“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." - Winston Churchill.
Among the relief efforts in Nepal to support and rebuild, Global Chamber Kathmandu Executive Director Bishal Dahal is going above and beyond the call of duty to help. His team's efforts... many of them working with Bishal at the Global Chamber as well... have been recognized by the U.S. Embassy in Nepal: The Story
Bishal is an International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) alum. Do you know about it? It's a fantastic program by the U.S. State Department to develop leaders around the world, and make connection with them into the U.S.
The State Department through partner organizations invites 5,000 future leaders from around the world to the U.S. every year. Then for 3 weeks, those future leaders meet up with some of the 92,000 Americans who volunteer our time to meet them, host them and break bread with them. The general pattern is that they spend a little time in Washington, DC on the front and back end of their 3 weeks, and then in between they visit about 3 locations... and meet up with the volunteers and their connections in local communities.
When the visitors go home, they have new ideas and new energy. Sometimes these folks become world leaders... and people like Tony Blair, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and many hundreds of more have passed through the program and visited the U.S. early in their careers.
A world leader coming through Arizona has been Ivo Josipović, who came here as a young man thinking about getting into politics to improve Croatia, and returned to become an assemblyman, and then 3rd President of Croatia. Today he continues to give back to Croatia, and his time in IVLP has been a contributing factor in his success.
I didn't meet our Bishal in Kathmandu directly from the program - he didn't come to Arizona. But there are IVLP alumni groups set up around the world and through that he heard about my efforts with IVLP (with Arizona Council for International Visitors) and then the Global Chamber.
Over months we talked until he became our Executive Director in Kathmandu. He's a talented young man, and something about him through those odd hour Skype calls told me he was the one for us, with the right character and skills.
Lo and behold, that is playing our right now not only in his work for Global Chamber, but also with his mobilizing relief efforts on the ground after the Nepal earthquakes.
Our Embassies pick these leaders years before they become President, or Global Chamber Executive Director. Then through their experiences they grow to have an impact, and become friends to the U.S. It's an example of 'citizen diplomacy' at work.
I'm proud to be a volunteer in the program and part of the Arizona Council for International Visitors, becoming Global Ties AZ. And we're proud of Bishal Dahal and his development from an international visitors in the IVLP, to our leader on the ground in Kathmandu, and now to a leader in the Kathmandu community.
Global first. Local, too. Join our business revolution.
Doug Bruhnke, Global Chamber
Originally published at https://www.globalchamber.org/blog/2015/05/22/global-chamber/nepal-rebuilding-with-hard-work-leadership/
