Public Diplomacy & Cultural Diplomacy: "community of practice"

As “noise” is greater than before, attention is limited and sources less reliable, to be successful in improving the perception of the EU and its policies we must first gain our partners/target audiences' trust and be able to keep it via continuous/coherent engagement, systematically following-up and monitoring on previous interactions.

Our Public Diplomacy initiatives should:

1. engage people via a participatory approach, for instance facilitating dialogue between citizens in Europe and third countries and via co-creation (top-down or one-way information or communication is insufficient).

2. be long-term and include follow-up activities and monitoring (avoid one-off initiatives).

3. be  people-centred and provide the opportunity to engage our partners in conversations that:

• are tailored to the interest/perception[1] of the specific target group or partner (e.g. youth, businesses),
• are relevant for their local context (local hook),
• reflect a coherent/attractive EU vision "guided by our shared interests, principles & priorities" (cf. EUGS).

4. develop partnerships: as resources are limited and competition is high, partnerships are key to sustainably reach out to potential partners.  This includes connecting our activities with those of other actors and to create clusters of engagement opportunities (both in capital cities and beyond).