Yōhei Sasakawa

Key projects include: His international aid activities have focused on three areas essential to life: food security, healthcare and education.

Sasakawa believes that modern problems demand collaborative solutions, and has built wide-ranging networks encompassing the political, governmental, academic, and private sectors.

His domestic work also covers a wide area, including the development of measures to combat maritime piracy, the publicizing of the operation of North Korean spy ships, the training of hospice nurses, and the building of networks to support crime victims.

Sasakawa works to advance dialog between people affected by leprosy, government leaders, the media, and other parties in many countries, with a particular focus on places where the disease is endemic.

He has proposed the establishment of a new fund through which users would voluntarily contribute to the costs involved in securing maritime safety in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

Sasakawa also established in 2004 the United Nations – Nippon Foundation Fellowship Programme to contribute to the building of a new generation of ocean leaders and professionals.

Under Sasakawa's leadership, The Nippon Foundation's disclosure efforts have won high marks amid government reforms of the public interest field.