Building a Future for Children in Africa: Community-Led Initiatives Spreading in Uganda and Kenya
Speaker
Certified NPO PLAS Executive Director
小島 美緒 氏
Overview
- Date
- Wed, October 7, 2026, 12:30–13:30
- Venue
- Hyatt Regency Tokyo
- Meeting No.
- 1,688th Club Meeting
In Africa, many children still face poverty and a lack of educational opportunities.
At the same time, local people are taking on powerful challenges to overcome these problems.
Through the work of the certified NPO PLAS, an international cooperation NGO active in Uganda and Kenya, this talk introduces the current state of child poverty and its background, as well as examples of local residents taking the lead in shaping their own future.
I hope this will be an opportunity to think together about the potential of sustainable international cooperation that goes beyond the relationship between those who give and those who receive support and draws on the strength of local communities.
Profile
小島 美緒
Secretary General / Director, PLAS (Certified NPO)
After graduating from International Christian University in 2006, went to Uganda as a volunteer for the newly founded PLAS and took part for about three months in a project running a school for AIDS orphans. After returning to Japan, joined JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd., working on settlement of Japanese government bonds while engaging in in-house philanthropy. Continued volunteering for PLAS on weekday evenings and weekends, and in 2010, upon the birth of her first child, joined PLAS as a staff member as it aimed to expand its work, where she remains today.
2016 Fellow of the “Japanese Women’s Leadership Initiative,” a program of the Fish Family Foundation (U.S.) that selects Japanese women who will be a driving force for change in Japanese society. Privately, the mother of two sons, one in high school and one in elementary school.