ABOUT US│Reach Alternatives

Since the organization's founding in 1999,
the REALs has been dedicated to conflict prevention and peacebuilding
in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Vision

We realize a society where conflict, violent extremism and social violence can be prevented and overcome and where people can co-exist.

We are committed to preventing and mitigating violent conflict, violent extremism, violence and social injustice in a sustainable manner, and aim to create a society in which people can co-exist, respecting our differences such as values, religion, ethnicity, nationality and gender.

Mission

Together with parties to conflict and people in affected areas, create and implement realistic options for preventing and solving problems.

Together with the parties to conflict, violent extremism and violence (victims, perpetrators, and those indirectly involved), we will identify the appropriate people, skills, materials, information, and resources to prevent, mitigate, and solve the problem, and create realistic and viable options.

At the same time, we will ensure that our interventions do not create negative impacts such as further conflict, exploitation, and undermining self reliance.

What our organization's name implies:

Creating new alternatives and working together to reach them.

The intention is to open up new avenues for preventing conflict, for livelihoods in areas affected by conflict, and for ways to help, so that we can make sure we reach as many people as possible with those choices.

Message from the President

I grew up in the country side of Japan. What made me want to work for peacebuilding and conflict prevention was a picture of the genocide in Rwanda that I came across in a newspaper when I was in high school. It made me realize that I had the right to "freely choose my life" but I had been making excuses not to do it. And I realized that there are people in the world who do not have that right.

Since I left for Rwanda when I was 20 years old, I have been going back and forth between the war-affected areas and Japan. What I realized during those days was that while there are various options for the future of society, each of those options has a time limit. And once the deadline has passed, we cannot choose again. Conflict and social turmoil cannot be dealt with once the negative consequences have become too severe for us to recognize and act on.

REALs aim to create new alternatives rather than waiting in vain for a dramatic messiah to arrive in the event of an emergency, or to engage in unconstructive criticism of others. Rather than mourning after lives are lost, we create a way to prevent the loss of life.

We can build a society in which those who have lost their lives want to be born again.　Please join us in our efforts to create a society that is " my business" for both you and the people in the affected areas.

Biography:

Ms. Seya is the President of Reach Alternatives (REALs, formerly Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (JCCP)), an NGO specialised in conflict peacebuilding, capacity building and gender mainstreaming in Africa, Asia and Middle East.

She has over 20 years of international experiences in Conflict Analysis, Gender, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), Preventing / Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE), Security Sector Reform (SSR), Peacekeeping & Peacebuilding, Civil-military Coordination & Cooperation. Her past and current areas of work include Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Türkiye, Syria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia.
In her previous carrier, she worked in post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia and Middle East with UN Peacekeeping mission, diplomat and NGO. She worked also as an Election Observers in Indonesia, Rwanda and Afghanistan.

She has been a trainer as well and being engaged in series of training development and facilitation to Government, International Organisation, NGOs/CBOs/CSOs, community members. She has been also assigned as a Member of Evaluation Committee for National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) for Japan since 2017.
She obtained BA in Policy Studies from Chuo University and then MA in Conflict Resolution from Bradford University in UK.
The Honors and Awards she received include; Edward Lynn Award Fund (UK, 2000), Akino Yutaka Research Fellowship (Japan, 2000), UN21 Award (United Nations, 2003), Nikkei Woman of the Year 2012 (Japan), AVON Award 2012 (Japan), International Leaders Programme (UK, 2015) etc.

Directors

Advisor
Yasushi Akashi

Former UN Under-Secretary-General
President
Rumiko Seya

Director, JCCP M Co. Ltd.
Director
Sachiko Miyashita

President, Yuit Inc.
Director
Tsuneo Nagai

CEO, Ideal Leaders Co., Ltd.
Director
Ryo Nakadoi

Representative Director, Authentic Works inc.
Director
Junichi Sato

Executive Officer, KAYAC Inc.
Director, sorosoro ltd.
Director
Miho Fukui

Africa Programme Manager, Peace Winds Japan.
Part-time lecturer, Aoyama Gakuin Univ.
Auditor
Mitsuhiro Mukaiyama

SMASH International Accounting Office, Managing Director
Truspire Co., Ltd., Executive Officer/ Senior Consultant

Our History

March 25, 2020	Changed the name of the organization from JCCP to REALs (Reach Alternatives)
September 2015	Opened office in Türkiye for supporting Syrian refugees
February 15, 2010	Opened Representative office in Juba, South Sudan
July 30, 2008	Opened Representative office in Skopje, Macedonia (till May 2012)
February 20, 2008	Opened Representative office in Nairobi, Kenya, covering operation in Kenya and Somalia.
April 1, 2002	Opened Representative office in Afghanistan (till 2007)
March 15, 2001	Opened Representative office in Cambodia (till 2010)
August 1, 2000	Opened Representative office in Southwest Asia in Sri Lanka (till 2006)
July 19, 1999	Founding of an organization as Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy