3. Acceptance of Trainees

Significance

    The Acceptance of Trainees component of JICA's activities involves accepting into Japan promising trainees from developing countries -i.e., people identified as being responsible for future nation-building- and transferring to them specialist expertise and skills in such diverse fields as government administration, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, mining, energy, public health and medical care, and social welfare. This is a key function of the technical cooperation sector and has a long history in this country, dating back to 1954. Through the opportunities for exchange which come with the technical transfer process, trainees are able to gain a deeper understanding of the culture, society and economy of Japan, and upon their return, can use their knowledge or fondness for Japan to act as bridge-builders between the two countries.

Procedures and Types of Training Programs

    Japanese government-sponsored technical cooperation programs are implemented upon receipt of requests from developing countries. Once a request for training is presented by the appropriate authorities of a developing country through a Japanese embassy or overseas JICA office, JICA studies the request in the context of its annual schedule.
    Requests for assistance are submitted on application form (Form A2A3). Applicants list specific details about the desired training program and personal data for the proposed trainees (Form A2A3). Two broad categories of trainee program are available: group training and individual training. The former category is further subdivided into group training, special group training, and country-focused group training, while the latter is subdivided into counterpart training and ordinary individual training.
    For group training and special group training programs, the appropriate training courses are already established in Japan. The subjects of such training programs are determined upon consideration of a number of factors. They are frequently requested topics in which international interest is high, which Japanese training institutions are prepared to deliver, and which can be implemented in common for trainees from different countries.
    The fields in which such training is provided are diverse, including government administration, public works, social infrastructure, communications and broadcasting, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, mining, energy, commerce and trade, human resources, science and culture, public health and medical care, and social welfare.
   As a general rule, group training courses are instituted to cater to basic needs, while special group training courses are intended to address emerging needs. Country-focused group training courses entail a training curriculum to respond to the needs of specific countries or regions.
    For these subjects, the governments of interested developing countries are notified that courses will be held, and prospective participants from each country are invited to apply. The recruiting procedure begins with a General Information (GI) pamphlet, which contains admission conditions and course details, being forwarded to the government of the developing country through the Japanese embassy or JICA office. Applications are invited from interested countries, and trainees are accepted in accordance with the quota stipulated for each country, which is determined in advance by taking into consideration the needs and assistance history of the developing country.
    In FY1997, 283 group training courses, 166 special group training courses, and 108 country-focused group training courses were held.
    Counterpart training is a system designed to promote technical cooperation more effectively by accepting counterparts from partner countries for the other forms of technical cooperation undertaken by Japan, such as the dispatch of experts, project-type technical cooperation, and development surveys.
    Ordinary individual training courses are implemented in accordance with individual requests from each country. Quotas for a specific number of trainees for each developing country are formulated, taking into consideration the country's previous record and other factors.

Mechanism for Acceptance of Trainees

Training Facilities

    The training facilities employed for Japan's technical cooperation programs include JICA's International Training Centers, ministries, agencies, and affiliated institutions, universities, private sector organizations, and the corporate sector.
    In order to cope with the demand for increasingly diverse training programs, it is vital that private sector organizations and the corporate sector, including those bodies in regional areas, actively join with the existing government institutions to provide training services.

Treatment of Trainees

    As a rule, trainees are accommodated in JICA's national network of International Training Centers, located in Tokyo, Hachioji, Tsukuba, Kanagawa, Hokkaido, Osaka, Nagoya, Hyogo, the Chugoku District, Kyushu, and Okinawa.
    Expenses for accommodation, return air fares, clothing, meals, miscellaneous requirements, books, and travel in Japan are all borne by JICA. Although not paid directly to the trainee, certain amounts are paid to the training institution to cover relevant costs.

Eligible Countries and Regions

    Trainees may be accepted from developing countries or international organizations.
    During the period from FY1954 to FY1997, the number of people accepted for training in Japan from developing countries totaled 158,308 comprising 92,225 (58.3%) from Asia, 29,719 (18.8%) from Latin America, 14,627 (9.2%) from the Middle East, 13,796 (8.7%) from Africa, 4,404 (2.8%) from Oceania, and 3,537 (2.2%) from Europe. The distribution of trainees by sector and geographical region in FY1996 is shown in the figures on pages 79 and 80.

Trainee Follow-up

    A program of follow-up activities is implemented for trainees who have returned home after completing their training courses in Japan, comprising initiatives such as visiting orientation teams, support for associations of ex-trainees, and the provision of literature. The clients of the orientation teams are primarily the participants in group training programs in the same field. Their objectives are to monitor the activities of trainees after their return to their respective countries, evaluate the training programs, ascertain the present conditions in each country in the designated field, and to hold seminars introducing the latest Japanese techniques.
    Financial assistance may also be offered to support the activities of associations formed by ex-trainees after returning to their own countries. The provision of literature involves sending periodicals and technical references to ex-trainees to keep them up to date with recent developments in Japan.

In-country Training

    In-country training entails the utilization of personnel from developing countries who have benefited from Japanese technical cooperation to conduct training programs for bureaucrats and technicians in their own countries, employing as implementing agencies, organizations that accommodate many such people. Eligibility for this form of technical cooperation is presently restricted to those countries eligible for grant aid, in other words, countries which would face challenges in disseminating and establishing skills by their own efforts.
    Since commencing with Indonesia and Tanzania in fiscal 1993, Japan's in-country training program has expanded each year, with ten courses being offered in ten countries in fiscal 1997.

Third-country Training

    Japan's Third-country Training program entails the selection of a training-implementation country, known as a host country, which has achieved a certain level of technological sophistication in a developing region with common natural, social, and cultural fundamentals, to which prospective trainees are invited from its developing country neighbors. The aims of the scheme are to transfer Japanese expertise and skills to people in developing countries in a manner that suits the local conditions, and to encourage technical cooperation among developing countries themselves. JICA provides funding and technical support to the host country undertaking the training program.
    Third-country training may be implemented in either of two forms: group or individual training programs. Since first being implemented in 1975 at Thailand's Sericultural Research & Training Center, Japan's third-country group training program has continued to expand each year, to the extent that 104 courses in 22 countries were funded in FY1997.
    Individual third-country training programs were initiated in 1986, chiefly intended for training developing country counterparts involved in technical cooperation projects being undertaken by JICA, and in circumstances where it is judged that training would be more effective in a third country than in Japan.

Youth Invitation Program

    Initiated in FY1984, JICA's youth invitation program aims to contribute to enhancing friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and various countries by inviting to Japan the young people who will be the leaders of the future in their own nations. Once in Japan, they learn about developments in their particular field of endeavor and mix with their Japanese peers to enhance mutual understanding and cultivate the bonds of friendship.
    The young people eligible for this program will be aged between 18 to 35, working in any of a wide range of fields, and identified by their country's government as having a contribution to make to the future development of their country. Broadly classified into the categories of public officials, salaried young workers, teachers, students, and youth leaders, invitees from similar countries or occupational categories are brought to Japan for a one-month exchange program.
    JICA is charged with the overall responsibility for planning, supervising, and managing this program, in cooperation with urban and regional collaborating organizations, prefectural governments, and families prepared to accept the visitors in homestay programs.
    To date, a total of 1,593 young people from 84 countries -Asia, Oceania, and Africa, as well as Latin America for the first time in FY1997- and international institutions have participated in the youth invitation program.

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