Formation August 2011 (2011-08) Chairman Peter Botting Founded August 2011 | Type Diplomatic consultancy | |
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Non-executive director Dr Paul ClarkAbbey King KhawajaAdam RataniAristos PetersNicola SavidgeTace BaylissJohn Kraus Advisory councillor Dr Jamie SheaDr Linda PapadopoulosDr Iftikhar AyazLinford AndrewsZero Kazama Motto Bridging the gap between governments and civil society | ||
Grassroot diplomat support a project
Grassroot Diplomat is a UK-based non-profit, non-political, diplomatic consultancy established in 2011. It is the first and only consultancy of its kind to bridge the gap between governments and civil society.
Contents
- Grassroot diplomat support a project
- History
- Mission and objective
- Services
- Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Awards
- References
History
In 2011, Grassroot Diplomat was founded by Talyn Rahman-Figueroa as a not-for-profit. Rahman-Figueroa used her high-level contacts and diplomatic training to create a practical consultancy that facilitated trust and better communication between governments and civil society.
After formally registering the business in July 2013, Grassroot Diplomat held a launch event in November 2013 at the Embassy of Bulgaria, London, which was hosted by Konstantin Dimitrov and Dr Jamie Shea.
Grassroot Diplomat has managed policy-related projects in 10 countries worldwide.
Mission and objective
The name Grassroot Diplomat comes from the concept of grassroots diplomacy. Pioneered by Rahman-Figueroa, the concept merges and creates a link between political leaders and the rest of society to ensure that policies created are in the public interest. Rahman-Figueroa's idea of Grassroot Diplomat means supporting citizen-led projects and endorsing their voices to government officials by creating links absent of political affiliations or ties to any governmental association. Grassroot diplomacy focuses on how to connect influential members of society to ordinary citizens and creating role models among government officials represent its constituents.
As an independent diplomatic agency, Grassroot Diplomat has no allegiance to any government in order to remain apolitical and assists on strengthening policy-related projects to clients anywhere in the world.
Services
Primarily as a consultancy, Grassroot Diplomat offers strategic development on policy-related projects and match-makes diplomatic avenues to strengthen relationships between governments and those of whom that the projects targets.
Grassroots Diplomat works exclusively with governments and civil society and does not take on corporations as its clients. Members of the organisation network with diplomats, politicians, and celebrities including Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof and Kofi Annan.
In the context of leadership, the organisation also offers Diplomatic Leadership training and coaching sessions to individuals interested in working, liaising or expanding into international relations and trade.
Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Awards
In May 2012, the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Awards was established to recognise outstanding diplomats and politicians who represent the people's interest at the highest level. It honours a total of three diplomats and three politicians in the areas of policy delivery and influence, public support on social causes, and business assistance and job creation.
In January 2013, Rahman-Figueroa was the host of the inaugural Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Awards. She later passed on the role to television psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos to host the second awards in 2014. Forthcoming events will be held in partnership with The May Fair in London.