Winners of the 1st SAKAI Peace Contribution Award
On July 7th, the SAKAI Peace Contribution Award Screening Committee met to select the recipients of this year’s Award. The following recipients were announced on July 31st.
The First SAKAI Peace Contribution Award: Recipient Selection Process
Selection Procedure
Recommendations for award candidates are gathered from the Screening Committee, as well as domestic and overseas experts and academic institutions (domestic 350, overseas 150,a total of 500 recommendations).
After receiving the SAKAI Peace Contribution Award Selection Committee’s list of recommended candidates, the city determines the award recipients.
Process
| 2008 | February | Recommendation forms sent to referees (500 forms, domestic and overseas) |
|---|---|---|
| April 18 | Deadline for recommendations (36 recommendations) Background check of award candidates |
|
| June | Selection documents sent to Screening Committee | |
| July 7 | Screening Committee commences | |
| July 31 | Award recipients decided (1 Grand Prize winner, 1 Fellowship Award winner, 1 organization) |
| Category | No. of recommendations requested | No. of recommendations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Domestic individuals | 200 | 350 | 23 |
| Domestic research institutions | 60 | 3 | ||
| Domestic universities | 60 | 2 | ||
| Intermediate NGOs | 30 | 0 | ||
| Overseas | Overseas research institutions | 40 | 150 | 2 |
| Miscellaneous overseas organizations | 40 | 5 | ||
| Overseas universities | 30 | 1 | ||
| Foreign embassies in Japan | 20 | 0 | ||
| Japanese overseas embassies | 20 | 0 | ||
| Total | 500 | 36 | ||
| Individuals | Organizations | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 15 | 9 | 24 |
| Overseas | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| Total | 23 | 13 | 36 |
The First SAKAI Peace Contribution Award: Recipients
Grand Prize
Mr. Jehan Perera
Profile
Mr. Jehan Perera is a peace activist, born in 1958. He is the Executive Director of the Sri Lankan NGO “National Peace Council.”
Sri Lankans have been suffering from ethnic conflict for over 25 years. In 2006 the cease fire ended and the country is being plunged, once again, into armed conflict. Mr. Perera is involved in a variety of peace activities despite his location in an unstable political situation and various pressures upon him. Without bias towards any particular political, religious or ethnic group, he has been involved in public relations activities and holds workshops to promote a permanent peaceful resolution. His activities include research, personnel development and peace education. The National Peace Council won the 2002 Japanese government sponsored Grant Aid for Grass-Roots Groups.
The Motivating Factors for this Selection
We believe that the role of the private sector in forging peace from the chaos in Sri Lanka is a vital one. Private based efforts for peace contribute to the democratic power of the people to create peace in a difficult situation.
We recognize that Mr. Perera has been working towards peace under conditions such as the suppression of free speech and a populace controlled by force, and that he faces danger to his own person. We are confident that Mr. Perera’s activities are vital for progress towards peace in Sri Lanka now and will be even more so in the near future. We further believe that his efforts serve not only to stabilize the conflict within Sri Lanka, but have contributed to peace and stability throughout the Asian region.
Mr. Perera’s activities are a excellent example of the principle of this award: “Awarding activities that contribute to the strengthening and securing of freedom, independence and autonomy, and help form a freer and more tolerant world through the exchange of opinions, philosophies and creating interdependence within diversity.”
It is our hope that by recognizing Mr. Perera’s activities we can send an international message to Sri Lanka and support the efforts for peace within the country. The SAKAI Peace Contribution Award is only one local prize, but we believe that there is a deep meaning behind the message of peace offered in awarding this prize to Mr. Perera.
The NPC Homepage: http://www.peace-srilanka.org/
The Encouragement Prizes
Mr. Hideto Yoshioka
Mr. Hideto Yoshioka
Profile
Mr. Yoshioka was born in Osaka Prefecture, 1965. He is a doctor, and the representative of the International Medical NGO Japan Heart. After working in emergency hospitals in Osaka and Kanagawa, Mr. Yoshioka stayed in Myanmar from 1995 to 1997 to practice medicine. After returning to Japan, he went there again in 2003 and founded the International Medical NGO Japan Heart in 2004. In 2006 he founded Nurses Overseas and continued working to provide medical care to people who are without it in harsh environments and in countries without insurance, such as Myanmar and Cambodia.
The NGO that Mr. Yoshioka represents, Japan Heart, offers an opportunity for young doctors and others to utilize their experience overseas. This not only allows for medical care to be provided to areas that have poor access to health care, but provides an opportunity for doctors to experience coming up with creative solutions under challenging conditions and stimulates their growth.
Nurses Overseas is an independent organization from Japan Heart that offers nursing services in developing countries as well as working to develop local nursing staff and health and sanitation education.
The Motivating Factors for this Selection
Until recently, Japan Heart was active primarily in Myanmar, but from this year has expanded its activities into Cambodia. The goal is to further expand these activities into Nepal. Along with providing medical care to areas that would otherwise suffer a lack of it, this program also helps create highly competent international doctors. These activities play an important role in each area they take place in and help to ensure the security of people throughout the Asian region. We believe these activities are a pro-active contribution to peace and the establishment of the societal institutions that support the weak and underprivileged.
The International Medical NGO Japan Heart Homepage: https://www.japanheart.org/
The Japan-Nepal Female Education Association (JNFEA)
Profile
This association was founded in 2004. The chairperson, Prof. Yasuko Yamashita teaches at Bunkyo Gakuin University. Nepal does not have a compulsory education system and girls, especially in farming villages, lack the opportunity to gain an education. It is not uncommon to find these girls subjected to child labor such as agriculture, water carrying, clearing of land, and the care of livestock. There are even cases in which girls are sold into prostitution, and are put at risk for contracting HIV or face other dangers.
In 2006, JNFEA established the Sakura-ryo, a women’s university in Pokhara, Nepal with input from the former female teacher training system in Japan. The school accepts 10 high school girls annually from farm villages and trains them to become teachers. These women then go back to their hometowns to teach elementary school. There are many local communities that cannot afford to pay them and JNFEA also sponsors their salaries for three years after graduation.
JNFEA also proposes reforms of the educational system to the government of Nepal such as establishing compulsory education, the systematization of teaching licenses, teacher training and Nepalese educational policies.
The Motivating Factors for this Selection
JNFEA is making a major contribution to the improvement of the status of women in Nepal through their efforts to provide opportunities for the education of women. JNFEA is working to help create the social infrastructure needed to make a universal society, a community that better ensures human rights, dignity and the realization of human potential.
JNFEA Homepage:http://www.jnfea.com/