GPPN Student Conference
Turning crisis into opportunity:
What policies do we need for sustainable development today?
Yukiko Oomagari
Graduate School of Public Policy
International Public Policy major (second year)
Participants from GraSPP: Yukiko Oomagari, Naohiro Yoshida,
Kayo Matsushita, Takushi Sasada, Yumeto Ito, Sawako Inada,
Taisuke Yoshida, Mitsuru Yoshida, Ina Kunikawa, Vandy Leng,
Yutaka Ueno, Takashi Yoshida, Shohei Kawase"It would be great if one day my fellow University of Tokyo classmates could
actively participate in this conference". That was my impression after being one of afew University of Tokyo (henceforth UT) students that participated in the Global
Public Policy Network (GPPN) student conference held at Sciences Po, Paris, in2008. The next GPPN conference held in 2009 at the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public
Policy (LKY), Singapore, went even further beyond my expectations. My fellow
Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) classmates and I learned invaluablelessons from our fellow public policy students from around the world. For our part,we were also able to make a significant contribution; helping to further expand thealready diverse Global Public Policy Network.
Our learning experience began with speeches from prominent public policy
leaders such as the Dean of LKY, Professor Kishore Mahbubani, who gave a speechentitled "breaking out from the narrow bound". Professor Mahbubani focused on thetransformation of global system dominated by a few actors to a system where all
governments, acting not by themselves, could take the helm together to create
global solutions; urging us to break free from the mould and think outside the box.
The secretary-general of ASEAN Dr. Surin Pitsuwan gave a speech aboutleadership, old institutions, reforming those old institutions, and global citizenship,placing the onus of structural reform on new leadership. A new leadership that will
rely not on the traditional 'elite' but, on the "passionate intensity" of students andfuture leaders like us.

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By a happy coincidence an APEC conference was also being held inSingapore. Consequently, we were lucky to have the Governors of theInter-American Development Bank (IADB) Mr. Luis Alberto Moreno and the AsianDevelopment Bank's (ADB) Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda give us insights focusing on
how best to make opportunities out of a crisis. A video conference was also
conducted with students from Paris, New York, and London entitled 'the economiccrisis: opportunities for developing countries' in which Dr. Charles Adams of LKY(previously of the IMF and ADB) and GraSPP's Professor Shinichi Nakabayashi
debated points concerning how emerging countries can turn the crisis to theiradvantage. An address was also given on the final day by Singapore's Minister ofEnvironment and Water Resources, Mr. Tan Yong Soon, concerning Singaporean
environmental policy. I asked Mr. Tan which countries are considered 'advanced
countries' when it comes to who shall bear the responsibility for CO2 emissions, anissue where the Japanese and Singaporean governments differ. It was a rareexperience to ask a member of the Singaporean government about the issue directly.
The core of the conference was, however, the student presentations andquestion and answer sessions. It was an inordinately stimulating experience toshare our knowledge and experience with some of the world's leading young
students. I first participated in the working group for Aid Governance. Two groupsof classmates from UT made presentations along with students from otheruniversities. A good exchange of views and opinions was had. From this moment I
felt that we were actively contributing to the conference experience. After the four
presentations, other students made presentations on various topics in the context of
the working group's larger framework, that of the conference. It was fascinating toexchange ideas with students from such varying backgrounds. For instance, when
discussing British ODA, which the London School of Economics (LSE) students
specialised in, Shohei Kawase provided insightful comments from the viewpointof the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Sawako Inada made a presentation on China's African ODA policy,igniting discussion with the Chinese students. Another student from Sciences Po
who presented on the African Development Bank contributed to the discussion fromthe viewpoint of that bank. Such interactive and interdisciplinary discussions were
to be the order of the day for all of the working groups throughout the duration ofthe conference.

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Next, I too became a presenter with Yutaka Ueno and Shinya Kotera in
the Millennium Development Goal working group. Many curious hands were raisedin regards to our presentation and it was both challenging and interesting toanswer them. I was able to experience first hand the difficulty of having to know
one's subject inside and out and answering questions to the satisfaction of thequestion givers and the audience. It was, however, unfortunate that we could only
provide answers restricted our presentations to the students from Columbia
University's Earth Institute in regards to whether genetically modified goods wereused in Japanese agriculture. That we had a chance to exchange our views andquestions about the issue later was a perfect example of the conference's networking
opportunities. We were, however, able to answer questions regarding subsidies tothe agricultural sector in advanced economies, making good time as well.
Praise was the name of the day after the student presentations withcomments like "that was a refined and interesting presentation". Such comments
made all of our efforts worthwhile. I later discovered that a student from The
University of Geneva had had experience in dealing with issues related to my fieldof study, that of immigrants and human rights. Lively conversation was indeed had.
Solidarity between presenters only strengthened as the conference wore on, leading,
I am sure, to more permanent friendships. I was certainly more tired than I thought
I would be after my presentation but, that tiredness was soon dispelled upon
thinking about the contribution that we had made.
The last two working groups that I participated in were 'Energy' and'Sustainable Cities'. The reason I joined the former group was because I wanted tohear the completed (final) presentations of Taisuke Yoshida and Mitsuru Yoshida,both of whom I had rehearsed with before the conference and to hear the reactionsof other students to their presentations. The other students took more of an interest
than I anticipated, asking poignant questions such as "are the dangers of nuclear
facilities not [fully] considered?" Positing the same question in everyone's mind,"how can we create and implement effective policy?" In the end, using the two
Yoshida's presentations as a starting point, we put our minds together to come up
with topics to be studied in the future. On one occasion, Takashi Yoshida replied to aquestion by a German student studying at LKY concerning the datafication of socialcosts. Even if a solution for something could not be provided in the working group,
the process of students from diverse backgrounds being stimulated by presentations
from top students and putting their heads together and attempting to reach a3

common solution was well worth it. I had seen both Yoshida's presentations manytimes before but, their improvement as seen at the GPPN conference was truly
remarkable. It may even be said that their confident presentations provided theimpetus for such lively debates as described above.
In the Sustainable Cities working group, students from Columbia
University with experience in city planning in New York emphasised the point that"[public] policy works to change people's behaviour. We just need to implement it!"
They reiterated the possible effects that public policy can have on society and withindelible motivation said that we all (students) have an ideal to change the statusquo. This proved to be a turning point in the discussion.
The conference also provided me with the opportunity to talk with all of thestudents whose presentations I found to be particularly interesting and also toexchange views and compliments with them. Their were also some times whenstudents would stay back after the working groups had disbanded to continue their
discussions with some students agreeing with some of my views and yet others whobowled me over with their feedback. I also felt proud when other students
commented on the high level of presentations from the UT students.
After the working groups had finished I was also able to go over the groups
proceedings with ach groups' moderators and scribes. Two of which were UT
students: Kayo Matsushita and John Mannion on exchange from LKY. It was a timeto think about what policies could be discerned from the multitude of views
expressed by the background diverse participants on the common theme of 'turning
crisis into opportunity'.
The closing remarks from one of the organisers Martin, a German student
from LKY, struck a chord with me. He said that the conference three things. One,the challenges we face are complex and interrelated. This is why cross-sector
analysis is needed. Secondly, that the field of public policy is important because we
can get benefits from other disciplines. And thirdly, that looking for solutions
together means a lot. I particularly want to emphasize point three. It is somethingthat I realised from participating in the GPPN student conference. Repeating
Martin's words in my mind I felt deep down that "a process of identifying problems,coming up with solutions together, and building public policies with people from4different backgrounds...[is] important". Lastly, Dr. Eduraeo Araral from LKY
pressed upon us this: "in this conference, you must have learned how difficult it is tomake collective decisions. But we can come up with effective decisions if we havepeople who really want to make change". It was the moment when all of us,committed as we are to public policy, were able to overcome national boundaries andbecome one.
The conference not only provided for a face to face environment with which
students could collaborate with each other but also a place where a student network
could flourish. My depleted business card stocks bore testament to this fact. I have
many found memories with the new friends that I made. Students from America,
Europe, Myanmar, China, Nepal, India, and Rwanda, to name just a few, allspecialising in public policy all of whom I will have the pleasure of continued contact
for years to come. The commitment of the event organisers moved me as well.
Especially Azul, who had been in diligent contact with me months before theconference began to advise me in various matters. I cannot thank the organisers
enough for taking time out of their busy end of semester schedules to hold the event.
I also realised how much more preparation would be required were the event to beheld at UT. Cultivating motivated students and preparing a GraSPP capable ofhosting the GPPN student conference should be one of GraSPP's long term goals.
Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to the Graduate School ofPublic Policy at the University of Tokyo for giving me such an invaluable
opportunity. I especially would like to thank Ms. Ogawa and Ms. Nachi for providing
administrative assistance and, last but not least, Professor Shinichi Nakabayashi
for his continued encouragement and support.

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