Finding His Alternative Path to a Humanitarian Career: Masato Yakabe, Global Human Resource Development Program 2025

The Program for Global Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding and Development was set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan to strengthen the capacity of individuals working for peacebuilding and development professionals, with the Primary Course focusing on early career professionals. Since FY2024, it has been delivered by Hiroshima University in close cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. The FY2025 primary course combined online pre-training in October 2025 and in-person training from 3 to 30 November 2025 in Tokyo and Hiroshima, Japan. Twelve participants from Japan and 1 participant each from Armenia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ecuador, Guatemala, Iraq, Nepal, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan, Timor-Leste, and the African Union Commission (AUC) took part.

For Masato, one of his biggest learnings from the course was recognizing the essential qualities needed to be good global citizens.

After 30 or 40 years, … we are not talking about SDGs or other trend[ing] issues anymore. But there must be … universal and unchangeable things. This is the key [to] being good global citizens…. I learned this from every single moment from other associates and lecturers. - Masato Yakabe (Japan), Program Associate of the FY2025 Primary Course