The Asia-Europe Public Diplomacy Training Initiative aimed at improving the relations between Asia and Europe by enhancing public diplomacy efforts among the members of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). It provided a practical skills-oriented training with toolkits and modules designed by expert public diplomacy practitioners and senior diplomats, with the support of Asian and European diplomatic academies.
The project was a joint collaboration between the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the DiploFoundation, and the National Centre for Research on Europe (NCRE) – University of Canterbury. The Initiative was funded by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and ASEF with the support of the European Union.
The course/training materials were developed based on the findings of ASEF’s dual perceptions studies, “EU through the Eyes of Asia” and “Asia in the Eyes of Europe”, which were conducted between 2008 and 2011. The studies revealed a limited public understanding of Asia in Europe and of Europe in Asia. The public diplomacy training curricula and toolkits incorporate this rich set of data and findings.
The programme comprised of three tutored online courses and three face-to-face workshops with the face-to-face workshops taken place in Geneva, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
“This course confirmed to me that effective diplomacy includes public engagement, digital presence, long term networked relationships and intercultural learning. All of which are essential constituents of the public diplomacy toolkit as well. By bringing together the latest research, competent practitioners and qualified tutors, this inspiring and professional bi-regional dialogue proved to me that public diplomacy is an inevitable component of effective contemporary diplomatic practice. This is something that is increasingly in demand when trying to address today’s challenges in multilateral governance.”
Mads Mateusz Jaszczolt Fritzboeger
The Danish Foreign Policy Society & The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Participant of the 2nd online training
