Advocating for Human Security for the Common Good: Executive Director Mine Speaks at a Symposium Co-hosted by the Inochi Forum and SSI

On March 30, 2026, Mine Yoichi , Executive Director, JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development (JICA Ogata Research Institute), spoke at “Realizing an Economy and Business Management for the Common Good Through Knowledge Creation, Empathy Economy and Inclusive Capitalism,” a symposium co-hosted by the Inochi Forum and the Social Solution Initiative (SSI) of the University of Osaka .

The Inochi Forum is a platform that facilitates life-centered collaboration among corporates, public administration, experts and citizens. The Social Solution Initiative (SSI) of the University of Osaka is a hub to connect academic knowledge with society and has a track record of practices for empathy-based social innovation. The symposium was co-hosted by these two organizations to present a new economic model that is based on synergy between knowledge creation, empathy and mutual assistance.

Mine spoke in Session 2 “Building an Empathy Economy Through Collaborations Between Corporates, Civil Society and Universities” and discussed the following topics: visualizing corporate activities with data and using them for policy and business management; mindset shifts and choices for multi-stakeholder approaches; division of roles among corporates, non-profit organizations (NPOs) and public administration as well as a collaboration model for these sectors; and making the action plan of the Inochi Declaration tangible and setting its roadmap.

In a presentation titled “Knowledge Co-creation for the Post-SDGs World: Trying to Assess Together,” Mine pointed out the need to return to the fundamental question of “how to measure what” as progress toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is showing stagnation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing wars. He shared that as there are so many SDG indicators and it is difficult to grasp the big picture, the JICA Ogata Research Institute is working on the following: i) a study to extract a core set of indicators to better understand the progress toward the achievement of the SDGs; and ii) starting a collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) led by Jeffrey Sachs.

Mine then emphasized the importance of developing indicators based on human security, going beyond purely statistical analyses. He shared that based on the insight of development cooperation practitioners engaged in JICA’s on-the-ground work, about 70 indicators were selected and grouped into four large categories: survival, livelihood, dignity and environment. These indicators are currently being developed into a “human security dashboard” for visualization. Mine also noted that in March 2026, “Human Security Today: Measuring Human Security,” the third issue of the flagship report of the JICA Ogata Research Institute, was published in Japanese. The English version is scheduled for publication in September 2026. With regards to the Inochi Forum, Mine ended his presentation by stressing the significance of visualizing local- or community-level challenges on the ground and communicating them to a global audience.

Research outcomes of the “Study on the Indicator Framework for Post-2030 International Development Goals” can be found here:

The third issue of “Human Security Today,” the flagship report of the JICA Ogata Research Institute, is available here (Japanese only; the English version is scheduled for publication in September 2026):