Sister Cities Program Deepens Cultural Understanding

Asheville and Osogbo, Nigeria, are Sister Cities under a program established in 1956.

Asheville has been part of the US Sister Cities program for more than three decades. The national program began in 1956, during the Cold War, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who envisioned a way for American cities to create formal partnerships with foreign cities. Municipality to municipality, cities could exchange information and ideas in order to develop friendships and deepen cultural understanding.

Asheville’s earliest sister cities were Vladikavkas, North Ossetia, Russia (1990), and San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico (1994). The connection with Osogbo, Nigeria began in 2008, and since that time Asheville-area residents have developed cultural and educational collaborations with citizens of Osogbo.

One of the important aspects of Sister Cities relationships is the opportunity to focus on citizen diplomacy through person-to-person relationships. Volunteer members of the organizations travel to each other’s cities and regions, exchange information (and personal gifts, of course!), and get to know both everyday citizens and elected officials from both cities or towns.

The other cities with whom Asheville has formal Sister Cities relationships are Saumur, France (1996); Karpenisi, Evrytania, Greece (2004); Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico (2006); and the adjoining towns of Dunkeld and Birnam, Scotland (2017). A nonprofit organization, Asheville Sister Cities’ mission is to promote peace, understanding, cooperation and sustainable partnerships through formalized agreements between international cities and the City of Asheville, North Carolina.

To learn more about supporting this collaboration, contact Terry Bellamy at [email protected].