Movies, Change and Lessons from Past Initiatives

Sharing Lessons Learned
At the end of last month, The Aspen Institute’s Ministerial Leadership Initiative (MLI) closed shop after more than four years of fruitful work with health ministers from around the developing world. The program aimed to promote more effective policies in areas such as health financing and aid effectiveness, and also support ministers during the course of their work. MLI may be gone, but the opportunities to learn from its efforts remain. Browse their website. Share the insights.

Screening a Film / Changing Minds
In her most recent TED talk, Johanna Blakley, managing director of the Norman Lear Center at USC, asks: can movies change people? The filmmakers behind Bully are betting the answer is yes. Although bullying in schools is not a new phenomenon, recent media coverage has elevated the issue to the national stage. And there’s even some evidence that the film is already contributing to this conversation – from viral videos to school systems potentially using Bully in classrooms. Change? Can’t say yet, but stay tuned.

Developing a World-view
Steve Clemons’ “Missing U.S. in the World” in The Atlantic last week eulogizes the U.S. in the World Initiative. Building on earlier messaging work here at the Aspen Institute, the project helped advocates engage audiences to support a collaborative role for the U.S in addressing global issues. The project’s recent work offered ways to unpack and combat the ways that fear influences (and even frames) the public debate on foreign policy. Check out – and use – the Initiative’s 10 years of accumulated knowledge about how to encourage Americans to adopt a worldview that can see a world of opportunities, not global mayhem.