Japan
I LADY.
I LADY. (Love, Act, Decide, Yourself.) is a campaign to raise awareness among women and girls in Japan on their sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) needs, and empower them to make their own decisions, so they can stand up and take action.
The global objective is to contribute to the achievement of Goal 3 and Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals in Japan. Moreover, if women and girls in Japan are empowered to take action in improving their own SRHR, they can act to help to change conditions of women and girls globally.
Although Japan is a highly developed country, the social and health well-being of women is often overlooked. Many women lack self-confidence in decision making, and heavily depend on men for decisions related to SRHR. For instance, male condoms are most used (40.7% of 44.4% in total), with less than 2% using pills or IUD (UN 2015).
The target group is women in their reproductive age, with a focus on women 18 to 30 years old. I LADY. campaign reaches out to the target group through various on-line media such as the I LADY. website, SNS and twitter. The campaign also reaches out through “Activists” who are well-known in Japan, such as fashion models, athletes, artists and opinion leaders such as journalists, medical professionals and company CEOs. The Activists will stand as influencers and role models, who will become messengers reaching to the target audience through study sessions, events and through on-line media. Moreover, the campaign will be made more inclusive for men and boys with messages that will attract their interest for SRHR.
The campaign aims to cover the whole country, with initial focus on major cities of Tokyo and Osaka where JOICFP and partners are located, and secondary focus on high-needs prefectures in rural areas.
WHITE RIBBON RUN
From 2016, the charity run event titled “White Ribbon Run” is being organized every year under the slogan “Let’s run. For yourself. For someone else.” Participants of the charity run wear the same T-shirt to create solidarity for women’s health around the world. The objective of the charity run is to mobilize resources and to increase supporters, both individuals and private companies. By organizing the event every year around International Women’s Day (March 8), the aim is to increase awareness on SRHR, women’s empowerment and gender equality issues, including the white ribbon movement. The I LADY. Activists (talented persons, models, exercise instructors, etc) who will take part in this charity run holds an important role for disseminating information widely through SNS and blogs, increasing opportunities for the campaign to be taken up by the media, such as newspaper, TV, radio and magazines. The participants of this run will have chances to think and be aware of their own health as well as to think about the health of women around the world.
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White Ribbon Run 2016
Date: March 6 (Sun) 2017
Courses: 5km
Place: Odaiba, Tokyo
Tokyo Participants: 409 women (18 years and above)
Virtual Run Places: At 4 places in Japan, 6 places globally
Virtual Run Participants: 949 persons
Donations: The entry fees were donated to support women and mothers/children who have suffered the earthquake disaster in Nepal, and women in Zambia, Ghana. -
White Ribbon Run 2017
Date: March 4 (Sat), March 5 (Sun) 2017
Courses: 7km
Place: Odaiba, Tokyo
Tokyo Participants: 547 women (18 years and above)
Virtual Run* Places: At 12 places in Japan, 16 places globally
Virtual Run Participants: 1836 persons
Donations: The entry fees were donated to support women and mothers/children in Nepal, Myanmar, and Tanzania.
*Virtual Run: Participants of the virtual run do not have to be in Tokyo on the day of the event. You can participate by wearing the “original charity T-shirt” and upload your running photos on SNS with hashtag #WRUN. -
White Ribbon Run 2018
Date: March 3 (Sat), March 4 (Sun) 2018
Courses: 5km
Place: Odaiba, Tokyo
Tokyo Participants: 510 women (18 years and above)
Virtual Run Places: At 35 places in Japan, 17 countries globally
Virtual Run Participants: 2600 persons
Donations: The entry fees will be donated to support women and mothers/children in Ghana and Nepal.
The Great East Japan Earthquake Relief Activities
From March 2011 to March 2016, JOICFP conducted relief activities for the Great East Japan Earthquake, targeting women and mothers in particular. We received support from all over the world, including NGOs from developing countries we have worked with. We would like to express our sincere appreciation for the support we received. Here is our 5 year report:
PDF (21MB)
