This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

070517Z Feb 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 000715 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC ASEC EG
SUBJECT: CAIRO CONSULAR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY INITIATIVE 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  The Consular Section is aiming to make 
a more positive impression on the 40,000 Egyptians 
who come to its windows every year by considering 
them a target audience for public diplomacy efforts. 
This is in line with post's Peace objective and with 
the Department's objective to promote greater 
understanding with the Muslim and Arab worlds.  Our 
multifaceted and comprehensive program has involved 
all members of the section, and several other 
Mission elements.  Progress so far has been 
significant, and further enhancements are in the 
pipeline.  End summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
¶2.  Some 40,000 Egyptians come to the Embassy each 
year to receive services from the Consular Section. 
On average, each spends about two hours in our 
facility.  Their experience at the Embassy, 
particularly in how they are treated, can 
fundamentally influence their perception of 
Americans.  This strategy considers these people as 
a public diplomacy target, with a goal of 
influencing their views of the United States while 
they are in our building. 
 
¶3.  The Consular Section proposed a partnership 
between the Consular and Public Diplomacy Sections 
with cooperation from Management and the Regional 
Security Office in the beginning of CY 2005.  As a 
result, outreach to consular clients is now part of 
the public diplomacy goal of the Mission Performance 
Plan.   In addition, we are working closely with 
RSO, MGT, and facilities to ensure that our 
initiatives are implemented promptly. 
 
Progress so far 
-------------- 
¶4.  To date, the Consular Section has already 
implemented a number of measures to improve the 
comfort and impression received by our clients. We 
have established a food kiosk in the visa waiting 
room, enhanced the cleanliness of the area, replaced 
the seating, added lighting to the previous dark 
interior, painted the walls and replaced ceiling 
tiles. We have developed a customer survey that will 
be administered during a two-week period. In 
addition, IV applicants can now make appointments to 
personally come to the Embassy to inquire about the 
status of their cases. Most importantly, we have 
dramatically reduced waiting periods for interviews, 
reduced processing time, and have provided more 
opportunities for clients to inquire about their 
visa cases. 
 
¶5.  This initiative was launched during our 2005 
Consular Leadership Day (CLD) (reftel) and refined 
during the section's retreat in September. Under the 
overall coordination of ELO Lisa Swenarski, the 
entire section has been mobilized.  Five workgroups 
were created and each drafted an implementation 
plan. The groups are: Lobby Beautification and 
Signage, NIV Materials, IV Materials, Consular 
Outreach, and Customer Service. During the most 
recent CLD the section took stock of its progress 
and set goals to achieve before the summer rush 
season. Also, each unit (NIV, IV, FPU, and ACS) 
analyzed and made suggestions to improve its section 
of Cairo's consular website. 
 
The future 
---------- 
¶6.  By June 2006, we expect to install a waiting- 
room audiovisual system that will display 
information about visa processing, anti-fraud 
messages, and public diplomacy content. We have 
ordered 45 signs that will make the entire process 
much clearer for applicants. In addition, we will 
display better artwork and improve the PD 
information stand that has included "Hi" Magazine 
and other public diplomacy materials about the 
United States.  We have enhanced, re-designed, and 
translated several handouts including our 221g, SAO, 
and fingerprint forms. The dull and cold 214b 
refusal sheet has been transformed into a color 
booklet with friendlier and clearer language and 
extensive information explaining the refusal and the 
applicants' rights and options. (The 214(b) brochure 
is in final stages of production.) We have also 
developed new handouts for Diversity Visa applicants 
that we hope will reduce the number of refusals. 
Another goal for the first quarter of 2006 is to 
translate more of our consular website into Arabic 
and to hire two more greeters (using SRS funds) to 
welcome and provide information to the applicants at 
the guard post and in the visa waiting room. 
 
¶7.  Another goal is to reduce the amount of time an 
applicant must spend at the Embassy.  We also look 
forward to more press outreach in cooperation with 
the Public Diplomacy Section. In the last 12 months 
there have been ten press encounters as the section 
attempts to overcome deep-seated misunderstandings 
about the welcome they will receive in the U.S. 
Embassy.  Last fall we held a press briefing on the 
new Diversity Visa Program that resulted in articles 
in three major publications. More recently, the CG 
conducted an interview with the American Chamber of 
Commerce's Business Monthly magazine to spread our 
message about business travelers.  Also, we plan to 
expand outreach to students, the business community, 
American citizens and other groups such as Diversity 
Visa applicants and community groups. 
 
¶8.  In order to improve our interaction with 
customers, we are contracting an outside instructor 
to provide customer service training to consular 
officers, consular FSN's, guards, and telephone 
operators. Finally, we are planning to establish an 
information and communication unit to better respond 
to our customers' inquiries. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶9.  While we have major PD Initiative goals to reach 
by June 2006, we expect the initiative to continue 
indefinitely with new ideas and better ways to 
enhance our services. As always, it is a challenge 
to balance our increasing workload with special 
projects. It has only been through a commitment by 
MGT, PD, RSO and other sections of the Embassy that 
we have been able to be successful. While it is hard 
to measure the results of the initiative, every 
Egyptian who is positively impacted by it is a 
success. 
 
RICCIARDONE