October 2023 CEO Letter

[This letter was originally drafted on October 13. It was updated on October 20 to reflect new information from the JA network. This monthly letter is intended to provide factual updates on matters related to JA, and is not intended to provide statements on behalf of our organization.]

Dear colleagues,

On October 6, jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, bringing attention to the struggle for women’s rights in Iran. We are grateful that JA Worldwide was nominated in 2023, alongside other impactful organizations and individuals striving to build a more peaceful world.

In the days since, we’ve been in close touch with our operations in both Israel and Palestine. We were first able to ascertain that staff members in Israel are safe, thank goodness. The news from Gaza, however, is that the INJAZ Palestine–Gaza office was destroyed and a staff member was injured and suffered enormous personal loss, which is heartbreaking to me personally. We will continue to monitor and support operations in these war-torn areas, as we do in in Ukraine (where JA has a presence), Yemen (where we have been operating for many years), and Sudan (where we continue to serve students), as well as many other locations that don’t get mentioned in global news. As you know, JA Worldwide is a non-political organization serving youth in six regions and over 100 countries, but whenever terrorism, warfare, forced displacement, and natural disasters keep us from our primary mission to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy, I use this monthly newsletter to keep the JA network informed of developments that impact our teams.

JA has never been more important. As part of the growing diversity of student learning experiences in JA’s locations around the world, we aim to inculcate youth with the skills to listen and communicate; problem-solve creatively so that all participants benefit; take responsibility for themselves and their communities, approach their work and relationships with passion, honesty, and integrity; and fully believe—thanks to an abundance of mentorship, failures, successes, and learning opportunities—that they will succeed in their long-term goals.

Increasingly, their goals are aimed at building a peaceful, equitable, sustainable world, making JA one of the world’s largest training grounds for economic empowerment, prosperity, and peace. Through JA’s global network, young people can also experience the fellowship and cross-border collaboration, which enables them—through international friendships, mentorships, and travel—to better understand the nuance and complexity of geopolitics.

Global Leadership Conference 2023

Our staff, too, benefits from the global fellowship and cooperation that’s at the heart of the JA network, which is why we host our Global Leadership Conference (GLC) every two years. In addition to GLC Virtual, which will include relevant training for JA staff, GLC Bangkok is a rare opportunity to meet and connect with colleagues face-to-face. As was announced earlier this week, the GLC event in Thailand will provide a McKinsey.org leadership certificate for all participants. This training has been designed in collaboration with McKinsey executives, who will be with us in Bangkok, and makes us one of the few nonprofit organizations to be able to offer this level of leadership training and staff development on a global scale. My gratitude to the GLC team at JA Worldwide, who keep raising the bar on quality with each successive leadership conference!

If you’ve already signed up for GLC Bangkok, please consider one other colleague you want to spend time with—this could be someone in your office or halfway around the world—and ask them to attend. If you have not signed up, I urge you to do so today, before the price goes up on October 26 or time runs out on November 3.

Finally, I’m happy to announce that all participants in Bangkok will be entered into a raffle to win a trip to attend a JA event anywhere in the world! This prize includes airfare, hotel, and other costs (up to US$2,500) and will allow the winner to select from 2024 events organized by JA Worldwide, any of the six ROCs, or member locations. This incentive is part of our strategic goal of strengthening OneJA, in which we aspire to learn from each other through international fellowship.

The world may seem like an unsettling, inhospitable, frightening place right now, but I believe in the boundless potential of young people and our network of teams, who are determined to make their communities—and the entire world—a place of camaraderie, equality, and peace.

Until next time,
Asheesh