NEWS

UN Seminar held on Campus

Update: April 6, 2023

The ICU-UN Seminar (GS course: QPPI528 United Nations Seminar on Sustainable Development) was held on campus under the auspices of the Diplomatic and International Public Service (DIPS) Program starting with the guided virtual tour at the UN Headquarter in NY on the 10th and another virtual tour at the UN Nairobi focused on Sustainable Forest Management in the mid-week. This year's Seminar benefitted from 23 lectures and interactive Q&A sessions from 13 to 17 March. It was an intensive course held in-person attended by 30 students, with speakers in a hybrid manner from 14 locations.

The speakers represented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Japan as well as various UN entities including UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Institute for Global Environment Strategies (IGES), Office for Special Advisor on Africa (OSAA), UN Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN Forum on Forest (UNFF), UNICEF, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), UN Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRC), UN Women, World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

The overall theme of the UN Seminar was SDGs and Poverty and this year highlighted issues related to September 2023 SDG Summit and 2024 SIDS Conference preparations, Climate Change, Ocean, Education, Financing, World Heritage preservation, Forest, Gender, ICT, Biodiversity, Agri-food system, the importance of Data for SDG indicators, as well as the current world crisis and uncertainties. In addition, also addressed were needs of vulnerable countries like Africa, LDCs and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

At the HR training session on the last day, the students learned about the recruiting process and application documents of UN agencies and the tips for preparing for the competency-based interviews. The mock interviews were also held during the session. It was a valuable opportunity for the students who aim to work for UN agencies to learn the practical skills which can also be applied beyond the UN careers.

The registered students were assigned to note-taking / preparing summary of highlights and facilitating each Q&A session in pairs. A volunteer editorial team was established and will work on the final report after this seminar.

Many guest speakers remarked "ICU students have a huge potential to aim the UN careers in the future as the students posed the high-quality questions at the seminar." And many of the students expressed that "The UN seminar was a different type of interactive course which we have never experienced. Although it was tough to engage in tasks, we gained in-depth knowledge regarding SDGs the roles of various UN agencies - some never heard before, the linkages among the SDGs, and the position of Japanese government, among others." They were touched by the passion of each lecturer towards their respective jobs and the strong sense of responsibilities to support people in a spirit of "No one will be left behind" even under difficult situations.