In April 2017, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) approached the authors of the report (hereafter the research team) to conduct an evaluation of select elements of the DFAT public diplomacy (PD) program in relation to DFAT’s Public Diplomacy Strategy 2014-16. Further to this, the aims of this research report are to provide:
1.
An analysis of Australia’s reputation in leading global diplomacy indices in the last 5-10 years,
2.
A comprehensive evaluation of the degree to which the reach, efficiency, and efficacy of PD activities in five key programs aligns with the goals and objectives of the Public Diplomacy Strategy 2014-16, and
3.
An analysis of the reporting methods and mechanisms for
PD activities in relation to future evaluation.