As September comes to a close, I have been reflecting on my second trip to Benghazi, Libya where I was honoured to join the official U.S. delegation attending the Libyan-American Development and Reconstruction Forum, the reopening of Benghazi University and the Global Competitive Urban Planning Initiative - Benghazi.
High Touch Engagement
My time on the ground reinforced a core conviction of High Touch Engagement: consequential work cannot be done from a distance. It requires showing up, listening closely, seeing conditions as they are, and hearing directly from the leaders and communities shaping the future.
In the coverage of the weeks events, Sami Zaptia and the Libya Herald asked a fair question: Why would U.S. company personnel travel to Libya despite a new travel advisory?
For me, the answer is clear. Benghazi deserves to be encountered in the present tense - not as an idea or an old headline, but as a living city whose people are building its future before our eyes. That future is visible in public spaces coming back to life, businesses reopening, investments being made, and the work of teachers, builders, families, and civic leaders who refuse to surrender their belief in what Benghazi can become.
Under the leadership of the Libya Development and Reconstruction Fund, that future is tangible and real: infrastructure being restored, public spaces returning to life, institutions being strengthened, and a city placing itself before international partners with purpose.
Yes, challenges remain, but no great endeavour has ever come without them. They are not the sum of an identity but the opportunity for serious international engagement with a country and a city building forward. The people of Benghazi deserve to have their determination recognized and their progress understood on its own terms. The story being written today must be allowed to move beyond the old narratives that the world still uses to define Benghazi from afar.
That is why this work matters so deeply to me and to my company High Touch Engagement. The year ahead offers a rare chance to bring the right people, institutions, and international organizations into partnership with a city already writing a new chapter. I look forward to continuing the conversations begun this month on how Benghazi’s story can be carried into consequential rooms where investment is considered, global partnerships are formed, and the opportunities created by the city’s progress are recognized and embraced. The City of Benghazi and its people deserve nothing less.
Clay Doherty is an Executive Communications & Corporate Reputation Advisor and Founder and Managing Director of High Touch Engagement
Op-Eds reflect the views of their authors.