Sayako Nogiwa
Manager, Overseas Operation, AAR Japan
(Association for Aid and Relief, Japan), NGO

AAR Japan, the Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (hereinafter, “AAR”), an International NGO, was established in 1979 as a citizens’ group without political, ideological, or religious affiliations, aiming to support refugees from Indochina. We are currently active in 16 countries including Japan, primarily in the fields of emergency humanitarian assistance, disability and development, landmines, and infectious diseases. I would like to introduce our recent activities relating to disability in this article.

AAR’s activities in the area of disability began in the late 1980s with the distribution of wheelchairs and other assistive devices to residents of refugee camps in Thailand who had suffered injuries from landmines in the course of their flight. Subsequently, we have carried out the following activities: (1) the production and distribution of wheelchairs to promote and support mobility, (2) the operation of vocational training center and assistance with finding employment as ways of supporting inclusive employment, (3) the promotion of inclusive education, (4) support for disaster victims and refugees, (5) inclusive development rooted in local communities, and (6) research and advocacy.

Since the start of the 2020s, the world has been facing the major problem posed by the spread of COVID-19 infections. AAR also withdrew our overseas staff from the communities in which they were active in order to prioritise their safety and that of other related personnel; however, in 2022 we were able to redeploy staff to most countries, with the exceptions of Myanmar and Afghanistan, where there were safety concerns. In February 2022, we provided support to people with disabilities suffering from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both within the country and also to those who had fled to the neighbouring country of Moldova. During the damage caused by heavy rain and floods in Pakistan and Japan in August of the same year, we carried out emergency relief activities for people with disabilities, who faced additional hardships.

In a flood-stricken area of Pakistan, residents affected by the flooding draw water from a water tanker arranged by AAR. In these flooded areas of Pakistan where AAR provides support, there are many families of day labourers and others living in poverty, and there are said to be around 380 disabled people.

In Tajikistan, Laos, Cambodia, Turkey, and Myanmar, we are also carrying out activities to support inclusive education, inclusive development rooted in the local communities, and emergency humanitarian assistance, all while making every effort to prevent COVID-19 infections. In Myanmar, in September 2022, we reopened a vocational training center for people with disabilities which had been closed since March 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19.

Trainees on the hairdressing course of a vocational training school for disabled people which reopened after two and a half years in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, concentrate hard on their studies.

You can find the details of each activity on the AAR site (https://aarjapan.gr.jp/en). Moving to bring about a world, where no one left behind, at the same time as promoting the mainstreaming of disability and disability-inclusive education, employment, and support for disaster victims and refugees, we intend to also focus our efforts on advocacy activities going forward in order to turn the experiences and knowledge gained on the ground into a better future. There are many hurdles in the way of building a society which embraces everyone, but I believe that the possibilities will grow if we all join forces. I would appreciate it if we could continue to carry out our activities alongside all the other members of JANNET.