On February 2, the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will host the finalists for the “Peer to Peer [P2P]: Challenging Extremism” initiative. The initiative is an innovative partnership between the U.S. government and universities around the world. 

Seeking “soft power,” in the Arab world, China is setting up some educational collaborations to invest in the Arab world’s scientific and technical workforce. These aims were outlined in what is being called the Chinese government’s first Arab policy paper, published earlier this month.  

Diplomat Devyani Khobragade [...] will later this month undertake a cross-country run in her home state of Maharashtra aimed at promoting women education and empowerment. [...] According to the foreign ministry, the run is a one-of-a-kind public diplomacy initiative intended to promote India-Australia relations.

Local Muslims must actively participate, as well and reach out to, neighbors and friends not as missionaries, but as members of the community to help educate about their beliefs and the Quran for instance [...] The only way these kinds of things will stop is to help the community be educated on what is real and by way of caution, build bridges of trust within the local community.

For years, governments and foundations have used scholarships as instruments of diplomacy. The Brits have Rhodes and Chevening, the Americans have Marshall and Fulbright, and the Australian government has created a lot of goodwill in its neighbourhood through the New Colombo Plan. 

Qatar’s brand is now the ninth-most powerful in the world, according to an annual ranking released by UK-based consulting firm ‘Brand Finance’ in 2015. As a progressive country, Qatar, through its visionary leadership, has used many strategies, in particular its soft power, to enhance its position in the international community. 

In May 2000, Jane Mirandette found herself in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, semi-retired and owning a bed and breakfast hotel. She realized quickly that there were no children with books in their hands. [...] Fast-forward to November, 2015. The San Juan del Sur Biblioteca, which is supported by donations, was about to celebrate its 14th anniversary.

I was excited to take part in an international symposium last week on Buddhist-Muslim interfaith dialogue in the commercial crossroads of Southeast Asia and the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. Appropriately titled "Interfaith Dialogue and Peaceful Coexistence in Multicultural Societies."