WELgee founder takes initiative on opening doors for refugees

For her work with refugees in Japan, Sayaka Kankolongo Watanabe had the honor of being among the recipients of the 2020 CCJA award (Champions of Change Japan Award). The award, established by the Fish Family Foundation in 2017, highlights the efforts of female leaders in Japan who actively contribute toward addressing the most pressing issues facing their communities.

Champions of Change winners come from all walks of life, and Watanabe is no exception. She first became interested in refugee issues as a university student intern in Bangladesh working for the U.N. Development Programme. In her studies, she had learned a lot about international relations and peace-building, but “what I learned in books and what I experienced in Bangladesh were totally different.” She spent time with indigenous people who could not include Bangladesh in their future plans due to persecution. “For me, that was the first time I met people who are not protected by their own government,” she said.

In 2016, she founded WELgee, a nonprofit organization focused on helping refugees and international migrants to overcome barriers and acclimate to life in Japan.

At its core, WELgee is a supportive community that assists refugees with their most pressing needs: searching for jobs, learning Japanese and other skills useful in their career, stabilizing their legal status through corporate-sponsored work visa, and establishing trusting relationships with the local community. “The first step is always community-building,” Watanabe said. Even with well-meaning groups like WELgee, there is sometimes skepticism. As Watanabe explained, “Unfortunately, there are stories of human trafficking or smuggling operations that pose as human rights organizations, so that is why building trust is so important.”

Upon immigration, some are granted work permission or are already highly qualified with at least a bachelor’s degree. For them, WELgee has been running a successful career program. WELgee has created a network of partnerships with Japanese companies looking to hire international talents and with schools for language training and further education when needed. However, Watanabe made clear that the partnerships are not just about employing refugees as philanthropic action: “The company hires them for business growth because they see potential in the international talents with refugee background ” At the same time, the refugees are getting jobs in industries they want to work in. WELgee has now helped 14 people to get jobs related to their background skills and training, an average of one refugee every two months. While Watanabe admits that this is not many, WELgee isn’t “just about the number of employed” but also the quality of the employer-employee relationship. “There are companies who want to hire many refugees as underpaid labor and not pay insurance — that’s not the kind of organization we introduce our community members to.”

Others are not so lucky on arrival and are not granted any visa or work permission at all. If not detained, they may be granted provisional release. “They have no money, no place to stay and no insurance. For them, there’s nothing we can do legally now,” Watanabe explained. In the future, WELgee hopes to create a pathway for these refugees to be granted a visa and work permission through employment. She continued: “The government knows very well that the working population in Japan is shrinking. Refugees have skills, they want to work, and many have already been living in Japan. All they need is a stable visa status.”