ICU Students Participate in TICAD9 Side Event "Young Africa Connect 2025"

On Sunday, August 24th, "Young Africa Connect 2025" hosted by the Young Africa Connect Executive Committee was held at JICA Yokohama as a side event of TICAD9, and Yuzuki Yamamoto (Faculty of International Liberal Arts 3rd year) and Miyuki Iida (Faculty of Economics 3rd year) participated in the academic project "AfriCampus".

This event was held with the aim of connecting universities and within Japan, sharing knowledge and interests, becoming a bridge between Japan and Africa, and passing the baton to the future, mainly for the youth generation.

Ms. Yamamoto and Ms. Iida gave poster sessions and short presentations on the "Sparmisis Countermeasures Project (prevention, education, and awareness activities for diseases caused by small fleas called fleas)" to be implemented as part of the student volunteer organization Waka Waka Kenya.

Waka Waka Kenya is a volunteer organization established by four students of our university to spread the correct understanding of the tropical disease spontaneosis and to co-create a society where people can live with peace of mind. In the future, we plan to carry out prevention activities such as delivering shoes in Esumba Village, Kenya, and recurrence prevention activities such as treatment in cooperation with local CBOs and spraying pesticides on houses.

Mr. Yamamoto, who participated, said, "'Why is there so little talk about Africa in Japan? I also participated in a roundtable with the theme of Natsuko Imai, a graduate of the Faculty of Law of JICA who works at the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute (at the time of her presentation), was invited as the moderator, and based on what she learned at JICA, we discussed the perspectives necessary to build future cooperative relations between Africa and Japan."