exchanges were held in provincial areas rather than in Tokyo has its significance. In Okayama, the experiences and backgrounds in each country were initially different, causing confusion. It took half a year to conduct the preparations, in cooperation with people in charge of neighborhood associations and community centers, mainly social education directors. So far, such exchanges have been conducted 4 times, debates have gradually started, and recently, there have been cases of cooperation as sister community centers. In such exchanges, people in Asia are amazed, and admire the fact that the Japanese are often surprising. For example, the fact that the programs of community centers are written in flyers and distributed to thousands of households, the fact that local residents voluntarily stick them on bulletin boards, and the fact of the cleanliness of footpaths between rice fields. This also allows the Japanese side to realize once more the importance of what has been done until now; and according to the voices of officials in the community centers involved, this had a great significance as an opportunity to study the area once again, and to have an exchange with various officials.

Mr. Shirato: An international conference was held in Matsumoto city in 2006, but it was noted that on the occasion, most participants were elderly people, and that youth participation was low. Recently, middle-school and high-school students have also become active in community centers. If exchanges are one-sided, participants get tired easily, therefore it is important to approach the issue with an attitude that says "We, too, have something to learn".

Ms. Kawakami: Since 1989, the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan has provided support for literacy education and carried out CLC programs, under the name of 'World Terakoya Movement'. However, it was not a one-sided support. Japan also learned a lot from the field. It is also important to give the young generation of Japanese opportunities to learn, by making them participate in study tours. In Cambodia, university students majoring in English language studies give lectures as volunteers on weekends. The perspective of mutual learning is also important, even in vocational training. A large number of CLCs are able to operate from the support provided by volunteering residents, even in the absence of full-time paid staff except a facilitator.

Mr. Kusmiadi: Indonesia's policy includes IT, preschool education and ESD into the programs carried out by CLCs; and examples from other countries, such as the case of the city of Matsumoto, Japan, are used as reference. The policy which selects areas such as literacy programs and preschool education to be the mainstream activities is also something that they have learned from other countries.

## The roles played by community centers and CLCs

Mr. Choi: I agree with both Dr. Suemoto and Dr. Shirato. The same problem is gaining importance in South Korea. From a global perspective, the rapidly increasing concentration of the population in urban areas is very serious; and at the same time, it also causes a problem of depopulation. I think that life-long learning is one of the possible solutions for the revitalization of provincial areas. In order to revitalize