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SEEDS Asia’s Executive Director Mitsuko Otsuyama was invited as a guest lecturer for Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizationology at Konan Women’s University on 21st April. The lecture series is organized by Ms. Hiromi Yamamura who is a member of Community Support Center Kobe, another Kobe-based nonprofit organization.

A key question “What exacerbates disaster damage?” was asked to the participating students to deliver a message that, without solving social issues, disaster risk cannot be reduced due to increasingly severe and frequent hazards such as floodS and typhoons. Disaster risk reduction not only concerns short-term survival skills i.e. where to evacuate and what to bring upon evacuation, but long-term understanding and taking initiative to understand nature and the community, its history, and spontaneously and collaboratively tackling social problems. A worksheet was introduced along with a video clip from Myanmar for a simulation activity. It encouraged the students to be in the village leader’s shoes, and to analyze disaster risk based on hazard, vulnerability and capacity.

In situations where public help from government agencies is limited, “EN (pronounced N)” or help* among nongovernmental organizations and/or by citizens’ collective efforts has become progressively important. It is hoped that the participating students have been inspired to take action on global and local issues, especially in the era of the COVID pandemic that reminds us that “the global is personal.”

We sincerely thank Ms. Yamamura for the great opportunity and the students for the wonderful interactions.

* “En” in Japanese means to bond and network, and is pronounced as the alphabet “N” which entails nonprofit and non-government involvement. “En (N) help” is the fourth “help” identified following public, mutual and self-help, based on actual disaster experiences where networks and help by nonprofit/non-government organizations were proven necessary for early recovery from disasters.