Philippine Ambassador Jesus S. Domingo held a “Universal Diplomacy” (UD) Workshop on 28 April 2017 at the Bethlehem Hall of Tauranga. Tauranga is a harbourside city in the Bay of Plenty region on New Zealand's North Island. The event was co-organized by the Tauranga Filipino Society and the Club Filipino Tauranga. The workshop brought together members, not only of the Filipino community, but also other local stakeholders, to discuss how they can actively participate in promoting Filipino causes, communities and commerce, through a unique sense of care and cooperation, translated in the Filipino vernacular as “malasakit at bayanihan”.

UD also seeks to fully harness Social Media as a tool for outreach, in partnership with the DFA’s Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD).

The UD approach is the Embassy’s framework for Public Diplomacy. UD is built on the notion and principle that everyone, particularly Overseas Filipinos, is a potential diplomat. Thus, the 50,000-strong Filipino Community in NZ are all “Ambassadors” for the Philippines in the promotion of our Culture, Languages, Business, Tourism et al to the Kiwi public. UD aims to encourage people to become global citizens of grand vision but with grass-roots impact. A lively discussion followed the presentation. The Workshop was well received by the participants, who welcomed the opportunity to become Universal Diplomats to further strengthen the people-to-people linkages between the Philippines and New Zealand.