Introduction

The U.S.-Muslim Engagement Initiative (USMEI, www.USMuslimEngagement.org), a collaboration of the Consensus Building Institute, Convergence, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Institute for Resource and Security Studies, promotes action-oriented, cross-societal dialogue among thought leaders, opinion leaders and decision-makers from the U.S. and Muslim societies.  The initiative has a distinctive focus on leaders in Muslim societies and the U.S. who have yet to engage with, or successfully participate in dialogue with, their counterparts across cultural and national divides.

Long-Term Objectives

• Identify issues of importance in both U.S. and Muslim societies, and issues of importance in relations between these societies, where there is little current or sustained leadership dialogue.
• Provide a credible, sustained framework for building relationships and networks in these areas, thereby advancing the larger goals of: developing mutual understanding and trust; identifying and working towards common objectives; and helping to catalyze actions, partnerships and initiatives that reduce overall tensions.
• Broaden the set of leaders in both the U.S. and Muslim countries who are committed to improving relations, who can apply substantial insight, contacts and experience to seize new opportunities, and who can address tensions when they arise. 

Process

From 2010 through 2012, we will assess, design, convene and facilitate ongoing dialogues on key issues of importance to both U.S. and Muslim societies. Each dialogue will involve 20-40 participants, most meeting several times over one to two years. Each dialogue will involve influential and emerging public and private sector policy makers, and thought and opinion leaders from U.S. and Muslim societies. In addition to issue-area practitioners, participants may include current and former government officials, religious leaders, journalists, business people, academics, educators, philanthropists, and others as appropriate to the focus of a particular dialogue.  Every dialogue will be supported by expert facilitation and analysis, and will include substantial working group and staff activity.

Results

The dialogues will be designed to produce specific and measurable outcomes including:

• actionable policy options and recommendations for U.S. and counterpart governments;
• new public-private partnerships catalyzed by participants;
• improvements to existing policies, programs and projects in which participants and their organizations are involved;
• stronger, more positive relationships among participants, their organizations and networks, based on deeper understanding of goals, values, experiences and ongoing work; and
• longer-term influence on the domains that are the focus of each dialogue, through the ongoing relationships among dialogue participants.

Kick-off Meeting

On Sept 25-27, 2009, in White Oak, Florida, 25 leaders from the U.S. and Muslim-majority countries convened to plan the 2009-2011 USMEI agenda. This advisory meeting included leaders from Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East, former U.S. Ambassadors, and current senior staff from the White House, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, USAID, and the U.S. Department of Defense. The meeting marked the first time that public and private sector representatives from the U.S. joined with top thought leaders from Muslim nations to shape a joint, sustained outreach and dialogue program.  The meeting also forged new relationships and deeper understanding among leaders of U.S. government, the NGO sector, private think tanks and leading figures from Muslim-majority countries, and produced agreement on the importance of convening long-term, focused international dialogues between leaders from the U.S. and Muslim societies.

Dialogues Under Development

Currently, the USMEI project team is exploring and developing dialogues in the following three areas:

1. Strategic Peacebuilding: Currently the governments of Pakistan, the U.S. and Afghanistan are struggling to make progress in conflict resolution in a context of deep mutual distrust. Efforts at bilateral “Track II” dialogue (U.S.-Pakistan and U.S.-Afghanistan) have had limited success in bringing together the full span of influentials in each society, including those supportive of government and insurgent leadership, secular civil society movements and conservative religious institutions, youth and elders.

To help address U.S.-Pakistan relationship vacuums currently characterized by mutual mistrust and lack of cross-societal network building, we are working with civil society leaders in Pakistan and the U.S.  In late April 2010, we will launch The United States and Pakistan: Through Each Others Eyes – the first phase of a sustained bilateral dialogue to widen the circle of thought leaders and decision makers involved in shaping and sustaining the future of this critical relationship.

Later in 2010, we will convene a South Asia regional dialogue building on the Gilman Foundation’s 2008 Delhi Dialogues. That initiative brought together a wide array of political and civil society leaders from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Kashmir with U.S. foreign-policy leaders, several of whom are now foreign policy makers in the Obama Administration. The follow-up regional dialogue will include both 2008 alumni and new participants from public and private sectors. With regard to Afghanistan, we are supporting efforts of a senior Afghan civil society leader to bring together a broad spectrum of Afghan leaders, with U.S. participation, for dialogue on a resolution of the Afghan conflict. As the South Asia regional dialogue evolves, it may seek to address Afghanistan in regional perspective, or may focus on other regional security, economic, or social issues of common concern.

2. Philanthropy and Social Services: There is great potential for collaboration between philanthropic institutions in Muslim societies and the U.S. on a range of social-service needs, including: engaging and empowering women and youth; promoting social and economic entrepreneurship; and expanding access to health and education services. There are currently very few forums that bring together philanthropic leaders from the U.S. and Muslim societies, and no sustained dialogues. Moreover, leaders in faith-based giving, which is central to philanthropy in both the U.S. and most Muslim societies, have very rarely engaged in dialogue. We are working with the Brookings Institution and the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists to develop a series of dialogues scheduled to take place in Doha and at White Oak during the first half of 2010. We will also assess the opportunity for engaging government leaders to forge public-private partnerships with philanthropists.

3. Education and Awareness: We are exploring the potential for bringing together educational leaders from the U.S. and Muslim-majority countries to identify top priorities for cross-societal education. Channels for improving mutual awareness and understanding include formal education systems, media and pop culture, virtual networking, and international exchange.  We are currently advising the Library of Alexandria on a June 2010 conference to respond to President Obama’s June 2009 Cairo speech by building new partnerships in education, civic dialogue, entrepreneurship and technology. As we continue to develop these dialogue opportunities, we will assess the potential for dialogue in each of these areas to make a significant positive contribution to improving relations between Muslim societies and the U.S.; identify, interview and recruit dialogue partners and participants; and begin convening dialogues at locations in the U.S. and abroad.

USMEI Leadership Team

• David Fairman, dfairman@cbuilding.org, Consensus Building Institute
• Robert Fersh, rfersh@cnvg.org, Convergence
• Brian Katulis, bkatulis@verizon.net, Howard Gilman Foundation
• Paula Gutlove, pgutlove@irss-usa.org, Institute for Resource and Security Studies
• Aakif Ahmad, aakifahmad@gmail.com, Convergence