Organisation / Hub: IDG Japan Essential Dialogue

Contact Person: Yuko Uehara

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4F-YHjZ3g

Contact Email: y-uehara@apu.ac.jp

Description

The organization, “Create a world without the need for the word ‘refugee’”, founded in 2018, is composed of students and graduates of Professor Uehara’s seminar class in the College of Sustainability and Tourism at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University and volunteer members. The Uehara Seminar aims to develop human resources who will lead the new era. The vision of the Uehara Seminar is for students to set aspirations, experience what it is like to work toward solving social problems, and contribute to the world with what they learn in the seminar. By choosing refugee issues as their theme, students respond to the world’s pain and work toward the realization of a rich multicultural society.
Students will prepare a proposal to organize an event on “refugee issues”. In the proposal, students first create a Mission, Vision, and Value, and then describe specific strategies and action plans. Students will prepare proposals and engage in activities that make full use of the knowledge of business administration they have acquired at university. The students call on many of their friends outside the seminar to join as volunteer members, raise funds, conduct publicity activities, organize the event, and finally report on their activities to those who have supported the event.
However, even once all the members have united their minds by creating a Mission, Vision, and Value, it is difficult to keep the passion they felt at that time. Often the student’s inability to sustain his or her aspirations is exposed as a weakness, and it can be difficult for the students to collaborate. Facing these hardships, sometimes in tears because of their inability to continuously live up to their Mission, Vision, and Value, the students grow stronger through the experience of standing up together with their peers again and again.
Finally, although the video is in Japanese, “Create a world without the need for the word ‘refugee’” present a link to a video that members of organization have created that summarizes their activities in 2023.
― 2023 Refugee Photo Exhibition & Lecture
（https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4F-YHjZ3g）

Learnings

Comment from Prof. Uehara – My students have been engaged in activities while realizing that it is difficult to confront social problems in collaboration with friends without developing their own inner selves. I believe that these experiences have been a great life-enriching experience for the students.
On the other hand, from the aspect of education, I have been working through trial and error to see if I can help students realize the relationship between inner growth and its impact on the real world. With the establishment of the IDGs framework, I feel that we are able to systematically learn and put into practice the connection between inner growth and the resolution of real social issues. We, “Create a world without the need for the word ‘refugee’”, will also make a sincere effort, while respecting the world that the IDGs are aiming for.