The JETAA UK Annual General Meeting was held March 7-8 2020. The four currently active regional chapters of JETAA in the United Kingdom (Scotland, North West, Midlands and London) hold the meeting around this time every year, and this year it was held in London at the JLGC offices following the AGM in Liverpool last year.
At the meeting, delegates report on the activities of each branch in the financial year, shared the issues and successes found throughout the chapters, and discussed final agreements re a member guidebook to enable JETAA volunteers and committees to smoothly engage in activities when officers change. Various ideas were discussed, such as the creation of a project and expanding the range of activities by collaborating with the charity organisation Ashinaga.
Ms Ashley O’Neill, chair of JETAA-International, travelled from Australia for the meeting, representing the international alumni committee which was relaunched in 2016 with the aim to support and promote the activities and growth of JET alumni associations around the world.
JETAA-I facilitates the exchange of ideas and information and helping them build networks and connections to each other. JETAA-I also supports the JET Programme and current JET participants, reaching out to groups like AJET which support JETs while working in Japan. JETAA-I also act as the point of contact for other organisations and government bodies such as CLAIR.
Ms O’Neil was able to give an overview of current projects, including the KenJetKai initiative (link) which seeks to link JET alumni with their prefectures and cities from when they were in Japan online.
The Japanese charity Ashinaga was also represented by Mike Rivera King, Director of Ashinaga UK, JET alumni who previously set up the charity for Japanese orphans Smile Kids Japan while on JET, and who now heads up Ashinaga in the UK, which provides scholarships for Japanese and African orphans.
At the AGM this year delegates unanimously voted to partner with Ashinaga in the UK as their charity partner.
For the first campaign with Ashinaga UK, JETAA UK is proud to be taking part in The 2.6 Challenge. This is a nationwide campaign, launched on Sunday the 26th of April in response to the effect of Covid-19 on UK charities. This campaign lasts just over one month, and Ashinaga is hoping to raise £10,000 to offset some of the losses experienced as a result of Covid-19.
Ashinaga UK has two programs which can be seen on their website: en.ashinaga.org/the-2-6-challenge. 100% of the funds raised during The 2.6 Challenge will go to student costs, and participants can specify whether they want to raise money for the Master’s Program or the Africa Initiative.
Further, all money raised for the Ashinaga Africa Initiative will be matched by a partner, meaning that for every pound you raise JETAA receives two pounds, or even more for participants who are a UK tax-payer and are eligible for gift aid.
For more details of JETAA UK’s organisation and activities, please see the websites at jetaa.org.uk and www.justgiving.com/team/JETAAUK for fund-raising updates.
