what does it mean to be a sister city

Organization

Sis Cities International (SCI)

Abbreviation	SCI
Formation	1956
Legal status	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
Purpose	To create and strengthen partnerships betwixt communities in other countries
Headquarters	1012 14th Street NW Suite 1400 [1] Washington, D.C. 20005 Us
Membership	States, counties, cities
Chairman	Carol Robertson Lopez[two]
Website	www.SisterCities.org

Sis Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen affairs network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, peculiarly through the establishment of "sister cities"—wide, long-term agreements formally recognized past civic leaders.^[3] Its mission is to "build global cooperation at the municipal level, promote cultural understanding and stimulate economical development".^[iv] A total of 1,800 cities, states, and counties are partnered in 138 countries worldwide.^[5]

As the official arrangement that links jurisdictions in the U.S. with communities worldwide, Sister Cities International recognizes, registers, and coordinates relationships between cities, counties, provinces, and other subnational political divisions at diverse levels.

The U.S. sis city programme began in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a people-to-people, denizen diplomacy initiative. Originally a programme of the National League of Cities, Sister Cities International became a split, nonprofit corporation in 1967, due to the growth and popularity of the U.South. program.

Sis Cities program [edit]

The Sis Cities program is designed every bit means for cultural substitution. A community of whatsoever size decides to join with a customs in another nation to acquire more well-nigh one some other. Therefore, a sister metropolis, country, oblast, prefecture, province, region, state, territory, town, or village human relationship is a broad-based, officially approved, long-term partnership between two communities.

Sis City relationships begin for a variety of reasons. Generally sister city partnerships share similar demographics and town size. Partnerships may arise from concern connections, travel, like industries, diaspora communities, or shared history. For example, Portland, Oregon and Bologna, Italy's partnership arose from shared industries in biotechnology and education, an appreciation for the arts, and a "like mental attitude towards nutrient",^[6] whereas Chicago'southward link with Warsaw, Poland began with the urban center'southward historic Polish community.^[7]

Sister Cities International also recognizes "Friendship City" affiliations. These are a less formal arrangement that may be a pace towards a full Sis Metropolis affiliation.^{[8] [9]} 'Friendship City' is likewise the Chinese term for 'Sister City'.^[x]

Mission and goals [edit]

The organisation'southward mission is to "promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation — one individual, one community at a fourth dimension."^[four]

Sister Cities International'south stated goals are to:

• Develop municipal partnerships between U.S. cities, counties, and states and similar jurisdictions in other nations.
• Provide opportunities for city officials and citizens to experience and explore other cultures through long-term customs partnerships.
• Create an atmosphere in which economic and community development tin can be implemented and strengthened.
• Stimulate environments through which communities volition creatively larn, work, and solve problems together through reciprocal cultural, educational, municipal, business concern, professional person and technical exchanges and projects.
• Collaborate with organizations in the The states and other countries which share similar goals.^[4]

Programs [edit]

Sister Cities International advances their goals past approaching from iv broad-based areas: cultural exchange, humanitarian assistance, youth and educational programs, and economic and sustainable development.

Arts and cultural commutation [edit]

Cultural exchanges occur on an individual level from urban center to city. Sister Cities International facilitates these exchanges past providing support and funding.

According to the Sister Cities International website, these exchanges occur in various ways including: "musical performances, art exhibits, construction of peace parks or tea gardens, international cultural festivals, and instructor exchanges".^[11] Well known demonstrations of sister city cultural events include the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. honoring the sis city relationship between Tokyo City and Washington, D.C.

Humanitarian help [edit]

• Sino-African Initiative: Beginning in February 2012, Sister Cities International launched a two-year program addressing urban poverty in African cities. SAI is a tri-lateral initiative bringing together U.S., African, and Chinese sis cities, and will be implemented through 3 pilot projects.
• Safe Drinking Water Initiative: In 2008, Sister Cities International engaged fellow member cities to pilot the Safe Drinking Water Initiative (SDWI). SDWI was created with the goal of distributing approximately 250,000 packets of Procter & Gamble's PUR through sis city networks in Ethiopia and Nigeria, purifying more than than 2.v million liters of water.
• September Concert: Sister Cities International partners with The September Concert to sponsor a series of free musical performances held in sister cities around the globe on September 11 of every yr. The concerts help to bring people of all nations together—reaffirming our hopes for earth peace and jubilant our lives and universal humanity.^[12]
• Africa Urban Poverty Alleviation Program: In 2009, Sister Cities International launched the Africa Urban Poverty Alleviation Plan, a iii-yr project to alleviate poverty in 25 African cities through h2o, sanitation and health initiatives led by U.S. and African sis urban center programs. U.S. sister cities collaborate with their African counterparts to identify and address the about critical issues in these sectors, which form barriers to sustained evolution in urban areas. In 2021, they are estimating that 9.1 meg people are working on projects with drinking water.^{[ citation needed ]}

Youth and education programs [edit]

• Youth Administrator Programme: The youth ambassador program supports the exchange of high school students between Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Students participate in three–week exchanges in both Mexico and the U.S, meeting with NGOs and regime officials, and explore issues similar poverty and the environment from a local and international perspective.
• Immature Artists and Authors Showcases: The Young Artists and Authors Showcases encourages youth ages 13–18 to express their vision of the sister city mission through original works of art and composition.
• Sister Schools: The Sister Schools program links youth in collaborative projects through a classroom, school or subsequently-schoolhouse activity. Students can engage in letter, video, or web cast substitution, leadership-edifice projects, fund-raising campaigns or projects tailored to their interests.
• Pupil Substitution Partnership: Sister Cities International offers youth substitution opportunities to its members. Through this partnership with American Cultural Commutation Service (ACES), sister urban center members tin nominate and sponsor high school students from their sister city to study in the U.South. for a semester or a school year. The students live with host families and participate in local activities.^[13]
• Special Educational activity and Virtual Learning in the U.S. and Palestine (SEVLUP) grant: Sister Cities International oversees two programs through its SEVLUP grant, the Gainesville plan and the Muscatine program. The Gainesville programme connects students in Florida and Qalqilya, Palestinian Territories in order to develop an ASL-Palestinian sign linguistic communication video dictionary for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. The Muscatine plan works with sister city Ramallah, Palestinian Territories, to provide special education training for eye school educators and expands intercultural curricula for special education students.

Economical and sustainable development [edit]

• Leading Asia: This three-year program aims to strengthen U.Southward.-Japan ties past increasing opportunity for current partnerships and promoting new U.S.-Japan sister city relationships. Leading Asia will fund the travel of 12 U.S. cities to their Japanese sister urban center to develop new programs in areas of: "business development, sustainability, creative economies, and young professional development".
• Innovation in Sustainable Development—Free energy Honor: With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Sister Cities International added an energy category to its Annual Awards programme.^{[ citation needed ]}
• Open up World Plan: Sister Cities International and World Serves of La Crosse, Inc., partner to administer the Open World Program. Since 2002, U.S. sister city communities have hosted nearly 400 emerging leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Uzbekistan to learn more nigh accountability, transparency and citizen participation in government. The Open up World Program is sponsored by the Open up World Centre, which is affiliated with the U.S. Library of Congress.^[14]
• Cyber Sis Cities: Citrix Systems and Sister Cities International partnered in 2006 to pilot the first Cyber Sister City relationship betwixt Agogo, Ghana and Fort Lauderdale, FL. Citrix provided the technological guidance and support to promote utilization of technology and commutation of concern knowledge between Agoga and Ft. Lauderdale.

Citrix primary involvement was in opening the Agogo Data and Communications Applied science, offering Agoga residents access to computers, internet, and due east-learning courses. In addition to the center, the Cyber Metropolis partnership has developed economic partnerships between Agoga and Ft. Lauderdale, including aquaculture and hydroponics projects.^{[15] [sixteen]}

Expanding partnerships [edit]

In addition to funding programs for partnerships already in place, Sister Cities dedicates resources to encouraging partnerships in not-traditional areas in the Middle E and Africa.

• Global Twinning Summit: Final year, Sister Cities held the commencement "Global Twinning Summit" in Cairo, to promote sister metropolis relationships between Africa cities.
• African Regional Partners: African Regional Partners is made upwardly of 2 associations: The Eastern Africa Sister Cities and the Africa Global Sister Cities foundation. Both piece of work to build partnerships between U.S. and African cities.
• Muslim Earth Partnership Initiative: Since 2001, Sis Cities International has maintained a focus on increasing the number of partnerships with cities in predominately Muslim countries.

Annual conferences [edit]

Each summer, Sister Cities International holds a themed almanac briefing in a Sister City in America. SCI will be jubilant its 63rd anniversary in 2019 and will have a conference themed "Cities Mean Business" on July 17–xix in Houston, Texas.

History [edit]

Early years [edit]

Despite isolated community partnerships and informal denizen relations, the people-to-people initiative did not gain momentum until U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower'south celebrated September 11–12, 1956 White House conference on denizen diplomacy. The mail service-World War 2 climate proved an ideal environment to launch this kind of effort. With enthusiastic response to the concept, tens of thousands of Americans pledged their support to create a free and peaceful world.

Growing out of the two-day White House Conference, participants formed forty-2 "People-to-People" committees. The democratic nature of the federally backed movement meant that some committees flourished while others never left the ground. By 1960, 30-3 committees connected the original mission. People-to-People International also grew out of this umbrella group of committees.

The sister metropolis idea developed from the Civic Committee. Envisioned by President Eisenhower as the 'main cog' for denizen diplomacy, the sister metropolis program grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The Borough Committee and the National League of Cities provided joint authoritative support for the fledgling sister city movement until 1973.

A 1974 report found that many early sis metropolis relationships formed out of the mail WWII aid programs to Western Europe. The relationships that endured, all the same, were based on cultural or educational reasons that adult lasting friendships.

During the mid-1960s, city affiliations recognized that their diverse efforts needed coordination. In 1967, the Town Affiliation Association of the U.S. (already popularly known equally Sis Cities International) was created.

Inbound new territories [edit]

In 1979, the very first U.Due south. and People'south Republic of Prc links were created. San Francisco made waves by forming a "friendship" relationship with Shanghai, China. Despite Cold War tensions, U.S. cities had already initiated sister city relationships with the Soviet Union in 1973.

Programs at that time focused on basic urban problems such every bit water and sanitation, health, housing, education and transportation. Begun in 1977, the national Technical Assistance Plan (TAP) worked to create grooming programs to increase employment, establish cooperatives and credit unions or to create appropriate pocket-size-scale industries. Development agencies realized that industrializing countries experienced the same urban problems equally developed nations. The sis city move provided a mechanism for communities to share their experiences and growing pains. TAP focused on a spiral out benefits organisation. For instance, a metropolis projection to amend surface drainage would indirectly aid the urban poor. These citizens would gain amend sanitation and possible employment from the projection. The United States Bureau for International Evolution (USAID) provided seed grant coin for the project.

In the mid-1970s, the Town Affiliation Association began the School Affiliation Program. Through this programme, youth gained greater sensitivity toward other cultures and a broader global perspective. In one program, Oakland, California and Fukuoka, Nippon spent a school year exchanging artwork and conducting workshops on the Japanese culture.

Jubilant a 25th anniversary [edit]

The Town Affiliation Association marked its 25th anniversary in 1981. By that time, 720 U.Southward. cities representing 85 meg citizens were linked to over 1,000 communities in 77 nations effectually the earth. In add-on, the association's proper noun evolved to its current class, Sister Cities International.

During the 1980s, a focus on municipal twinning adult. Mayors began to focus on relationships that offered technical assistance in municipal development. Similar to TAP, these exchanges worked on citywide issues such every bit solid waste management, urban planning, emergency response training and emergency management.

Cities also concentrated on international trade development. Building on their sister urban center relationships, participants adult economical interests with practical benefits. In 1 joint venture, a Baltimore, Maryland business sent engines to a business organization in Xiamen, China. Factories in China used the engines in excavating equipment and forklift manufacturing. Despite ongoing argue on international trade, these cities took initiative and implemented durable business ventures at the grassroots level.

End of the Cold War and creating new ties [edit]

In September 1991, an unprecedented gathering of 220 Soviet officials and citizens arrived for the U.S.-Soviet Marriage Sister Cities conference. Held in Cincinnati, Ohio, organizers noted this was the largest-ever gathering of Soviet citizens in the U.S. With the Soviet Union's political and economic situation, delegates discussed developing local government, citizen involvement, education and the surround. Trade and creating business ventures also featured chiefly at the conference. From there, the mayors visited their individual sister cities for 5 days. The briefing sought to encourage international understanding and communication among ordinary citizens. This issue followed the failed August coup confronting President Mikhail Gorbachev and preceded the eventual independence of the Soviet Republics at the end of 1991.

Capitalizing on the growing earth economic system, many sis city members adult concern agreements with their partners. Vermont's Ben and Jerry'due south Ice Cream visitor, for example, started a factory in Karelia, Russia. The visitor served 3,000 Russians a day and offered the same profit-sharing framework to its Russian employees every bit found in the American visitor. While non a primary goal, business organization relationships were a natural by-product of sister urban center exchanges.

During the mid-1990s many U.South. mayors conducted exploratory tours to countries in Asia, including India and Vietnam. The mayors addressed common urban problems; experienced the culture; facilitated economic opportunities; and promoted new sister city partnerships. The United States Information Agency (USIA) co-sponsored one trip with the Vietnam-The statesA. Society equally the sponsors in Vietnam.

The Internet offered another medium for communication. Through the introduction of email in 1993, Sonoma, California could communicate instantaneously with its sister city Kaniv, Ukraine.

In 1995, the U.S. Business firm of Representatives passed legislation to eliminate the United States Information Bureau (USIA) with vocal support from the U.S. Briefing of Mayors International Diplomacy Committee and Sister Urban center members. The broadcasting functions of the USIA were maintained by the now independent Dissemination Board of Governors (BBG); all other continuing functions became office of the organizational structure overseen by the purposefully established Under Secretarial assistant of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs within the United States Department of State (DoS). SCI is a leading fellow member of a consortium of not-profit NGOs that partner with the DoS Agency of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), which was created as part of this new organizational structure.

Through the grant funding, logistical back up and other resources fabricated available through the ECA, SCI and other organizations develop, administer and promote the Usa Cultural Exchange Programs (CEPs). Ane such CEP is the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Programs (Yep Programs), which sponsor students predominantly from the Eye Due east to study for a year in the U.S. On a 2004 exchange, Arab students from Palestine, Jordan, State of kuwait, Lebanese republic, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen lived in the U.South. for a twelvemonth with host families and attended a leadership tiptop in Boulder, Colorado. To farther the Aye Program's goals, Sis Cities International developed the Youth and Pedagogy Network in 2004.

Meet as well [edit]

• Cross-border town naming
• List of local government organizations
• Lists of twin towns and sister cities
• Paradiplomacy
• Partnership2Gether
• Sis city
• Global city

References [edit]

1. ^ sci website
2. ^ sci website
3. ^ "Sister Cities International (SCI)". Sister Cities International (SCI) . Retrieved 2022-02-18 .
4. ^ ^{a b c} Sis Cities International Mission
5. ^ 2019 SCI maps
6. ^ "Mission". Portland Bologna Sis Urban center Association. Retrieved xvi July 2012.
7. ^ Leroux, Charles (July 31, 2001). "Chicago has assembled a sorority of sister cities". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved sixteen July 2012.
8. ^ "Sister Cities International: Affiliation Policy and Types of Affiliations" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2017-05-15 .
9. ^ "Sis Cities International: FAQ". Archived from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2017-05-15 .
10. ^ "Sister City" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-05-15. Retrieved 2017-05-fifteen .
11. ^ "Cultural Exchange". Sister Cities International. Retrieved xvi July 2012.
12. ^ "Mission Statement" (PDF). The September Concert Foundation. Retrieved 7 Feb 2011.
13. ^ "Sister Cities International Partnership (SCI)". American Cultural Exchange Service. Retrieved sixteen July 2012.
14. ^ "Overview". Open World Leadership Heart. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
15. ^ "Citrix Does Valuable Piece of work in Agogo, Ghana". Citrix Systems, Inc. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
16. ^ "Citrix Honored by Sister Cities International for Bringing Information Engineering science to the Ashanti Tribe of Ghana". Citrix Systems, Inc. Retrieved xvi July 2012.

External links [edit]

• Sister Cities International official website

erhartdely1939.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Cities_International

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