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Today there are more displaced people in the world than at any other time in history
and each of the 44 million people who find themselves in this situation
has a different story to tell
Refugees International Japan is one of the NPOs on ikifu's platform doing great work
We met up with CEO Jane Best to find out more about the kind of work they are doing
I’ve always been involved in some way or another
I started after college as a volunteer in Zambia and
I was working there through a British volunteer scheme
and so it was just something that I discovered was my passion
and so I’ve continued it in different ways, in different places that I’ve been
and then I’ve been in Japan for a long time
but around 2000 I found that I had a bit more time and I joined RIJ as a volunteer
and in 2006 I took on the role full time
Some of our projects are kind of, very much community-based projects
and the baby kits program is also obviously community-based but
its a program that you can see very clearly what you’re money is going towards
mothers in camps and in internally displaced circumstances
have a lot of problems obviously in hygiene and that kind of thing, and knowledge,
and some people even end up running from their villages and giving birth in the jungles
so these baby-kits fulfill a very important purpose
Infant mortality is very high in refugee camps, about 60% I think,
compared to other areas which we hope is not as high
and so these kits, they serve several purposes
to provide the mothers with soap and wraps and that kind of thing
but also information, there’s a health message in the pack
so it’s telling them how to look after their baby and so on and so forth
and I think the other thing which I think is quite interesting to think
is that what one of the mother’s actually said
is that somebody is thinking about them in Japan made all the difference
so I think it serves a lot of purpose
fundraising for refugees in conflict situations is,
it’s not very close to people’s hearts
it doesn’t mean that people don’t care
but you can’t see refugees, you don’t think it’s going to happen to you
and so that is the biggest challenge, bringing the stories home to people
and explaining why it’s important to help
and it’s not a question of not wanting to, it’s not knowing, I think,
how to help and what a difference people can make
So I think that’s, well I’m certain, that’s the biggest challenge
is to make it real to people
and the way to do that is to bring home the stories
like the lady who said the fact that you’re thinking about me
is the best way to get round it
and then why do
the humanitarian side is obvious
it’s awful to think that people are suffering so much
or lacking the opportunities that we don’t lack
but in addition to that this is all about world development, world advancement
and that all costs money
so it does relate to all of us and
in some way we’ve got to bring that story home
I think it’s essential, absolutely essential
And people should be able to see how [their money is] monitored
and what the results are of it
and not just to say oh I’ve given money for that project
but to see what the benefit of that is and what the long term results are
I think that’s essential
and we publish all the projects on our website
and we’re starting to fill in the results now
and we’ve got our intern program working on it now
well for the reasons I mentioned a little bit earlier
we can get close up, we can tell them
what difference they’re making
and we’re a small group
there are lots of great groups out there
who are looking after the bigger programs
infrastructure programs, large volumes of people
what we can do is we can get up close
to the communities in our funding, we’re looking at the people
which in some ways is also a difficult sell
because we’re not saying look we built a hospital
but what we are saying is that this can make a difference to somebody’s life
and we can bring back the stories
of how your funding has impacted on individuals
and the difference it’s made to the communities
so if you want to hear about things first hand like that
it’s a very good reason to support Refugees International Japan
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us
You're welcome thank you for coming