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NCIV is a national network of program agencies and 95 community-based
organizations. These nonprofit groups design and implement
professional programs and provide cultural activities and
home hospitality opportunities for foreign leaders, specialists,
and international scholars.
Citizen Diplomacy is the idea that the individual citizen
has the right — even the responsibility — to help
shape U.S. foreign relations "one handshake at a time."
By opening their homes, offices, and schools to foreign leaders
participating in the U.S. Department of State's International
Visitor Leadership Program and other exchanges, NCIV member
citizen diplomats foster international understanding and cooperation,
constructive economic connections, and peaceful interaction.
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"One of the most wonderful things about our international visitors is that we don't tell them what to say, certainly not what to think. When they do return home, and express their own opinions - they can say: this is my own opinion, no one told me to say this or that. This how the integrity of this program has been sustained over 62 years."
- Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Assistant Secretary of State
for Educational and Cultural Affairs
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