Board of Directors | Ms. Tomoko Matsui
Ms. Tomoko Matsui is a consultant with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). She currently consults for a JICA project on community empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic. Her areas of expertise are: community empowerment, gender and participatory development.
Ms. Matsui studied English language and pedagogy at Kansai University of Foreign Studies and thereafter, studied Japanese pedagogy at State University of New York. She has extensive teaching experience in Japan, USA, China and Kyrgyz Republic. She served as the coordinator of the United Nations Volunteer Information Center in the Kyrgyz Republic from 2003-2005. As a coordinator, she worked with local high school and University students to promote volunteerism for development throughout the Country. Ms. Matsui has also collaborated with an anthropologist friend in long-term researches on Japanese women’s perception of menopause; this has given her immense grasp of changes in women’s physical and mental conditions during aging.
Ms. Matsui is from a small town called Yawatahama located in Shikoku Island, in the South-western part of Japan. She has been dreaming of living in the African continent since she was a little girl. Her dream came true in 1993 when she traveled to Kenya and Tanzania for one month and in 2006 when she was an advisor for the Ministry of gender, child welfare and community development in Malawi for six months. She loves dogs, hot springs and ethnic food.