Frequently Asked Questions about Leadership Missions

In February, the Tunisian government sponsored a Leadership Mission to Tunisia, read the report here.

Please click here for our 2005 Leadership Mission Trip Report to Egypt and here for our 2004 and 2006 Leadership Mission Trip Report to Taiwan.

WACA seeks to organize 3-4 fact-finding missions each year for leaders within the council system. These trips last 7-14 days and usually entail meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parliament, media, the military, the business community, universities, non-profit organizations, and the US Embassy. Delegations have also met heads of state, foreign ministers, secretary-generals, military chiefs of staff, or prominent journalists, authors, and academics. Look at the list of prior Leadership Missions.

Delegation visits Southeastern Development Project (GAP) on Euphrates as part of Leadership Mission to Turkey.

ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for leadership missions, one must hold a leadership role in the council system, either locally or nationally. Leaders are defined as national board members, council executive directors and presidents, council chairpersons, council program directors including heads of young professionals' committees, and local board members.

FOLLOW-UP
Each trip results in extensive follow-up in the form of invitations to host-country speakers, receiving host-country visitors, internship exchanges, participation in publications, putting on thematic events on the host country, hosting visiting business delegations, or host-country participation in the WACA national conference. Each delegation and the national office together publish a report on each trip, which is distributed to all councils, the in-country hosts, the embassies in Washington and the host capital, and other interested parties.

RESULTS
National leadership missions often stimulate local councils to take their own members to the same countries. The 1996 study tour to Turkey led to eight local council visits, an Ohio faculty study tour, two high school teachers' study tours, ten private visits by council leaders, and a corporate tour. The international partnerships of the world affairs council movement often emerge from these leadership missions.

PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE DIPLOMACY MISSIONS
These trips are organized and carried out by the national board. They are trips to places where unofficial diplomacy can be helpful in improving the overall relationship between that country and the United States. Sometimes that means trips to places where the United States does not have diplomatic representation. Two outstanding examples of this type of track-2 diplomacy have been to Vietnam before normalization and to Iran after the election of President Khatami.