JICA Tokyo; The real lives of "Refugees"

Utilization of an audio-visual material in a course entitled, "Various issues of international relations," for 25 students

Kyoritsu Women's University

Kyoritsu Women's University offers a general education class entitled, "Issues Surrounding International Relations." The class is aimed at raising students' awareness as well as knowledge of international issues in the modern world from political and historical perspectives. Students are expected to form their own opinions on international issues as a Japanese citizen.

I had a chance to use the audio visual material "Teaching materials for school about 'Refugees', 'Islam', 'Official Development Assistant' and 'School Education'" (external link) for my seventh class, of which theme was about "conflicts and human security." We often hear words such as "conflict" and "refugees," but we do not necessarily have chances to get to know their real lives and sufferings. I thought it was a good opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of not only theoretical concept but what is actually happening in human lives through visual images.

Transforming vague images into the reality of living human beings

Married couple talking about future anxiety

This audio-visual material provides four different themes in relation to current international problems. I used a chapter on "refugees" in my class.

It shows people who have escaped from their motherland by walking or using transportation such as trains and ships. They are in desperate need of surviving from circumstances, where explosions and gunshots go off. Friends and children are killed in front of them. The bottled-up frustration of a family who is forced to spend a night with a leaky tent in Zaatari refugee camp near the border between Syria and Jordan.

A couple managed to escape from Syria to Lebanon, but they mourned over the loss of their home, belongings and memories. Everything was left behind. They cannot afford to let their children go to school. Their hopes are dashed.

This educational material that records the lives and voices of local people seemed to have breathed out a life into the word "refugees," which had been just a vague image for students, and have shown that "refugees" are real people living on the other side of the globe, just like us.

Developing a sense of value not only for ourselves but also for the whole world

This educational material gives us a glimpse of the real lives of people with various problems and makes us think of what is happening in the world, what kind of situations people are in, and what kind of position Japan takes. That is the key to altering our sense of values from those just for ourselves to much broader values taking into account global perspectives. The problems taking place around the world are deeply related to us, Japanese people, and also Japanese society, and those problems are not just someone else's. By knowing those problems and looking into why they are happening, we can recognize how those are related to Japanese people. Then, we would be able to consider how we should respond to those problems as a member of the Japanese society. I feel this material is useful as a teaching material for development studies.

Naoyuki Kobayashi
JICA Tokyo center

*The Material(s) mainly applied

"Teaching materials for school about 'Refugees', 'Islam', 'Official Development Assistant' and 'School Education'"

The material of short movies in four themes as 'Refugees', 'Islam', 'Official Development Assistant' and 'School Education', is re-edited from the news and interviews recorded by JICA's project, NHK and press of the world. It is expected to be supplement teaching aid for development education program in schools.

• YouTube (external link)