22SOPHIA MAGAZINE Vol. 18Nomoto: I felt enthusiasm and a high level of interest from the students who participated in the “Learning from Africa” program during their visit to the AfDB headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Terumichi: The students found it very interesting to learn about AfDB’s role as an international organization. Abidjan was also a good place for them to learn. Before the visit, I showed a photo of the center of the city and asked, “Where do you think this is?” Many guessed “In the US, in Florida.” However, just a short drive from the city center, there are areas without electricity or running water. It is a perfect place to experience regions with a mixture of different stages of development and to learn about the diversity in the structure of society. African Studies at Sophia University: The Road Ahead–––Sophia University signed an agreement for educational col-laboration with AfDB in 2019. The two institutions have collabo-rated many times in the past, including the “Learn from Africa” program mentioned above, and joint courses, seminars, and sym-posiums. The university is also a recipient university of AfDB’s Japan-Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) program. Nomoto: Growing with Africa is essential for Japan’s growth. This is why we have been working with Sophia University to con-duct on-the-ground programs and academic courses, based on our educational collaboration agreement. Such cooperation with a Japanese university helps convey the joy of working at an inter-national organization and helps encourage young people to enter the field of international development. I have heard that President Terumichi’s strong leadership played a crucial role in finalizing the agreement with the African Development Bank. Terumichi: Our thinking was that the university needed to un-derstand Africa in order to develop educational programs there. AfDB became an obvious choice for us as an organization with both a local and global perspective and that can view countries and regions across the entire continent of Africa as development tar-gets while considering the individual people who live there. Our
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