08 December 2006

Colombo: Mr. Takehito Nakata, Japanese UNV Honorary Ambassador, this week went on his first official mission to Sri Lanka on the occasion of International Volunteer Day (IVD).

The Peace Concert on IVD, 5 December, was one of the missions’ highlights. Praising the efforts of volunteers, Nakata, father of a deceased UNV volunteer, said: “I am proud of the efforts of a number of volunteers who are following and will follow the same path my son had chosen, to achieve development through peace, on the platform of volunteerism.”
The concert was organized by the UNV country office team of Sri Lanka, in partnership with UNDP and other agencies working in international development and volunteer promotion.  Sharing the experience of his son and himself as volunteers, Mr. Nakata’s message reached out to a number of volunteers and their supporters contributing to peace building and development in Sri Lanka, a country that is recovering from the aftermath of the Tsunami disaster and currently witnessing an increasing violence due to the civil conflict.  

Prior to the Peace Concert, Mr. Nakata participated in a tree planting to commemorate IVD.  He also met with the UNV volunteers serving in Sri Lanka and visited the donor community including UNDP and the Japanese embassy.

A visit to UNV’s project in Kaltara in the north of Colombo was part of the mission programme. UNV, in partnership with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), has been implementing a project in the Tsunami affected communities to provide children with skills to prepare for and cope with future natural disasters. The Government of Japan financially supports the project. 

Mr. Nakata was appointed as UNV Honorary Ambassador in1993, following the death of his son, Atsuhito, who at the time of his death was serving as a UNV volunteer in Cambodia. Promoting volunteerism for development is important to Mr. Nakata and is a tribute to the work of his son Atsuhito.  Since Mr. Nakata’s appointment, he has had more than 3,500 speaking engagements and visited various countries to promote volunteerism.