English Summary
1. Introduction
This document is an activity report of the 2020 Kokuren Forum Uganda Study Program (USP), focusing on sustainable development in this country. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 pandemic, we postponed our field research in Uganda to next year that was originally scheduled in September 2020. Under such a challenging situation, we had strived to set the best opportunities and thus decided to have online briefing sessions with UN agencies, NGOs, public and private sectors as well as bilateral donor agencies, enhancing our understanding on sustainable development in Uganda as well as activities that have been conducted by these organizations. Names of people and organizations are enumerated as follows. We truly appreciate your support and willingness to have online briefing sessions with us. We wish the world would heal soon and visit you in Uganda in the near future.
Mr. Mulijo Wasike Shadraque (Embassy of the Republic of Uganda, Japan)
Mr. Kiyoshi Umeya (Kobe University)、
Ms. Eri Komukai (JICA International Cooperation Specialist)、
Ms. Rachel Kibirigi, Ms. Barigye Doreen, and Mr. Okiria Emmanuel Ariko（ABE Initiative）、
Mr. Shinsuke Morimoto (Former Saraya East Africa)、
Mr. Mwesigwa Geoffrey Philip (Sales Manager)、
Mr. Takayuki Uchiyama (JICA Uganda）、
Mr. Isao Murahashi (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)、
Ms. Mizuki Watanabe (Embassy of Japan, Uganda)、
Ms. Akiko Sugiki (Keio University)、
Ms. Aya Fujita and Mr. Atsumasa Miyazaki (AAR Japan)、
Ms. Yui Suzuki (UNHCR Uganda)、
Mr. Shingo Ogawa (Terra Renaissance, Uganda)、
Ms. Risa Miseki (PLAS)、
Mr. Yoshihiro Imamura, Mr. Hiroyasu Sato, and Mr. Lubega Ronald (Ashinaga Uganda)
Ms. Miki Matsuura (World Bank)、
Ms. Tomomi Yamasaki (Peace Winds Japan)、
Mr. G.M. Collins (Saraya East Africa)、
Ms. Chizu Nakamoto (RICCI EVERYDAY)
Mr. Innocent Fred Ejolu（UNDP）
Mr. Takanori Matsumura, Ms. Aiko Hino, and Ms. Akiko Takai（Save the Children Japan）
Ms. Agnes Aistleitner (Senga Sourcing)
Mr. Jun Ito（former Courie Mate）
Ms. Hiroko Kawaguchi (Kyoto University)
Again we truly appreciate these online opportunities, making us fully prepared for the future field research in summer 2021 by having us realize what to focus on in terms of the achievement of SDGs in Uganda. We wish we could show our full gratitude for all experts and organizations by describing what we learned and how our way of thinking had changed after online briefing sessions in this report.
Followed by introduction, the second section summarizes the purposes and structure of the annual Kokuren Forum Study Program, and describes the overview of the Uganda Study Program, including the preparatory phase starting in April 2020, study sessions held five times from June to December 2020, and variety of online briefing sessions from September 2020 to March 2021. Besides, we hope that those who read this report become interested in a Study Program and become future participants.
2. About Kokuren Forum and Uganda Study Program
2-1. What is Kokuren Forum?
Kokuren Forum, established in 2004 in Japan, is a network of over 8,500 professionals and students who are interested in enhancing their understanding of evolving global issues and associated work undertaken by the UN Systems. “Kokuren” is the abbreviation of “the United Nations” in Japanese.
Kokuren Forum serves as a key knowledge hub in Japan for;
1) enhancing the understanding of a diverse range of global issues that interact towards sustainable development, and
2) promoting the work of the UN systems by disseminating snapshots of ongoing activities and achievements in various thematic areas and regions where the UN systems operate.
It also regularly organizes study sessions and brown-bag lunches in, inter alia, New York, Washington D.C., and Tokyo.
2-2. What is Kokuren Forum Study Program and Uganda Study Program?
Kokuren Forum annually conducts a short study program abroad to provide interested individuals with an opportunity for gaining insights into the UN operations in developing countries. Under the concept of “full participation,” it is a unique, self-built program where all participants contribute to its development and implementation, from conducting research on relevant organizations and projects for field research, developing specific learning objectives, planning, scheduling, to compiling reports and disseminating learning outcomes afterwards.
The Kokuren Forum Study Program, started in 2010, has taken place in Timor-Leste (2010), Thailand (2011), Cambodia (2012), Mongolia (2013), Myanmar (2014), Sri Lanka (2015), Nepal (2016), Rwanda (2017), Papua New Guinea (2018), and Jordan (2019).
In 2020, as the 11th program, Uganda has been chosen against the backdrop of TICAD7 (2019) and the fifth anniversary of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. Through Kokuren Forum Uganda Study Program, using Uganda as a case study, participants have deepened their understanding of sustainable development in Uganda, such as refugee influx, rehabilitation of child soldiers, infrastructure development, and support to women entrepreneurs, and also gained insights into relevant organizations tackling social issues in Uganda, such as UN agencies, NGOs, public and private sectors as well as bilateral donor agencies. Through the self-building and comprehensive learning process, participants are expected to grow their self-discipline and self-learning mind-set thus fostering individual’s leadership qualities.
2-3. Overview of Uganda Study Program (USP)
A. Objectives:
a) Learning: Participants will mainly learn about the following;
▶International / local actors working on Uganda’s sustainable development
▶Unique Issues in Uganda: reconstruction from domestic conflict, acceptance of refugees from neighboring countries, balancing economic development and conservation of rich nature, etc.
▶General development issues: poverty, gender, protection for children and socio-economic development
b) Experiencing: Participants will carry out interviews and make field research, meeting with international/ local actors including host communities.
c) Building capacity: Participants will acquire leadership, team-building and self-reliance qualities by contributing to planning and implementation of program.
B. Number of members: 46
C. Online briefing sessions:
Due to the travel restriction resulting from COVID-19 pandemic this year, we had organized online briefing sessions by experts and professionals working in the field of development in Uganda. After COVID-19 situation improves, we plan to visit Uganda to achieve the above mentioned objectives and further deepen our knowledge gained through these online briefing sessions.
D. Appointments of online briefing sessions:
Each online briefing session was planned in close consultation with the representatives of UN organizations, NGOs and other organizations.
In order to achieve three stated objectives, USP was designed to include the following three steps:
1) preparatory activities – meticulous research upon history and current social issues in Uganda as well as contacting relevant organizations to request online briefing sessions,
2) online briefing sessions with UN agencies, NGOs, public and private sectors as well as bilateral donor agencies, and
3) post-briefing activities – summarize our activities and key learnings in this report.