BWIRE: Foreign missions should leverage cultural diplomacy to market Kenya

One of the major assignments that I got in my younger years was at a cultural centre at one of the foreign missions in the country.

It was not the typical communications and media jobs that I anticipated, being almost fresh from college, with just a few years of work experience in the broad discipline of communications.

To my surprise, a lot of programmes were geared towards, visiting and hosting many academic institutions, focused on mostly children, to teach them age appropriate aspects of their culture. And I wondered why.

Part of the job was to design programmes based on the interest of the audience or developing a creative initiative, if the visiting institution did not have anything in mind.

I would talk about seasons, technology, food, songs and dance, and even sing and dance the songs of the country with the children.

Then I would show videos and even practise what we  watched with the children. This could be the use of this particular ‘cutlery’ of that country and sometimes taste the food. They would then go home with small memorabilia from the culture.

We would sometimes watch videos of traditional games and  play and teach a few words of the particular language.

As I was busy promoting, ‘others’ culture to our students, both young and old, I couldn’t help but wonder if our Kenyan foreign missions do the same to paint the best colour of Kenya out there.

Combined, Kenya has nearly 100 embassies and consulates abroad. Generally, there are five pillars of diplomacy that anchor the Kenyan foreign policy and these include peace, economy, environment, culture and diaspora.

Cultural diplomacy is a course of action to utilize the exchange of ideas, values, traditions and other aspects of culture or identity, whether to strengthen relationships, enhance socio-cultural cooperation and develop long term relationships.

This is mostly done through arts, fashion, film, music, culture and sports as well as education exchanges, mostly through scholarships. This in turn enhances trade, peace and security and international understanding.

Diplomatic missions typically have local and expatriate staff. Local staff are recruited from the host country, while expatriates come from their sending countries, sent through their foreign ministries to represent the interests of their respective nations.

Local and expatriate staff work hand in hand to attain the objectives of the diplomatic mission. Be it in politics, economic cooperation, grassroots grants project activities, cross cultural communication and cultural diplomacy through use of soft power.

Our expatriates and the locals they employ in the foreign missions can actively expose students in their respective missions to our cultural aspects.

Of course, the regulations in place to visit schools in those countries could be different, but even so, the audience is still there, and the impact is immeasurable.

Communication is to diplomacy as blood is to the human body. Communicating cultural diplomacy or commonly soft power is important in international politics. Diplomacy, is dead, when one country doesn’t make itself known, in all angles.

For example, it is widely known that Kenya has used cultural diplomacy, especially in our prowess in sports to boost our image. In turn, many international athletes use Kenya as a training ground. The Maasai hand band and outfit is widely associated with Kenya because of its use and promotion in different ways.

Think about it. Because of Hollywood, pop culture and all its glitz and glam, Disney, and all the magical feel it gives the young, plus all the use of animation characters in children’s items; The United States has gotten known, especially by children, through this use of soft power. This powerful country has attracted people to learn, research, work and even tour their country.

Many other countries, with a good international standing use this tool of cultural diplomacy exhaustively to enhance the image of their countries.

Kenya has so many documented and undocumented aspects of our diverse culture and the arts. Well packaged to the young, we can market it in very many interesting ways. We have too many give a way items that can be purchased, branded and stocked as memorabilia from our very own Maasai market.

Any academic will tell you that the young learn best. The interests and energy of the young is also unmatched, and they later use this knowledge to craft their future interests.

Vera is a part-time lecturer and communications researcher

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