Some results of our capacity development programmes:

  1. Participation: Officials from developing countries now play a greater role in creating Internet governance policy. Several members of the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) are alumni of Diplo’s Internet governance programme. Read more about our award-winning Internet governance capacity building programme.
  2. Community: Alumni from our Internet governance programme work together in a growing number of self-reliant communities and discussion groups (in 2010, there were around 50 groups with 500 active participants).
  3. Policy change: In 2010, Roma rights organisations across Europe were working together towards the creation of an EU Roma policy. This co-ordinated push was initiated, in part, by our Roma diplomacy programme in 2005/2006. Read more about our Roma diplomacy initiative.
  4. Influence: In 2006, Diplo supported an alumni member in leading community discussion on the ICT Bill for Kenya by providing a platform and facilitation for online discussion, enabling the community to influence the national ICT legislation.
  5. Innovative participation: Diplo assisted alumni members to initiate and run 'remote hubs' for participation at Internet Governance Forum meetings in Hyderabad (2008), Sharm el Sheikh (2009), Vilnius (2010), and Nairobi (2011), allowing many interested individuals and groups who could not travel due to cost or other reasons to contribute actively and influence the outcome of these meetings.


Some examples of the impact of our training courses:

  1. Diplo is a unique institution with almost global coverage: diplomats and officials from 182 of the 192 UN member states have attended our courses since 1996.
  2. Due to physical remoteness and limited human resources, small island states find Diplo's online training particularly useful. Diplo has become the unofficial 'diplomatic academy of small island states', training diplomats from Barbados, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada, among others. 
  3. We have a large and far-reaching network of alumni that forms a truly global community: currently around 2506 people from 189 countries (January 2012).
  4. Many of our alumni have returned to their countries and made a real difference. Here are some examples – click to read more:

Coming from a small state with limited resources constraints, training of diplomat designates becomes a difficult task. DiploFoundation, in this regard, has provided me with the golden opportunity for which I have been yearning as a Foreign Service Officer to further my education.

~ Momodu Wurie, Sierre Leone

The Master/PGD in Contemporary Diplomacy allowed me to increase my knowledge and skills at a tremendous speed and depth, while remaining in and performing stronger in my job.

~ Angelic Caroline Alihusein-del-Castilho, Suriname

E-learning with DiploFoundation was a great experience. The innovative online sessions and contact with other students really helped me to gain a wide view of the topics discussed.

~ Guy Pollard, UK, working in Switzerland

It's important for a diplomats to keep up to date and in touch with the academic world, but we normally don't have time to attend classes because of our families or/and demanding jobs. I found in DiploFoundation more than a pragmatic solution; I discovered a community of people who have the same interests and commitment ...

~ María Victoria Stöger Rodriguez, Deputy Consul of Argentina in Bonn, Germany

The course has helped me to redefine my role as a diplomat, and to appreciate the emerging challenges and responsibilities of diplomacy today including the role of new actors like NGOs, think-tanks and academics. I have learned to appreciate other stakeholders as partners and not competitors to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the conduct of foreign relations.

~ Michael Bulwaka, Uganda