Nov 3, 2017
OISCA International held the 2017 International Board of Directors Meeting on October 11 and 12 at the International Conference Room of the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, Tokyo. A total of 93 representatives from the 16 countries and areas including Japan participated in the two-day meeting.
In her key note speech, Dr. Yoshiko Nakano, OISCA International President, stated that “OISCA’s idea comes from the foundation built on the study on the creation of Universe”. She went on to say that there are more than one million NGOs in the world, but OISCA is the only one which is operating in connection with the study of Universe, and urged the participants to push forward the OISCA movement to avert the “Global Catastrophe” confronting people all over the world.
Afterwards, Mr. Yasuaki Nagaishi, OISCA International Secretary-General, comprehensively reviewed OISCA’s activities over the past year and presented plans for future course of actions. He mentioned, among other events, about such major developments as the inauguration of the 2nd training center in Myanmar, the signing of MOU with the Indian Government for the rehabilitation of the Ganges River, tree-planting in Brazil in line with the Paris Agreement on global warming, and the 50th anniversary of Nishi Nippon Training Center. Then, the Board unanimously approved 6 new domestic chapters of OISCA South India.
Meanwhile, the representatives of OISCA International Malaysian Chapter, made a promotional presentation on the 6th MARA-OISCA Business Forum to be held in Sabah, East Malaysia this November.
In the afternoon session, the participants held discussions on OISCA Movement’s Four Pillars: Capacity Building, Children’s Forest Program (CFP), Environmental Conservation and Rural Development. Following the initial remarks by Prof. Ryokichi Hirono, Council Member of OISCA Japan, 6 senior officials of OISCA Headquarters respectively delivered detailed presentations on the recent developments, both achievements and challenges of capacity building, Children’s Forest Program (CFP), forest conservation efforts in collaboration with private corporations, the Coastal Forest Restoration Project in Natori, Miyagi Pref., the Overseas Upland and Coastal Forest Restoration Projects, and the Rural Development Program in Myanmar.
As a follow-up to the presentation on the development of human resources, a Malaysian delegate suggested that training of young trainees should be conducted not only in Japan but also in other OISCA member countries, while the Mexican chief delegate expressed a strong hope to dispatch more young trainees for training in Japan.
Concerning the Children’s Forest Program (CFP), Mr. Aravind Babu, Director, OISCA South India Office, presented OISCA South India’s experience: close cooperation with local governments. Ms. Ritu Prasad, General Secretary and Director of OISCA North India, spoke about their experience: active involvement of a Japanese corporation in the project, young forest officers’ training and teachers training. On his side, Dr. Jett C. Rojas, President of OISCA Philippines, referred to the Philippine experience: involving local government officials and organizing tours for local mayors to observe the Japanese experience in Fukuoka and garbage disposal facilities in Osaka.
Then, the participants moved to discussing operational issues of OISCA International, particularly how to increase the important funding sources such as membership fees. A senior official of OISCA Japan raised the major challenge: how to cope with declining membership. The representatives of OISCA South India, OISCA Mexico, OISCA Hong Kong and OISCA Taiwan presented their respective examples.
On the second day, Ms. Etsuko Nakano, OISCA International Vice President and Chairperson of the Board, OISCA Japan, opened the floor with her message. A citation was awarded to OISCA South India Chapter and Mr. Chou Wing Ping, Honorable President of OISCA Hong Kong Chapter, for their outstanding efforts to promote OISCA Movement.
Afterwards, the representatives of OISCA National Chapters respectively delivered up-to-date reports on their activities. OISCA South India proposed to hold Global Youth Forum in 2018 in Kochi, Kerala. The proposal was unanimously endorsed by the participants in the meeting.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Toshihiro Nakano, Executive Vice President of OISCA International, suggested the OISCA national chapters should send young delegates to ADB Annual Meeting to be held in Manila next May and 2018 IMF conference in Bali, Indonesia, for further promoting the OISCA activities. He also suggested that other national chapters dispatch young staff to work at the Headquarters in Japan. Furthermore, he encouraged the different chapters to effectively utilize funds of international organizations such as the World Bank and IMF for their projects.
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