BDA Programs Featured as Best Practices at UN Alliance of Civilizations Forum
Media Contact Information:
Cari Guittard, Executive Director
415.608.0806c. Cari.Guittard@sf.ddb.com
Business for Diplomatic Action Programs Featured as "Best Practices"
at United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Carnegie Corporation Also Issue Endorsements for
CultureSpan Workshop, Arab and American Business Fellowship Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, April 3, 2009 - Momentum for private-sector public diplomacy efforts is mounting as Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA) is featured at United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum next week in Istanbul, Turkey. Two programs from BDA are being profiled as "best practices" in building cross-cultural understanding and trust. The CultureSpan Workshop in global corporate diplomacy and the Arab and American Business Fellowship Program are featured in the UN's new report on ?Doing Business in the Multicultural Environment,? to be released at the Forum.
"Most citizens grow up as uni-cultural people, but as adults, they are often put in environments where they have to work with people from different cultures," noted Dr. Mansour Javidan, Dean of Research at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and BDA Board member. "International businesses, which have long had to address cross-cultural issues as a practical matter, know how to promote cross-cultural understanding and build consensus." Thunderbird is BDA's strategic partner for the CultureSpan workshop.
BDA's Arab and American Business Fellowship Program, conducted in partnership with the Young Arab Leaders organization of Dubai, is also singled out as an especially effective initiative. "In our effort to build bridges of respect and trust between the United States and the Arab world, this fellowship program is transforming the attitudes of a critical group?tomorrow's business leaders," said Tom Miller, Vice President for BDA. Miller and Javidan are representing the organization at the Forum next week.
These two BDA programs recently received a grant from the Carnegie Corporation to promote their development, and an endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "American businesses know that cross-cultural understanding is key to prosperity in today's interdependent world," said Thomas Donahue, President and CEO of the Chamber. "We salute BDA for its initiatives and congratulate companies such as Boeing, Dow Chemical, Microsoft, McDonald's, PepsiCo, and UPS for their support."
Increasingly, global corporations are finding value in coming together on a variety of public diplomacy efforts as evidenced by the unanimous election of five new corporate members to BDA?s Board of Directors at its March Board meeting: Google, PepsiCo, Time Warner, Toyota and the International Franchise Association.
"We enthusiastically welcome these impressive new members to our board," said Keith Reinhard, Founder and President of BDA and Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide. "They join 25 other forward-looking companies and organizations in what is truly becoming a worldwide movement to foster better cross-cultural understanding and to promote the concept of global citizenship."
Established in January 2002, Business for Diplomatic Action is the only business-led organization dedicated to leading the development of private sector best practices in building new and better bridges across cultures. Its mission is to enlist the U.S. business community in actions to improve the standing of America in the world, with the goal of once again seeing America admired as a global leader and respected as a courier of progress and prosperity for all people.
###########
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Business for Diplomatic Action
www.businessfordiplomaticaction.org
www.worldcitizensguide.org
UN Alliance of Civilisations
www.unaoc.org
Contact Information:
Cari E. Guittard, Executive Director
Business for Diplomatic Action
415.608.0806c.
Cari.Guittard@sf.ddb.commm
www.businessfordiplomaticaction.org
