UNESCO Internship

Greetings from Bangkok! This is Ichitaro Hanai and I’m the first M1 student to write a blog! Today, let me share my life in Bangkok. Some of the people may already know that I’ve been working for UNESCO Bangkok as an intern since October. 2 months have already passed and I've got used to staying here except the hot weather.

I’m with UIS-AIMS unit and my main task for now is to support creating online EFA monitoring training module (hardcopy version was done by Liu Jing!) for teachers, educational researchers, government officers and so on. This will be a worldwide module containing how to conduct house hold survey, how to collect educational data and how to handle data by using statistical software that anyone can access and take training entirely online without buying textbooks or going to a workshop. It must be a really useful tool for people who are related to educational field for sure. Because I was not familiar with statistics or using SPSS at the beginning of the work, this task has been quite challenging and I've got many things to catch up, but it’s also a great time to learn statistical skills which will help my research obviously.

The staffs in Bangkok office are all nice that I enjoy working with them and also there are so many things that I can learn from them. Last month, we organized the Regional EFA Coordinators Meeting that more than 40 countries' representatives participated and shared opinions toward EFA goals. All participants seemed eager in achieving EFA and they discussed actively and very intensively. It was a great opportunity for me to help organizing the conference and hear about educational issues which countries confronted with. I also realized my limited knowledge and information regarding educational development so it highly increased my motivation for studying.

I sometimes go out with Japanese UNESCO staffs and hear about UN organizations and educational development issues in the world. Many of them had experienced JOCV or fieldwork in different countries so it's really nice to hear about their work experience since I have never had practical experience in a developing country which sometimes becomes as a limitation for my study. Working in UNESCO helps me to understand how UN agencies are organized and their culture and challenges as aid organizations. As M1 students studied about the aid organizations in the very beginning of Yamada sensei’s seminar in spring semester, the experience in UNESCO enriches these knowledge I’ve got in the classes.

I still have 4 more months to go, so I will keep trying my best and hopefully I can share the experience in UNESCO after I get back to Japan. I heard Japan is really cold at the moment. Please take care, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

M1 Ichi Hanai