Showing Gratitude for JA's Regional Operating Centers
February 14, 2021
by Tere Stouffer, Chief Marketing Officer, JA Worldwide
Every Valentine’s Day, we share our gratitude for those who make possible the work that we do for young people around the world. This lists includes the global funders and JA Worldwide board members who support our programs with much-needed funding; the volunteers and teachers who not only share our programs with students, but also serve as mentors and role models; the parents who support their children as they pursue our after-school and weekend JA activities; and the passionate and committed staff at local JA offices. And, of course, the young people themselves, who inspire us every day with their innovation, talent, and resilience.
But one group doesn’t get enough recognition: staff and board members at JA’s six regional operating centers (ROCs) in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Americas, and the United States. With a global organization as large as JA—which includes hundreds of local offices around the world, serving over 10 million students each year—these ROCs offer both strategic vision and hands-on support. Each ROC trains and mentors staff at the JA member countries and local areas in their regions. Each ROC also plans and executes a regional Company of the Year competition for the half-million JA students who participate in our oldest and best-known entrepreneurship endeavor, the JA Company Program. And each ROC works with global and regional funders to offer additional programs, initiatives, events, surveys, alumni connectivity, and more.
So, this year, we’re dedicating Valentine’s Day to our ROCs, sharing a few examples of the ways they serve the young people in their regions:
JA Africa partners with the United Nations on the UN Environmental Programme—the Tide Turner Plastic Challenge—aimed at mobilizing thousands of young people to end plastic pollution and marine litter. The goal is not only to develop solutions but also to create a movement of confident, competent youth who take action to reduce plastic waste. This year, the Ugandan winner of the challenge, in her first JA experience, got to present her project in front of a global UN audience, a thrill for anyone of any age!
JA Asia Pacific, with the support of FedEx, hosts an annual International Trade Challenge, in which students are paired up, given a unique challenge (for example, “develop a product for pet owners who are over 65 years old”), and then are expected to create a detailed business plan, present it to an audience in Shark Tank style, and compete for the top spot, all within 48 hours of meeting their partners. Watching these young people present their creative, thoughtful, smart products in perfect synch with partners they’ve known for less than two days ranks among my most inspiring JA experiences. We can’t wait for the 2021 event next month.
INJAZ Al Arab JA MENA is a hub of innovation. They recently launched Maharat min Google (Building Skills with Google), a series of world-class mini-courses designed to build confidence in digital skills among Arabic-speaking youth. INJAZ also turned its Company of the Year competition into an entrepreneurial ecosystem they call the Young Entrepreneurs Celebration (YEC). During the YEC, in addition to the offering a traditional competition among the top JA Company Program participants, students worked with mentors from global and regional powerhouse companies in a series of two- to six-hour sessions that equipped youth with new, deep skill sets. INJAZ is also launching “100 Future Jobs,” an inspiring campaign showcasing personal experiences from individuals with careers in booming industries.
For more than 30 years, several JA Americas’ countries have hosted the International Entrepreneurs Forum (FIE), a student conference first developed by JA Mexico. In fact, two years ago, thanks to the vision of JA Americas’ and JA Mexico’s staff, we were able to team up to turn FIE into the first-ever JA Global Youth Forum, where students from all over the world gathered to hone their employment and entrepreneurship skills. Even more recently, in FIE’s first-ever virtual iteration, students learned to solve problems through hands-on entrepreneurial activities, including ones specializing in social entrepreneurship, green leadership, sustainability, and more. In November, the region also hosted an inspiring virtual Company of the Year competition, in which avatars of students, their mentors, and competition judges met up in an incredibly life-like 3-D conference space that felt a lot like being there in person.
After its own highly successful virtual Company of the Year competition last summer, JA Europe partnered with J&J to create an online STEM hackathon, called STEMEduHack, that was designed to spark curiosity and foster long-term interest in STEM education, especially among girls. The challenge given to participants was to revolutionize education by developing solutions to increase the number of female STEM students. In just two days, the winning team developed an intricate but addictive game that continuously develops STEM skills while building a virtual dream city. (JA Europe’s second hackathon in January had a goal of finding solutions to tackle weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 crisis in the healthcare sector.) JA Europe also features JA’s largest and oldest alumni network, which generously shares its experience and talents to help new JA alumni groups form all over the world.
Junior Achievement USA, JA’s oldest region, at the heart of where JA started operations in 1919, is masterful at sharing teen voices through polls, surveys, and more. Recently, in conjunction with CNBC and the financial-management app Acorns, JA USA hosted the "Virtual Summit for a More Equitable and Just Tomorrow," a forum featuring financial experts and JA students. More than a dozen students from across the country went on camera, in front of a live national audience, and asked some of the most intelligent and cogent questions I’ve ever heard.
I could go on and on, because JA’s ROCs are truly ROC stars! They’re constantly on the go, constantly innovating, and constantly building strategic partnerships that increase the number of students around the world who have access to JA programs, helping youth in their regions compete for the jobs of the future.
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear ROCs. We couldn’t do this work without you.