Promoting Sustainability Sector to Waseda University Students
It all begins with an idea.
Social Impact Lab Japan (SILJ) collaborated with Waseda International Student House (WISH) for their Social Intelligence (SI) program. This program aims to enrich and balance necessary skills such as critical thinking, which push for residents' independence and promote international diversity. It also focuses on promoting sustainable living and SDGs both in the dormitory and society.
This time, SILJ brings the topic of ‘Sustainable Job Creation - Career Opportunities in Social Impact Sector’ to the residents of WISH. With the excellent coordination and help received from the RAs in organizing the session, we gain more than 30 participants who are all interested in pursuing or starting a career in the social sector of business. This further proves the rising interest the youth has to change the world for the better!
Trang and Anh of SILJ, the main facilitators and moderators of the event, begin by explaining the complexity and flexibility of the sustainability sector and social business. Taken from Briidge.org, Trang first states the definition of the sustainability sector as ‘the branch of society that comprises all establishments and institutions, both from the private and public sectors that are engaged in promoting sustainable goals related to human needs, responsible living, and environmental protection”.
After clearly identifying the keyword ‘sustainability’, attendees are exposed to a plethora of career prospects in the sector. Two branches are identified: ‘Working in Social Business’ and ‘Starting a Social Business’. From Sustainability Specialist to Ecotourism Guide, don’t limit yourself to how you can make a sustainable impact! Participants are also introduced to starting their own social business to address their own niche social issues. And Social Impact Lab Japan SILJ is the place that guides them to success.
To extinguish everyone’s doubt about pursuing sustainability because of their seemingly unrelated undergraduate degrees, SILJ presents several unique career paths everyone can partake in. From Economics majors to Engineering majors, social changes can always be made everywhere.
In the second part, JPort Founder, Hiromi Karahashi, and JPort Marketing & Communication Specialist, Hana Sumiya, are invited to present real career opportunities available in the Sustainability sector. This gives WISH residents real-life ideas about where opportunities present themselves and actively recruits posts that fuel social changes.
SILJ not only brings this informative session to WISH residents desiring to be social impact makers and those who don’t know where to start, but they also directly provide relevant sources for participants to immerse themselves into the sustainability sector as soon as possible.
Author: Anh Hong Xuan Nguyen