Toko Tomita

Team > Toko Tomita

Toko joins SteelWatch with a dynamic set of experiences having been engaged in grassroots and civil societies across Africa and Asia and taking on strategic leadership roles to grow and shape a number of organisations.

After completing her education in 2000, Toko stepped right into the career of social justice activism. She moved to India and joined the Global March Against Child Labour. She led global campaigns to have domestic child labour, hidden behind the doors of private homes, legally recognised as one of the worst forms of child labour, and challenged the sporting good industry to stop using child labour for goods certified for use and sale during international sorting events. She continued her work to protect the rights of children in Togo, where she was the coordinator for anti-child trafficking campaigns in the West African region. 

While she spent most of her career in countries in the global south, during the 5 years she worked for Hunger Free World, a Japanese NGO, Toko also played a key role in building civil society coalitions in Japan on development aid, and building NGOs capacity in advocacy and public campaigning. She also worked with Amnesty International to develop its Japan chapter’s organisational growth strategy strengthening locally relevant campaigning and fundraising.

Since 2011, Toko has lived in South Africa with her family. She managed a community health programme to capacitate community-based health workers caring for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural Limpopo province. Most recently, Toko was the Engagement Director of Greenpeace Africa, integrating the narrative shift strategy in their campaigning approach, expanding supporter base across the continent, and building support systems for the growing climate movements in Africa. 

I am driven by our ability to imagine what is possible and acts of courage to question the status quo. ‘It always seems impossible until it is done.’