Partnership
with Business Sector Assists Afghan Children

In February 2004, JOICFP in cooperation with Kuraray Corporation started a campaign to send reconditioned backpacks for schoolchildren to Afghanistan (see JOICPF eNEWS March 2004).

The campaign aimed to collect, recondition and send 30,000 backpacks, or 'randoseru' as they are known in Japan, to elementary schoolchildren in Afghanistan. To date, 10,000 randoseru have been collected, and of these, 5,200 have been shipped to both boys and girls in rural areas. Furthermore, many people included the cost of shipping to Afghanistan as well.

As a result of the popularity of the campaign, Kuraray and JOICFP decided to repeat the appeal for 2005. On 18th January 2005, over 100 people attended a 'kick off' event for the campaign. Schoolchildren, and representatives of backpack manufacturers, Kuraray and the mass media attended as well as sporting and entertainment celebrities.

Mitsuhiro Saotome, Ambassador for Civil Society, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, encouraged the audience to participate in any activity that assisted international development. He thanked organizations such as JOICFP that support people at the grassroots in developing countries, and said that as a result of the support it had received from the international community after WW II, Japan had a duty to continue being a leading donor.

The celebrities told the audience about how randoseru had played a part in their childhood, and a manufacturer's representative explained the sense of pride they felt at seeing their well-made product have an impact so far from home.

In addition, a group of students explained how happy they felt to see Afghan children in rural communities benefiting from their previously owned backpacks.

The event was covered in all the major daily newspapers as well as national television.

Cooperation with the private sector provides an important resource for NGOs, and for businesses provides publicity and an enhanced image among the public.

Miki Ando, a 17-year-old rising star
in the field of figure skating,
presents her randoseru to Hideyuki Takahashi,
Director, Resource Development and Campaign, JOICFP

Elementary schoolchildren wearing their randoseru,
with the celebrities at the launch of the 2005 campaign