60 Yrs On, Japanese Overseas Volunteer Program Faces Personnel Shortage

Tokyo, Nov. 18 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese government program that sends volunteers to developing countries, marking its 60th anniversary this year, now faces a challenge in securing personnel as public interest in development assistance is declining. The cumulative number of people dispatched under the initiative, which started as the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers program in April 1965, has topped 58,000, with destination countries totaling 99. On Thursday, the Japan International Cooperation Agency held a ceremony in Tokyo to commemorate the 60-year milestone. “As the world faces complex crises today, the role of cooperation volunteers is even more important,” JICA President Akihiko Tanaka said, adding that Japan will help deepen and further develop friendships in the world through the personnel dispatch program. The first group of volunteers was sent to Laos in December 1965. Under the program, personnel in a wide range of fields, including agriculture, forestry and fisheries, health and sanitation, administration, sports and culture, have been dispatched to meet the needs of recipient countries. The annual number of dispatched volunteers peaked at 2,000 in fiscal 2005 but began to gradually decrease in fiscal 2010. The number stood at about 1,000 in each of fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024, following the novel coronavirus pandemic. “We are currently unable to meet developing countries’ requests for dispatches,” an official at the program’s secretariat said. According to the secretariat, one reason for the shortage of volunteers is that people now have options other than the JICA program because the private sector is increasingly offering overseas volunteer projects. Some suggest the shortage may reflect public criticism of official development assistance and other support programs. To promote its program, JICA started an initiative in 2023 to honor those who have contributed to solving social problems in Japan by utilizing the expertise they gained from volunteering abroad under the government program. In 2024, the government agency began helping returnees start business in Japan. Six decades of grassroots human exchanges have created multilayered relations between Japan and other countries. Overseas cooperation volunteers “sometimes come up at summit talks,” a government official said. “The trust from partner countries obtained through Japanese-style development cooperation is an irreplaceable asset,” Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a press conference Friday, adding that the program will help Japan boost its national interest. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]