The Foreign Ministry’s Gabriel L. Dennis Foreign Service Institute (FSI) will graduate 28 students who have acquired adequate knowledge and skills in the field of international relations with emphasis in “development diplomacy” on Friday, January 20, 2017. The graduation ceremonies take place at the ministry’s C. Cecil Dennis Auditorium. 

According to a Foreign Ministry release, the 28 emerging diplomats have successfully completed a nine-month intensive post-graduate diploma training in diplomacy and international relations.

United States Ambassador accredited to Liberia, Her Excellency Christine Elders will serve as keynote speaker, while the ceremony will be graced by Foreign Minister Marjon Kamara and senior staff of the ministry, other high ranking officials of government, members of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited near Monrovia as well as friends and well-wishers. 

The FSI, established in 1951 as a professional training and research unit of the Foreign Ministry, was named in honor of one of Liberia’s foreign ministers, Honorable Gabriel L. Dennis who served under the administration of President William V.S. Tubman from 1944-1954.

Its mandate is to create a training program conducive for the exchange of ideas on political understanding of global economic relations, cultural diversities, integration and issues of conflict. However, its primary mandate is to train foreign service officers and contribute to the capacity building efforts of government in furtherance of its foreign policy objectives. 

Since its establishment and up to 2007 the Institute has consistently provided a nine-month post-graduate training program to Liberians desirous of acquiring skills in the field of international relations and diplomacy as an additional qualification, not only for potential entry into the Liberia’s Foreign Service, but to develop and build their capacities to be more effective and efficient. 

The FSI, in collaboration with other Foreign Service Institutes around the world, attracts training programs and opportunities to build the capacities of emerging diplomats. 

Upon assuming office as Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 2007, Mrs. Olubanke King-Akerele, in consultation with the supervisory committee of the Institute, embarked on a campaign to revamp, restructure and reorient the institute to enhance the capacity of emerging diplomats mainly in the area of “development diplomacy”.

Following a thorough review of its original nine-month program, in October 2009, the Ministry decided to launch a restructured and reoriented program for the FSI under the UNDP TOKEN Program that was concerned with tapping the skills of repatriated nationals.

Following the launch of the restructured and reoriented program, the FSI introduced an Ambassadorial Lecture Forum which witnessed the invitation of several veteran diplomats accredited near Monrovia as well as representatives of international organizations with solid academic backgrounds and vast experience in the area of diplomacy to deliver papers as guest lecturers on various topics including economics, politics, social, culture, consular, diplomacy and dialectics.

The Ambassadorial Lecture Forum was officially launched in January 13, 2010, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Chief Ojo Maduekwe, serving as its first lecturer; while the second forum was addressed by the former Egyptian Ambassador accredited to Liberia, H.E. Ahmed Fadel Yakuob.

As part of efforts to effectively manage and implement the reoriented nine-month “development diplomacy” training program, former foreign minister King-Akerele recruited Professor Dr.  Augustine Konneh from the Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, to serve as deputy director and coordinator of the Institute in 2009.

The first phase of the “development diplomacy” program launched in October 2009 had two diffident components including six-months lecture in the classroom and three to six months for the practicum which has attracted participants from the foreign ministry, various ministries and agencies of government and the private sector.

Since Dr. Konneh assumed the position of director-general of the Institute a few months later, the FSI has successfully graduated over 150 students from its regular academic program, many of whom have been deployed in the Foreign Service while others took assignments in various capacities in the Foreign Ministry.  

Under his administration, the FSI has signed several Memoranda of Understanding with credible foreign diplomatic learning institutions including Turkey’s Foreign Ministry Diplomatic Academy, the Nigerian Foreign Service Academy, China’s Foreign Affairs University and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies of Egypt.

Other institutions included the Diplomatic Institute of Cameroon and the Federative Republic of Brazil’s Ministry of External Relations Rio Branco Institute. 

The FSI will shortly sign MOUs with the State of Qatar and the University of Liberia where there will be annual exchanges of staff, lecturers and students with similar academic programs.