Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Facilitators intros and workshop outlines - Forum 10

Skills Build Workshop A
Ecological Footprinting in Your Classroom: Ecological footprinting is a dramatic way of showing how much nature we need to “fund” our lifestyles. The idea is simple but lends itself to a wealth of ideas that can not only be used in environmental education classes, but also in English-language classes in which teachers may be looking to spice things up a little. Participants will (1) have the opportunity to create materials to suit their own particular teaching situations, (2) find themselves stimulated and shocked in equal measure, and (3) even get to play with bits of string.


Facilitator - Trevor Ballance, Educator and Textbook Developer, Josai International University, Chiba.
Trevor belongs to the department of International Exchange where he teaches courses on NGO activism and the NGO-business relationship. He is also a member of the university's NGO-NPO Support Center, which aims to both support local NGOs and provide opportunities for students to become more fully involved with them. He has been a member of Amnesty International for most of his life, involved in letter writing campaigns and event organizing, as well as, during his time in Japan, doing voluntary work for JUCEE, The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ), and The Asia Foundation. Trevor has a Masters in TESOL and is currently working on a MA in NGOs and Sustainable Development. He is the author of "It's Your World...Get Involved: Reading and Talking About NGOs". Trevor spends some of his free time in Ho Chi Minh City at a school for blind Vietnamese where he helps students practice their English, joins them in their music making and, (while mangling the Vietnamese language), marvels at the students' enthusiasm for everything in life.

Skills Build Workshop B
Motvating and Retaining Volunteers
- After reviewing the volunteer management cycle and problems many groups face we will discuss tips for keeping volunteers involved. Groups will review cases studies of difficult situations and discuss how we can address such problems. Everyone will come away with useful links, worksheets and ideas for things they can start doing right away.

Facilitator - Sarajean Rossitto - PSC Convener, Nonprofit NGO Consultant
http://people-for-social-change-forum.blogspot.com/
Sarajean is an activist committed to progressive social change and is currently a Tokyo-based nonprofit NGO consultant. Her current projects focus on three areas: Skills development (doing courses and trainings for JICA, Temple University Japan, The Japan Foundation, The Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention) and linking organizations (the Asia Foundation CSR seminar series, Morgan Stanley Community programming development). She is the Tokyo representative for a number of US-Japan nonprofit projects and spent close to 4 years coordinating bilateral exchange of community-based nonprofit professionals between the US and Japan for Japan-US Community Exchange (JUCEE).

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sept 30 Forum 10 speakers

Panelist and Organization introductions:
  • Hiroshi Miyashita, Save the Children Japan (SCJ)
  • Prune Helfter ,Medecins du Monde Japon
  • Masaharu (Marc) Saito, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ)
  • Ai Tanaka, JEN
Hiroshi Miyashita (宮下 礼)
Save the Children Japan (SCJ) (社団法人 セーブ・ザ・チルドレン・ジャパン)
http://www.savechildren.or.jp/

Hiroshi joined Save the Children Japan in 2002 and is currently the Director of Resource Management and Emergency Operations after 2 years work in Myanmar. After completing his masters degree in International Politics and Security Studies with a focus on conflict resolution/peace building, he experienced emergency operations in Iraq, Albania, East Timor, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Pakistan.

Save the Children Japan (SCJ) is a member of the International Save the Childen Alliance and was founded in 1986 aiming to create a better world for children. SCJ has development programmes in Nepal, Viet Nam, Myanmer and Afghanistan, etc, helping children in the worldユs impoverished communities. SCJ develops practical projects which involve children and their families in improving their day-to-day lives. SCJ is also committed to train local staff so that they will be able to sustain the projects by themselves in the future. SCJ has aslo responded to children in emergencies together with other Alliance members in India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Indonesia (Ache, Nias and Java), Pakistan (earthquake) and is currently responding and developing emergency operations in Pakistan (flood), Nepal, Jordan and Peru.

Prune Helfter (エフテル プリュン)
Medecins du Monde Japon (特定非営利活動法人世界の医療団, メドゥサン・デュ・モンド ジャポン)
http://www.mdm.or.jp/ (Japanese)
http://www.mdm.or.jp/english/ (English)

Prune is the General Manager of the Japanese branch of the international NGO Medecins du Monde. Prune graduated from the Paris Institute of Political Science, Essec Business School and the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations. She has a PhD in Economics and is also a former research student at Kyoto University.

Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) is an international NGO whose vocation is to provide medical aid to the most vulnerable populations in the world: victims of natural disasters, famines, epidemics, infectious diseases (malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis), armed conflicts, political repression, minorities as well as to street children. M仕ecins du Mondeユs additional missions include speaking out against those who attempt to be obstacles to the access to healthcare, as well denouncing those who violate human rights and dignity.


Masaharu (Marc) Saito (齋藤 雅治)
Peace Winds Japan (特定非営利活動法人ピース ウィンズ・ジャパン(PWJ)
http://www.peace-winds.org/jp/index.html (Japanese)
http://www.peace-winds.org/en/ (English)

Masaharu joined Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) in 2002. He is currently in charge of the Liberia program, part of the Afghanistan program, and the disaster response program in Japan within the Program Unit, at the PWJ Headquarters in Tokyo. He was engaged in Japanユs ODA program for ten years while working with JICA between 1987 and 1997. Masaharu completed a masterユs course in international affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University in May 1999.

As a staff member of the Program Unit, PWJ, Masuaru has been strenuously engaged in emergency relief and reconstruction assistance activities in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Japan for five years. Based on his experience with PWJ, he would like to explore how we, as members of civil society, can work together with people on the ground, and make a difference in their lives.

Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) is an NGO, dedicated to the support of people in distress, threatened by conflict, poverty, or other turmoil. With its headquarters in Japan, PWJ has been active in various parts of the world. It was founded over 11 years ago, started by offering aid to Iraq in 1996, and has since spread its relief work to 15 countries including Pakistan, Indonesia, Kosovo, East Timor and Afghanistan. Support activities of PWJ are roughly two-fold: one is emergency humanitarian relief, aiming to secure the safety of lives and to provide the basic necessities. The other is assistance for restoration and development of ravaged areas, aiming at retrieval of self-sustaining livelihood. Furthermore, in Japan, PWJ is performing advocacy activities which include generating awareness and betterment of understanding among general citizens of the situations in which PWJ works.


Ai Tanaka (田仲 愛)
JEN (特定非営利活動法人 ジェン(JEN)
http://www.jen-npo.org (Japanese)
http://www.jen-npo.org/en/index.html (English)

Ai joined JEN in 2005. She is currently in charge of the Pakistan program as well as part of the Sri Lanka and Niigata programs, after one and a half years of working in Sri Lanka for the Tsunami rehabilitation project as a Head of the JEN Colombo Office. Since completing her masterユs degree in Educational Administration, she has worked on education projects as well as livelihood support, vocational training, psychosocial support, water and sanitation, and disaster preparedness in disaster/conflict affected countries in JEN.

JEN was established in January 1994. The mission is メpost conflictモ assistance, focused on restoring communities affected by disaster by fostering self-support both economically and mentally, while trying to fully utilize local human and material resources. JEN provides goods necessary for survival and the minimum infrastructure for living. JEN also acts as an advocate for the victims by sharing the situation with the world. JEN believes that メevery human being has a precious life of equal valueモ and hope to realize a work where people respect, understand and support each other as well as live with self-confidence. Current projects are ongoing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Sudan and Niigata Prefecture, Japan. In the past JEN has also worked in former Yugoslav countries, Iran, India, Mongolia, Chechen, Eritrea and Lebanon.


Sunday, May 13, 2007

Speakers for Forum 9: Sunday June 3, 2007

Panel Discussion: Local Action on Family Issues

Speaker and Organizational Profiles

Tomoko Yoshida – QQ and Respect Campaign: Dealing with issues involving international community health education, youth and HIV-AIDS.
http://qqsite.org/respect2006.html

Tomoko became interested in HIV/AIDS during college. She studied International Community Health Education at New York University and harm reduction in the Harm Reduction Coalition. Tomoko also interned at the International Organization for Migration in Cambodia. After coming back to Japan she took a job with Sunstar (private health care company) but continues her work as a youth-oriented health educator. She organized the first AIDS youth forum in Japan in 2003, and followed by organizing the RESPECT Campaign in 2006.

QQ* and Respect Campaign is a one-year long awareness raising campaign on sexual health and rights among young people. It focuses on empowering young people to RESPECT their body as a part of their life-decision through youth-oriented fun events and parties, as well as outreach in schools and on the website. The strength of this campaign lies in the think tank/laboratory approach, where youth implement their own ideas into events. One event was a club event with dancers, singers and other discussion took place. To encourage young people to be prepared when they go out, the entrance fee to the club event was reduced if youth brought a condom. They aim to educate in a fun way that directly relates to their target audience.

Chihiro Sakaeda – Resilience: An organization dealing with Domestic Violence.
http://www.resilience.jp/index2.html

Chiharu is a Development Director at Resilience, an organization that supports survivors of domestic violence. At Resilience, Chiharu is in charge of producing and planning various special projects, as well as in coordinating development-related efforts.
Her past experience includes working at the Center for Education and Support of Women for over five years, where she organized trainings and conferences.

Resilience is an organization which aims to raise awareness around the issues of domestic violence. Most of Resilience's work consists of conducting trainings, presentations, and workshops, at a rate of over 100 events a year. Resilience also holds classes at high schools and colleges to promote insight and to prevent abusive relationships among youths. They also organize an annual study tour program to the United States, with themes that range from domestic violence and child abuse to grief care.

Kageki Asakura
- Tokyo Shure: The oldest free school in Japan. http://www.shure.or.jp/english.html

Tokyo Shure was founded in June 1985 when the number of children refusing to attend regular school was increasing. Children who couldn’t handle the pressure of competition at public schools or who did not receive the special attention they required to be successful were often considered problem children. Some endured bullying. Many of them quit the public school system. Keiko Okuchi founded Tokyo Shure as a space where any child can be her/himself and succeed with the support of parents and other citizens. Nowadays, Tokyo Shure is known to as one of the oldest free schools in Japan.

At Tokyo Shure students are encouraged to build confidence and enrich their lives through failures and accomplishments with the support of staff and parents. Freedom and self autonomy are encouraged as well. Each student decides for themselves when to enroll, when to attend, what programs to take and when to graduate. However, most free schools in Japan are not recognized by the government and are not authorized to give certificates.

Tokyo Shure has three campuses in Tokyo. Children from 6 to twenty years old attend from Monday to Friday. There is also a support network, Home Shure, for families educating their children at home. Each month there are gatherings for these families.

Chisato Shiba – JOICFP
Japan Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning. http://www.joicfp.or.jp/

Chisato has a B.A. in Policy Management from Keio University. She also earned a Diploma in Development Studies at the Institute of Development Economics, Advanced School (IDEAS). Following that she obtained an MA in Social Development at Sussex University. After working at a trading company, she joined JOICFP in 2006, following an interest in the empowerment of women in developing countries she developed while studying. She now works at Resource Development and Campaign Division in JOICFP, doing fund raising from civil society and supporting oversea projects from that fund.

JOICFP, Japan Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning, conducts research on population and reproductive health including family planning (FP) as well as maternal and child health (MCH) in developing countries. JOICFP provides subsidies and other necessary assistance for research and other activities in developing countries, thus contributing to the enhancement of the well-being of the community. JOICFP promotes White Ribbon Activities for safe motherhood in countries such as Afghanistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Tanzania, and Zambia.

Jocelyn Hasumi - The Philippine Women's League of Japan
http://japan.co.jp/~ystakei/pwl1.html

Jocelyn hails from Manila in the Philippines. She is currently the President of the Philippine Women’s League of Japan (PWLJ). She has been living and teaching in Japan for 22 years. She graduated from Polytechnic University with a degree in Accounting and obtained her CPA. She has worked at Fuji Film in the International Sales and Marketing Division and most recently works as an ALT at a Saitama High School. Ms. Hasumi is pursuing a Peace Education Certificate course under Dr. Betty Reardon. She is also teaches community classes on the weekends, and is a member of a variety of associations including Toastmasters, Saitama Association of Global Awareness, and a volunteer at POLARIS, an anti-trafficking group.

The Philippine Women’s League of Japan is a non-partisan, non-political and non-profit Filipino organization of female citizens and former citizens of the Philippines residing in Japan, either temporarily or permanently. It was established in August 1986. Their objectives are to serve as a voice of the Filipino community in Japan; to embark on projects for the improvement of the reputation of Filipinos, especially women living in Japan; to promote goodwill and understanding with the Japanese people and other foreign groups; to help eradicate the negative feelings and attitudes of Filipinos by encouraging the feeling of comradeship and the unique Filipino spirit of bayanihan (empathy) among the Filipinos in Japan; to uphold the ideals and virtues of Filipino womanhood; and to provide legal and other necessary assistance or help to Filipino women in distress.

Although the majority of the members are Filipino women married to Japanese nationals, the organization is open to all women regardless of their marital status, religion, political affiliation, and even nationality as long as they can prove themselves useful in carrying out our objectives for the welfare and interest of Filipino women in Japan.

Moderator:
Sarajean Rossitto - PSC Convener, Nonprofit NGO Consultant
http://people-for-social-change-forum.blogspot.com/

Sarajean is an activist committed to progressive social change and is currently a Tokyo-based nonprofit NGO consultant. Her current projects focus on three areas: Skills development (doing courses and trainings for JICA, Temple University Japan, The Japan Foundation, The Japan Foundation for AIDS Prevention) and linking organizations (the Asia Foundation CSR seminar series, Morgan Stanley Community programming development). She is the Tokyo representative for a number of US-Japan nonprofit projects and spent close to 4 years coordinating bilateral exchange of community-based nonprofit professionals between the US and Japan for Japan-US Community Exchange (JUCEE).

People for Social Change was founded in the spring of 2005 with the aim of getting more individuals involved locally to affect change from the grassroots up. People for Social Change facilitates people moving beyond issue awareness to actualize social change. It does this through forums for skills development, networking events and projects aimed at linking people to social change programs.