Yeonsu-gu held an online kick-off ceremony on the 11th for volunteers who will provide interpretation for domestic and foreign attendants in the 5th UNESCO International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC), which will be held in Songdo on the next 27th.
Attending in the kick-off ceremony were 136 volunteers, including 16 supervisors and 120 volunteers, and Yeonsu-gu officials. This was a fully online untact ceremony under the COVID-19 social distancing guideline.
Yeonsu-gu recruited young volunteers from 18 years of age or older who will play the role of interpretator and special volunteer. They will work mainly at Songdo Convensia to help the attendants, who will be visiting Korea and Yeonsu-gu, focus on the event during the convention.
Notably, these young volunteers can speak foreign languages, including English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese, and will play the expected roles of interpretation and guidance as well as publicity assistance to raise the global awareness for Korea and Yeonsu-gu.
The first session of the kick-off ceremony started with the congratulatory and appreciative address from the Mayor of Yeonsu-gu, followed by oath taking by the volunteer representative, explaining of the ICLC overview, and listening to the volunteers’ determination and aspiration for their involvement.
The second session for the two-hour online education continued with the education and program overview, followed by emphasizing the meaning of volunteer and basic attitude, including the basic quality education and gender equality education.
The 5th ICLC is an international event, to be held for four days from Oct. 27, which has had the audience of 193 UNESCO member countries, 229 GNLC member city representatives from 64 countries, and representatives and officials from 183 Korean Lifelong Learning Cities.
Yeonsu-gu will hold the conference amid this year’s COVID-19 in the simultaneous hybrid format of online and offline program to be consistent with the world’s largest conference for lifelong learning under the theme of ‘Beyond Responding and to New Leap Forward.’
“The ICLC decides host countries under a rotation by continent, which makes it unlikely for Korea to host this international event for anytime soon, and the volunteers are urged to take pride with commitments,” said an official from Yeonsu-gu, adding, “I hope this event offers the volunteers a valuable opportunity to make a full use of their talent and passion and become young talents to lead Korea and the World.”
