Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Cost: FEW Members ¥2,000 / Guests ¥5,000 (supper and drinks included)

Venue: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), Yurakucho Denki Building, 20th Floor (map)

Speaker: Jane Best Cooke, Refugees International Japan, Grants & Research Director

Topic: We see many news stories and documentaries about those displaced by conflict around the world. Victims of “other peoples’ wars” who struggle to survive and keep their families together. We feel we should assist, but does it make a difference and does the money reach those who it is intended for?

Jane Best Cooke has been involved with Refugees International Japan (RIJ) for the last five years dealing with just these issues. RI Japan is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental, voluntary organization which raises funds in Tokyo and Yokohama to assist needy refugees all over the world. In her role as Grants and Research Director of RIJ, Jane assesses the applications for funding that are sent in to RIJ. Her role is to ensure the requests are legitimate and that they fulfill the RIJ funding criteria. She travels to areas of concern once a year to meet people working in the field and to assess some of the projects being funded through RIJ.

Jane began her working life as a volunteer under the British ‘Volunteer Services Organisation’ (VSO) scheme in Zambia. This gave her an insight into development issues and aid programmes.

In this presentation Jane will outline the work of RIJ and illustrate how it is possible to make a difference with small grants. She believes that women are key to development in such situations and through them we can effect change.

Jane first came to Japan in 1984 and in 1988 opened a British restaurant in Naka Meguro, which ran for twelve years. During this time she and some friends set up a small NGO to assist a children’s centre in Sri Lanka. However, since closing the restaurant to run her own catering company Jane has more time to devote to aid issues.

Contact: few@gol.com

No advance reservation required. Please note this is a women only event.