Greetings from Hiroshima! Our office celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and we are abuzz with excitement. Look for the item in this newsletter on how you can join the celebrations.
This quarter, we welcomed the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, as well as trained many more changemakers with our training programmes.
UNITAR and the G7 Summit in Hiroshima
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Voices of the Youth from Hiroshima
On 17 April 2023, UNITAR hosted a panel “Hiroshima G7: Voice of the Youth”, featuring seven young Hiroshima residents from each G7 country. The youth panellists shared how their immersion in Hiroshima deepened their understanding of the city’s history and resilience and discussed opportunities for youth to further preserve the city’s legacy of peace. Around 140 guests joined to learn about and share their views on Hiroshima’s role in promoting global peace.
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UNITAR, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and HOPe co-host the Youth Symposium on Peace
On 19 May 2023, UNITAR welcomed Mrs Yuko Kishida, spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan, and other partners of G7 and European Commission leaders at the G7 Summit Partners’ Programme event, “Youth Symposium on Peace”. Around 100 Hiroshima students, including past UNITAR Youth Ambassadors, responded to questions from the special guests about peace, youth initiatives and Hiroshima’s role in the world. The event was co-hosted with the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace.
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UNITAR at the G7 PR Exhibition
UNITAR participated in the public relations exhibition in Hiroshima, organized by the Government of Japan to coincide with the G7 Summit. The UNITAR exhibition highlighted the impact of UNITAR’s digital skills training for women, youth and professionals in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Sahel region.
Fiscal Year 2022 Concluded: In-person Trainings Return
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The 2022 fiscal year for Japan came to an end in March 2023. Over the past year, the Division for Prosperity resumed in-person training. The entrepreneurship and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation programmes held in-person training in Japan, while the disaster risk reduction workshop was held in Samoa. Through online learning and in-person training, participants strengthened their knowledge, networks and practical skills in leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation.
In-person public seminar “2023 Outlook on Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation”
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On 18 February 2023, UNITAR Hiroshima Office held a public seminar on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. Community members joined UNITAR Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation training participants to engage in a Q&A session with experts in the field of international nuclear disarmament and technology.
UNITAR Hosted Online FinTech Conference
Photo licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
On 20 March 2023, UNITAR hosted a virtual conference “FinTech Ecosystem: Leveraging its Impact in the Economy and climate change”. The conference explored opportunities to harness FinTech to foster connectedness, digital equality and financial inclusion. Panellists from academia, international organizations and governments discussed how we can use FinTech in secure and sustainable ways.
Celebrating Partnership in Sports for Development
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On 2 March 2023, UNITAR Division for Prosperity Director Mihoko Kumamoto attended the 2023 Sport for Future consortium conference in Tokyo. The conference highlighted initiatives that promote sports for peacebuilding and gender equality, in Japan and around the world. UNITAR partner Hiroshima Yokogawa Sports Culture Club was awarded the consortium’s annual prize for their work.
UNITAR, UNESCO and SALTO launches a translation project for UNITAR's free human rights and AI microlearning course
Call for translators
UNITAR, UNESCO and SALTO Participation and Information Resource Centre launched a translation project to make UNITAR’s free human rights and AI microlearning course available in more languages. Young people translated the “Defending Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” course into their native languages. The learning course, originally in five languages, is now available in 25 languages.
OUR IMPACT
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Connecting Mental Health Professionals in Egypt
Egyptian psychiatrist Dr Marwa Nofal formed the Mental Health Network to facilitate research and provide technical support to mental health professionals in Egypt. She learned leadership strategies to help her run the network at the UNITAR Entrepreneurship for Public Health and COVID-19 Recovery in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon.
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Pacific Women’s Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction
Deltina Solomon from the Solomon Islands was inspired by the Pacific women she met through the UNITAR Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme. As a disaster-management project manager, Deltina encourages more women, young people and people with disabilities to get involved in disaster risk reduction.
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Bringing Education and Mental Health to Youth in Lebanon
Céline Arslane believes education and mental health are fundamental human rights. She joined the UNITAR Entrepreneurship for Public Health and COVID-19 Recovery in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon to learn marketing and fundraising strategies for her platform, which offers flexible online tutoring for working Lebanese university students.
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The Power of Training Diplomats on Nuclear Disarmament from Hiroshima
Tim Caughley is a non-resident fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. He is an expert trainer for UNITAR’s Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Training Programme and has trained diplomats and military advisers from all over Asia since 2015. Tim sees the value of the UNITAR programme in creating a space for diplomats to exchange ideas and knowledge, right where the atomic bomb was dropped.
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Iraqi Entrepreneur Tackles Health Care Challenges in Baghdad
Young Iraqi entrepreneur Hayder Alla’ Abdulzahra aims to improve access to medical services in his country. He joined the UNITAR Entrepreneurship for Public Health and COVID-19 Recovery in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon to build his entrepreneurial skills so he can develop an app to provide online medical consultations, tutorials, prescriptions and other services to Iraqis.
Photo by clirimishmakej, Envato Elements
A Passion for Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Olga Devic, Yerdaulet Rakhmatulla and Enes Karaibrahimoglu translated a human rights and AI course into their languages under the UNITAR, UNESCO and SALTO Participation & Information Resource Centre project, Defending Human Rights in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. They hope their work will inspire and empower more young people to take an interest in human rights and AI.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UNITAR Hiroshima Office Celebrates Its 20th Birthday
This year UNITAR Hiroshima Office celebrates its 20th anniversary – 20 years of delivering innovative learning and disseminating Hiroshima’s message of peace and prosperity. Please join us on 1 July 2023 in a public session! Follow our official social media accounts and visit our website to get the latest information about the celebrations.
To commemorate this milestone, we invite alumni, partners, resource persons, and supporters to fill out an online survey and tell us about your experiences with UNITAR Hiroshima Office.
We will also hold ceremonies in Tokyo on 29 June 2023 and in Hiroshima on 30 June 2023 with our partners from the Government of Japan, diplomats, UNITAR’s friends and supporters.
Book Launch: UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship for Afghanistan, An Anthology
The UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship for Afghanistan, an Anthology is a collection of writings by alumni of the UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship for Afghanistan. The anthology was edited by former director and senior advisor of the Hiroshima Office Dr. Nassrine Azimi and former New York Office staff and Fellowship coordinator Humaira Khan-Kamal. Spanning almost two decades, starting with the Fellowship’s inception in 2003, the book brings together authors from among the 500 alumni, as well as mentors, faculty, partners and UNITAR staff, to share their experiences, recollections and lessons learnt of a unique international development programme.
Director Meets Partners around the World
Director Mihoko Kumamoto, UNITAR Division for Prosperity/Hiroshima Office, attended the Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank in Saudi Arabia and then continued to Colombia to meet partners there. She will next visit countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East to meet with partners in providing inclusive training for women, youth and professionals.
Trade and Food Security Training Launch in the Near East and North Africa
On 28 May 2023, UNITAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched the second edition of the joint online course on trade and food security for the Near East and North Africa. Out of 380 applicants, seventy participants from 19 countries in the region were selected to take part in the training programme. The course aims to help government authorities formulate strong agricultural policies and negotiate effectively. The course will be facilitated by experts and delivered fully in the Arabic language.
Division for Prosperity – May 2023
This is the eigth issue of the UNITAR Division of Prosperity quarterly newsletter. You can read all issues on our website or stay up to date by following us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter, and TikTok. To subscribe, please sign up here. If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at prosperity_communications@unitar.org. You may also download the PDF version of this newsletter by clicking the link to the file below.
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