cultural legacies to return to their places of origin,” Ibarra Ponce de León said in a statement.


Paul J. Jarrett, of HSI Cultural Property, Art & Antiquities; F. Gus Sánchez, of Chamizal National Memorial; Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de León, of the Mexican Consulate in El Paso, Texas; Erik P. Breitzke, of HSI El Paso; and Eric S. Cohen, of the U.S. Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, pose with recovered artifacts. (Homeland Security Investigations)

The transfer ends a five-year investigation.

Stopping theft of cultural property

Special agents in the HSI office in Alpine, Texas, opened the probe in April 2016 after National Park Service rangers spotted stolen artifacts at Big Bend National Park. The park borders Mexico.

Authorities say Andrew Kowalik, of Texas, coordinated with certain Mexican individuals to smuggle the artifacts to the park. From there, Kowalik would pay the smugglers with money or trade for products, including construction materials and tools. Once he completed a transaction, Kowalik would take the artifacts to his Texas home.

Kowalik attempted to sell the artifacts to an undercover agent for $450,000. After executing a search warrant, authorities seized the artifacts from Kowalik’s home. He was convicted of a single count of smuggling goods into the U.S., a felony, and sentenced to five years of home confinement and probation plus a $10,000 restitution fee that will be placed in a fund that supports law enforcement activities.

Antiquities trafficking is a multibillion dollar, transnational criminal enterprise. Global partnerships have helped the U.S. crack down on the illegal importation of such goods.

“The theft of cultural property and artifacts is not merely a crime, it is an offense against a nation’s history,” said Erik P. Breitzke, special agent in charge of HSI’s El Paso office. “We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners and foreign governments to ensure that individuals do not profit from these criminal acts.”

For more than a century, the National Park Service has preserved and protected natural and cultural resources, deputy director Shawn Benge said in a statement. The joint investigation, he said, “demonstrates our shared mission to preserve history for generations to come.”

 

About the Cultural Antiquities Task Force

Homeland Security Investigations is a member of the Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF). Created by the State Department in 2004 at the direction of Congress, the CATF comprises federal agencies that share a common mission to combat antiquities trafficking in the United States and abroad. Since its creation, the CATF has supported more than 95 domestic and international cultural property training programs. CATF is managed by the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center.

Pauline Otila Kamwara, Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) graduate from 2019, is the managing director of Apiculture Venture in Kenya. Her social enterprise employs women and young people committed to sustainable beekeeping. They sell honey to farmers, cosmetic shops, hotels, and more. Pauline started her business when she saw that women weren’t represented in beekeeping in Kenya.

“I attended a beekeeping and honey processing course in Israel. The experience ... motivated me to start something similar with women given that the farms I visited [there], the most successful ones, were women owned, yet back home in Kenya no woman was running a beekeeping enterprise,” she says. 

Pauline credits the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Program (AWE) program with helping her attain funding that ultimately helped her expand her operations.

“We presented our business plan that was done through AWE and [it helped get] a grant to purchase modern honey processing equipment. [I learned to] sell the idea of beekeeping as an income generating activity.” Pauline says.

In addition to developing a business plan, AWE also taught Pauline how to develop an elevator pitch, evaluate customer buying trends, and improve her products and services. She said that her enterprise grew as a result of her AWE training.

“There has been a sharp growth. We increased the number of bee hives operating in various sites – currently 930 bee hives. We have been able to double our production. [We] expanded regionally to Tanzania and [are] looking forward to [partnering with] Uganda and Burundi.” -Pauline.

To learn more about Pauline and Apiculture Venture visit …
Instagram: @apiventure2018
Facebook: https://fb.watch/5IrAStdkFb/

This month the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is celebrating the importance of cultural diplomacy!

ECA’s cultural programs support the goals of the National Security Strategy: reinvigorate and modernize our alliances and partnerships around the world; join with the international community to tackle shared challenges such as climate change and COVID- 19; realize and defend the democratic values at the heart of the American way of life; expand economic prosperity and opportunity; and, protect the security of the American people.

Cultural exchange programs are crucial diplomatic tools that increase cross-cultural understanding and demonstrate shared values, creating space for discussions and dialogue between different countries and cultures. Even during the isolation of COVID, the Cultural Division worked with posts around the world to facilitate 438 virtual programs over the space of a year!

An example of how the cultural programs increase cross-cultural understanding would be, recently, through the Between the Lines program, nine high school alums from Pakistan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and the U.S. created their own space for dialogue by developing an online literary magazine which garnered 300 submissions from 20 countries for their first issue.

For more information about the Arts and Cultural diplomacy programs please visit https://eca.state.gov/programs-and-initiatives/initiatives/cultural-diplomacy and follow @cultureatstate on Twitter.

An inventory and storage upgrade project supported by the State Department at the Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum was put on hold in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Museum staff and partners from the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Gannon University, and La Sierra University could no longer access the collection as the city closed.  The local community that depended on tourism revenue for their livelihoods were adversely affected by the global freeze on travel.  In response, the project partners pioneered an innovative initiative of training, professional development, and virtual tours of the heritage trail in downtown Madaba that brings to light the many stories of people who call this ancient place and its living heritage home. 

jude_twal_from_aum_completes_photogrammetry_of_the_hippolytus_hall.jpg

Jude Twal from the American University of Madaba completes photogrammetry of the Hippolytus Hall
The project—One Place, Many Stories: Madaba—involved digital documentation of the heritage sites within the historic downtown.  Three Jordanian students from the American University of Madaba worked with California-based CyArk to record the archaeological parks and historic buildings including St. George’s Church, a Byzantine period building that houses the oldest mosaic map of the Holy Land.  Using photogrammetry, the Madaba heritage sites were then turned into 3D models.  This documentation was combined with audio and video tours recorded by Jordanian guides who received English language training supported by ECA.  In addition, six Madaba residents chronicled how their contemporary lives relate to the cultural heritage of Madaba with the help of another California-based NGO StoryCenter.  Together these documentation and stories combine to make an engaging online experience you can explore for yourself in English or Arabic at cyark.org/projects/madaba.

hippolytus_hall_and_virgin_mary_church.jpg

Hippolytus Hall and Virgin Mary Church
Eventually a tipping system will be available with the virtual tour to give financial help to guides who have lost their jobs during the pandemic.  This community-centered documentation project and virtual tour in Madaba serves as a public education tool, supports the livelihoods of Madaba residents, and provides a digital inventory of the site until the project team can return and complete its work in the museum. 

About the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 

The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), created in 2001 at the direction of Congress, supports projects to preserve a wide range of cultural heritage in less developed countries, including historic buildings, archaeological sites, ethnographic objects, paintings, manuscripts, and indigenous languages and other forms of traditional cultural expression. Since its creation, AFCP has supported more than 1,000 cultural heritage projects around the world.  

About the Cultural Antiquities Task Force  

Created by the State Department in 2004 at the direction of Congress, the Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF) comprises federal agencies that share a common mission to combat antiquities trafficking in the United States and abroad. Since its creation, the CATF has supported more than 95 domestic and international cultural property training programs.

USA Study Abroad, within the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and World Learning are pleased to announce the 26 U.S. colleges and universities awarded 2021 IDEAS grants (Increase and Diversify Education Abroad for U.S. Students grants) under the Capacity Building Program for U.S. Study Abroad. With the support of the IDEAS grants, these institutions will develop and expand study abroad programs around the world that are aligned with U.S. foreign policy goals.

Panels of U.S. higher education representatives recommended these institutions for funding from a pool of 132 eligible proposals. The winning institutions come from 20 states and represent the full diversity of the American higher education system, including five community colleges and nine minority serving institutions. These U.S. colleges and universities will receive funding and programmatic support to help build and strengthen their capacity to send more – and more diverse -- American students overseas to destinations across all world regions. Funded projects will support such activities as creating resources to engage diverse student groups in study abroad, training faculty and staff in program development and implementation, and creating virtual exchanges. Once international travel resumes in full, these IDEAS grant recipients will be better equipped to deliver impactful and inclusive study abroad programs around the globe. 

IDEAS grants increase the capacity of accredited U.S. colleges and universities to create, expand, and diversify study abroad programs for U.S. students.  In addition to the IDEAS grant competition, the program also offers opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators at U.S. colleges and universities to participate in a series of free virtual and in-person study abroad capacity building activities. For more information, including details on a free IDEAS webinar series on maximizing study abroad resources during and after the global pandemic, please visit http://www.studyabroadcapacitybuilding.org/.

Congratulations to the following 26 colleges and universities on their 2021 IDEAS grants.

  • Albright College, Pennsylvania
  • Boise State University, Idaho
  • Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts
  • Centralia College, Washington
  • College of Staten Island, New York
  • Drake University, Iowa
  • East Carolina University, North Carolina
  • Fayetteville State University, North Carolina
  • Florida State College at Jacksonville, Florida
  • Goshen College, Indiana
  • Green River College, Washington
  • Juniata College, Pennsylvania
  • Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana
  • New Jersey City University, New Jersey
  • North Central College, Illinois
  • Northern Virginia Community College, Virginia
  • Prairie View A&M University, Texas
  • Rutgers University – Newark, New Jersey
  • Salem State University, Massachusetts
  • Savannah State University, Georgia
  • The Ohio State University, Ohio
  • University of Arizona, Arizona
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
  • University of Utah, Utah
  • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Western Kentucky University, Kentucky

We also recognize the 16 outstanding alternates under the IDEAS grant competition. Though we are not able to fund their proposals at this time due to budgetary limitations, they submitted strong proposals worth recognizing.

  • Arkansas Tech University, Arkansas
  • Clemson University, South Carolina
  • Davidson-Davie Community College, North Carolina
  • Grand Valley State University, Michigan
  • Kean University, New Jersey
  • Marymount University, Virginia
  • New Jersey City University, New Jersey
  • Riverside Community College District, California
  • The University of Texas at Arlington, Texas
  • Indiana University, Indiana
  • University of California Santa Cruz, California
  • University of Connecticut, Connecticut
  • University of Memphis, Tennessee
  • University of North Carolina Wilmington, North Carolina
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Virginia
  • Widener University, Pennsylvania

As a part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage (IWOC) awardees Sister Alicia Vacas Moro of Spain and Ana Rosario Contreras of Venezuela spoke with the President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) on April 14 about organizing and solutions to make healthcare more equitable and accessible.

The IVLP is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through discussions with their counterparts in the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields share their perspectives on issues of mutual interest and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts. IVLP meetings reflect the participants’ professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United States.

Katie Murphy, an ICU nurse of 40 years and the president of the MNA, shared the recent successes of the association. These include demanding additional personal protective equipment as the COVID-19 pandemic began last year and lobbying efforts targeted at creating statutes that impose harsher punishments on patients who attack nurses.

“It is important that we establish and nurture relationships with policy makers,” Murphy explained. “We want them to take our research and proposals seriously and create legislation that reflects our demands.”

After hearing Murphy’s success with the MNA, Contreras shared challenges she experienced as an advocate for healthcare access in Venezuela in her position as president of the Caracas Nurses’ Association. “Demanding one’s rights can result in threats, imprisonment, and termination from their job,” Contreras stated, “But I know they will not silence my voice… I know that I am on the right side of history.”

Sister Alicia has been a long-serving volunteer in the Middle East, where she has assisted refugees and asylum seekers in accessing medical care. She spoke about the reality of collaborating with other organizations in order to have a more equitable health care system. “We use our convent as a neutral zone for organizations and medical professionals to share information,” Sister Alicia shared. “It is through these non-political, fact finding missions that I have seen the most progress.”

Each of these women shared stories and lessons learned through their involvement in creating a more equitable healthcare system within their communities, states, and countries. While the nuances of the specific challenges are different in Massachusetts, Venezuela, and the Middle East, common themes appeared as to the motivation of these healthcare professionals to spend time, and risk so much, to seek change.

The motivations of these three inspiring women were best stated by Contreras when she was explaining why she is so passionate about her work: “We believe that life is an inalienable right and healthcare is something we must defend in the middle of a pandemic… who better to defend that right than nurses?”

This meeting was administered by partner WorldBoston and the overall program is being implemented with the help of partner Meridian International Center.

The U.S. Department of State has long recognized the role of music in diplomacy, with its emphasis on free expression, improvisation, and democratic and collaborative teamwork. Sharing music is one of the best ways to find common ground with people on an exchange program. The appeal of music is universal.

From the mid-1950s and continuing through the 1970s, many American jazz greats traveled the globe as music envoys under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of State. Musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman performed on tours supported by the U.S. Government. To better understand the history of jazz diplomacy within the context of the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement, visit the PBS website to view the new documentary, The Jazz Ambassadors, premiering tonight.

Cultural Diplomacy Today

The State Department still sends musicians overseas as cultural ambassadors today, but instead of focusing on jazz it also includes artists from other genres of American music such as hip-hop, gospel, bluegrass, and zydeco. The flagship musical exchange is American Music Abroad, which has sent more than 50 bands to over 100 countries since 2011. American Music Abroad programs focus on younger and underserved audiences in countries where people have few opportunities to meet American performers. To learn more about American Music Abroad and see exciting content from our alumni, visit http://amvoices.org/ama/.

Other music programs like OneBeat and Next Level introduce musicians, beat makers, DJs, and more to diverse audiences and address U.S. foreign policy issues like women’s and youth empowerment. Next Level sends American artists overseas to lead workshops, community performances, and master classes, while OneBeat brings together emerging musical leaders from around the world to develop a global network of civically engaged music initiatives. Find out more at https://1beat.org/ and http://nextlevel-usa.org/.

We also lead film programs, such as American Film Showcase, which annually brings award-winning contemporary American documentaries and feature films, filmmakers, and film experts to audiences in more than 30 countries. The films connect people to each other, so they can have dialogues about underlying global and universal issues that are illustrated through film. To learn more about American Film Showcase and upcoming programs, visit http://americanfilmshowcase.com/.

Check out the full list of our exchange programs and initiatives here: https://eca.state.gov/programs-and-initiatives


In celebration of Earth Day, American Film Showcase, a film exchange program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, hosted a virtual film screening of the award-winning documentary Inventing Tomorrow. The documentary follows young scientists from Hawaii, India, Indonesia, and Mexico as they take an innovative approach to solving complex environmental challenges in their local communities. The global event, which featured participation from over 50 countries, united people from all walks of life around important issues such as climate change and the environment.

Following the screening, Inventing Tomorrow director Laura Nix moderated a discussion with Sahithi Pingali, a student scientist highlighted in the film, and Megan Smith, former U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Nix discussed her reason for creating the film, which was to showcase young people putting forth solutions to today’s environmental problems and to leave the audience with a sense of hope. She said, “When we believe in change, that’s when things can happen.” Pingali and Smith emphasized the importance of personal responsibility in meeting today’s challenges, as well as community engagement and finding innovative solutions to tackle these issues.

Follow the virtual film screening coverage and ongoing Earth Day conversation on Twitter #SolutionsStorytelling and #EarthDay.

American Film Showcase brings award-winning American documentaries, independent narrative films, web series, and animated shorts to worldwide audiences, offering insight into American society and culture. Since its inaugural year in 2011, AFS has produced over 300 programs in 111 countries from every geographic region, reaching an estimated 200,000 people.

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