This is one of core programs which takes 25% of whole time of official activities. Each participant joins one of 6 courses -- the United Nations, Economy, Education, Youth Development, Environment, Volunteer -- and discusses in each group. The common theme among the 6 courses is "Youth participation in the society." Each course is lead by its advisors and facilitators, who are experts in each area.

I was in the UN discussion course. The topics of discussion were general issues about the UN such as history of the UN and the UN system, permanent-members of the Security Council, Millennium Development Goals, etc. We did a model UN with the theme of Death Penalty at Summary Forum.

Picture: Model UN(at the Summary Forum)

We have 4 Advisors in the UN Course Discussion; Fred(of the UN Headquarters, from India), Mr. Iino(of the UN University, from Japan), Ms. Takahashi(of the UNU, from Japan), Ms. DIOP(of the UN Volunteer, from Kenya). Our Facilitator was Ms. Okumura of Unicef from Japan. When I met and talked with these UN officers, I envied them because they were working for this international society.

Picture: Fred(the second from left)
(With a background music, "We thank you, Fred, Lalalala..." :D )

We had been given pre-assignments in each discussion course. In the UN course, other than reading various materials specified by the Advisors, we were instructed to prepare for a 3-minute-long presentation about the UN. I picked up "Should the WHO hire smokers?" as my theme (See Appendix-1 in PDF for details). My topic was selected for discussion after presentations. We discussed it, and then made a brief show as a summary to other members.

Picture: Presentation about summary of discussion.

I organized Unicef Donation activity as a tangible form of "Youth participation in the society" which is the common theme of the course discussions. I am proud that I completed this mission. Details are in Volunteer section.

Every participant works in one of committees; such as Free-Discussion(details below), Sports and Recreation(see below), Press, National Presentation(described below), Exhibition, Farewell and so on. Each committee plans and manages its activity. I, as a member of Press committee, was responsible for taking official photos.