2019/12/27

On Tuesday, December 17th, a lecture was held by the Faculty of Foreign Studies’ Department of Global Affairs with guest speaker Mr. Morie Ōtoyo from the Kyoto headquarters of the Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO). Titled, “What does it mean to work for an international NGO?” approximately 50 students came to listen, from other departments such as the Department of British and American Studies and the Faculty of Global Engagement’s Department of Global Studies.

Mr. Ōtoyo has previously worked for NHK Kyoto and a television production company. He has worked at Malawi and Palestine after he joined NICCO, and currently works in the overseas operations division and public relations at the Kyoto headquarters. In the lecture, he shared his overseas experiences, and questioned the audience about the way international cooperation should be by introducing NICCO’s activities. “There are various organizations that are involved in international cooperation – governments, international institutions, and private enterprises – and international NGOs are just one of them. In order to tackle global issues such as poverty and wealth disparities, it’s the people that we need the most support from. And that includes me, and you,” he concluded.

When Mr. Ōtoyo volunteered for the first time after hearing the news about the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, he was shocked at the level of confusion and how desperate the situation was. Currently involved in international support, he said, “As we live in this world today, it’s important to know that every one of us have our own stories.”
Many students in the audience seemed to be interested in international cooperation, as many hands were raised after the lecture and Mr. Ōtoyo was approached with questions about how to join an NGO.

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