By Mio Yamamoto | Executive Director & Co-Founder
Hello, our supporters and friends!
In the past ten years, WIT has evolved from connecting innovative social entrepreneurs in Tohoku with US-Japan professionals from diverse backgrounds and providing them capacity building and management support into a platform to cultivate cross-boundary leadership and collaboration for social innovation for Tohoku and other regions.
In this letter, we cover Ten Years at WIT, Tohoku Social Entrepreneur Update, and our New Program to Advance Mothers' Wellbeing.
Ten Years at WIT
As a catalyst to connect people across various boundaries such as different sectors, counties, and industries, WIT has hosted eleven Cross-Border Learning Journeys and other Journey programs for more than 300 participants, which has led to many collaborations among the participated social entrepreneurs and professionals from the US and Japan.
We have also identified capacity-building areas that are critical for the sustainable growth of social entrepreneurs in Japan, including organizational development, impact assessment, and nonprofit board and governance. We created a social innovation fund and developed many training workshops for social entrepreneurs and philanthropists to strengthen their capacity to work together effectively and create sustainable social impact. We published a book on nonprofit governance – one of the first of its kind in Japan, in 2020, and more than 250 nonprofit leaders and business people participated in our Board & Governance training.
Tohoku Social Entrepreneur Update - Asuiku:
Asuiku, a nonprofit WIT has supported since 2011, was founded after the Great East Japan Earthquake to help children living in evacuation sites and temporary housing. As Asuiku realized that child poverty was becoming more apparent due to the earthquake, they shifted our focus from just supporting disaster-affected children to child poverty and started a program for children living in low-income households. Asuiku currently provides educational and other support programs for at-risk middle school students in collaboration with 3 cities and 21 towns and villages in Miyagi prefecture.
Asuiku has also developed a variety of programs to address child poverty, including a free school for children without a place due to not attending or dropping out of school, meal service for children, daycare and preschools, and children centers.
Moving forward, Asuiku wants to create a program for children who are marginalized from society to think about how they want to live their lives when they grow up. Rather than simply providing employment assistance, Asuiku is committed to finding ways of living and working that match each individual.
Second, Asuiku envisions taking root in society as a nonprofit that continues for a hundred years. It is often said that the ultimate goal of nonprofits is to make social issues disappear and dissolve; however, as long as human beings make up society, they think it is natural that social divisions occur as a result of things like income stratification. Asuiku's goal is to keep serving people in need and playing a catalyst role to make their voices heard and connect them with the larger society.
A message from Yusuke Ohashi, Founder of Asuiku
"In Tohoku, the problem of poverty has worsened due to the Great East Japan Earthquake a decade ago and has been worsening yet again due to the spread of the COVID-19. These two events have not just inflicted damage upon the Tohoku region, they have also expanded support networks and ecosystem. We anticipate that new, positive signs for the future are being born amid this challenging environment. We hope that there will come a time when the path of Tohoku so far will serve as a reference for other regions and countries."
*We will update you about other Tohoku social entrepreneurs in the upcoming letters.
Board Fellow Program to Advance Wellbeing for Mothers:
This summer WIT will launch a six-month Board Fellow Program where nonprofit and corporate leaders discuss and collaborate to address pressing social issues. Our inaugural theme in 2021 is Inclusion and Empowerment – Advancing wellbeing for mothers and creating a society where mothers can bring out their potential.
The Board Fellow Program will strengthen the leadership and organizational capacity of innovative nonprofit leaders from organizations serving mothers, and enable them to develop effective programs and reach more mothers in need. We will engage corporate leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities with the nonprofits and collaborate with them. By cultivating cross-sector collaboration, we will contribute to advancing the wellbeing of mothers, preventing child abuse, and creating more inclusive workplaces.
With this project, WIT is participating in @GlobalGiving’s #InternationalWomensWeek! All the donations up to $50 received on GlobalGiving from March 8 to 12 will be matched 50%!
Please visit our project page for details: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/mothers-in-japan/
Please consider supporting gender equity and get matched now!
With gratitude,
Mio
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