Gwangju International Center Successfully Concludes the 2025 KOICA Fellowship Program
▲ Completion Ceremony of the 2025 KOICA Fellowship Program / Source: Gwangju International Center
Gwangju International Center successfully concluded the 2025 KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) Fellowship Program, which commenced on October 19 and was held over the course of two weeks.
This year’s program brought together fifteen mid-level government officials from five Asian countries. It aimed to enhance local government officials’ human rights awareness and sensitivity, thereby strengthening the realization of human rights at the local level. Participants engaged in a comprehensive curriculum that combined lectures on topics ranging from AI ethics to climate change and human rights administration, along with study visits and extracurricular cultural activities. This curriculum structure was designed to deepen understanding and build participants’ capacity for practical application of the knowledge gained.
Key component of the program was the development of Action Plans in which participants designed improvement strategies aligned with the human rights conditions and needs of their respective countries. Through a series of Action Plan Workshops, each team refined its plan with a strong focus on feasibility and practical execution, drawing on the guidance provided by the program’s facilitators, Morten Kjærum, Adjunct Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) and Janica Puisto, Human Rights Officer at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR). By incorporating the experts’ feedback, participants strengthened and advanced their plans, laying the foundation for integrating them into real policy processes and ensuring that the program yields concrete, sustainable outcomes, reinforcing its overall purpose.
On its final day, the two-week program concluded with each country team presenting the final version of its Action Plan, followed by the Completion Ceremony during which certificates of completion were awarded to all participants. This year’s fellowship was especially meaningful in that it provided a platform for participating countries to share policies and experiences and to explore avenues for cooperation, ultimately serving as a stepping stone for building networks that support the expansion of human rights cities.
Looking ahead, Gwangju International Center plans to incorporate the improvements identified through this year’s evaluation of the program into its third-year cycle and will work to develop and deliver an even more effective curriculum.
Gwangju International Center Successfully Concludes the 2025 KOICA Fellowship Program
▲ Completion Ceremony of the 2025 KOICA Fellowship Program / Source: Gwangju International Center
Gwangju International Center successfully concluded the 2025 KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) Fellowship Program, which commenced on October 19 and was held over the course of two weeks.
This year’s program brought together fifteen mid-level government officials from five Asian countries. It aimed to enhance local government officials’ human rights awareness and sensitivity, thereby strengthening the realization of human rights at the local level. Participants engaged in a comprehensive curriculum that combined lectures on topics ranging from AI ethics to climate change and human rights administration, along with study visits and extracurricular cultural activities. This curriculum structure was designed to deepen understanding and build participants’ capacity for practical application of the knowledge gained.
Key component of the program was the development of Action Plans in which participants designed improvement strategies aligned with the human rights conditions and needs of their respective countries. Through a series of Action Plan Workshops, each team refined its plan with a strong focus on feasibility and practical execution, drawing on the guidance provided by the program’s facilitators, Morten Kjærum, Adjunct Professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) and Janica Puisto, Human Rights Officer at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR). By incorporating the experts’ feedback, participants strengthened and advanced their plans, laying the foundation for integrating them into real policy processes and ensuring that the program yields concrete, sustainable outcomes, reinforcing its overall purpose.
On its final day, the two-week program concluded with each country team presenting the final version of its Action Plan, followed by the Completion Ceremony during which certificates of completion were awarded to all participants. This year’s fellowship was especially meaningful in that it provided a platform for participating countries to share policies and experiences and to explore avenues for cooperation, ultimately serving as a stepping stone for building networks that support the expansion of human rights cities.
Looking ahead, Gwangju International Center plans to incorporate the improvements identified through this year’s evaluation of the program into its third-year cycle and will work to develop and deliver an even more effective curriculum.