I want to continue working in international cooperation without forgetting what I learned at PLAS | Toshiyuki Sassa

Self-introduction

Hello. I am Toshiyuki Sassa, and I was an intern at the PLAS Public Relations and Communications team for six months starting last July! Some of you may have met me before at a PLAS online event. I am currently a fourth-year university student, but because I was on an exchange program until last year, I will graduate next spring.

Introduction to my duties

I was mainly in charge of event management, such as PLAS Channel, closed events, and charity walks. I was also involved in public relations work, such as creating images for social media posts.

The event that left the biggest impression on me

If I had to name one event that was the most memorable during my six-month internship, it would be the special edition of PLAS Channel held in December 2023, titled "PLAS Historia: Now that we have reached our 18th year, the PLAS representative reveals their thoughts."

I wanted to plan something special for the milestone of PLAS reaching its 18th anniversary since its founding. While thinking about what kind of theme would be appropriate for the event, the idea of "looking back on the journey from the founding of PLAS to the present, and talking about future prospects" came to mind. From my perspective as an intern, I felt I wanted an opportunity to learn about the history of PLAS's founding, the transition of its business style over the 18 years, and the struggles and trajectory that led to its current vision and mission.

To flesh out the content and structure of the event, I first interviewed PLAS staff for about an hour about the story of the organization's founding and its efforts to date, and based on that, I created the slides to be used in the event.

Making slides is a difficult but fun task. I worried about how to convey the history of PLAS in an easy-to-understand way without boring the participants, and I paid close attention to the photos and designs I used.

In the process of this work, I accessed the PLAS shared folder and looked through thousands of photos that had been accumulated over the years. Some of the oldest photos were from around 2005, showing the lively figures of the PLAS founding members, who were university students at the time, and the children in Africa. I was drawn into the sight of the founding members and volunteers working hard to build schools where AIDS orphans could attend with peace of mind, and I asked myself, "Do I, as a university student now, have the courage and initiative to go to Africa on my own and build a school on a vacant lot for the children?" I tend to get scared and hesitate when I try to challenge myself with new things, but I felt as if the energy and passion of the PLAS founding members, seen through the photos after 18 years, had pushed me forward.

Looking back at the photos from the 18 years, what the PLAS camera had been capturing were the sparkling eyes of the children and the strong, resilient faces of the mothers. The fact that the local people show these expressions is surely because they are convinced that PLAS is a reliable partner. I felt strongly at that time that conveying these images to all of you in Japan through events and public relations was something I could do.

On the day of the event in December, I explained the history of PLAS in a dialogue format with our representative, Mr. Kadota. While being stimulated by hearing the stories of someone who has been active in this field for a long time, I was also grateful to have been able to hold such an event.

An archive of the event is also posted on the page exclusively for PLAS supporters, so if you are interested, please take a look!

Applying what I learned at PLAS

During my internship at PLAS, I was able to not only acquire various practical skills for public relations and event management, but also deepen my learning about the roles played by NGOs and NPOs, their management structures, and the attitude of facing local people when implementing support activities.

In fields such as international cooperation and development assistance, the relationship between "those who support" and "those who are supported" tends to be viewed as vertical and fixed. PLAS has been reviewing such a composition from an early stage and has continued to explore building a flat relationship with local people while maximizing the potential of the region. I am grateful once again for having been able to gain internship experience at such an organization.

I want to continue to be involved in international cooperation in whatever form, without ever forgetting what I learned here! Also, I will definitely step foot on the land of Africa, which is full of charm, with my own feet someday.

Why don't you also try working as an intern at PLAS?
PLAS is always looking for interns!
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