2013.09.19
JICA Okinawa celebrates 10,000th trainee
JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Okinawa, a facility located in Maeda, Urasoe City, welcomed its 10,000th technical trainee, Sep. 14. To celebrate the occasion, JICA staff members and current trainees at the facility hailing from all over the world, held a ceremony. JICA Okinawa Director Toshihiro Obata said “As there are now 10,000 fans of Okinawa all over the world, this is an excellent opportunity to expand our network and make good use of it.”
The 10,000th trainee was one of the three new trainees who came from Tanzania and Kenya. They are scheduled to enroll in a course called “Evidence-Based Public Health: Concepts, Approaches and Tools for Health Policy and Planning.”
Janeth Mugambe, who works at the Department of Health and Human Services in Tanzania said, “A former trainee who came to Okinawa told me Okinawa was a wonderful place, so I am really excited to be here.”
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is a part of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) program, which assists dealing with problems that developing countries are facing.
With the motivation to decrease poverty in developing countries, JICA aims to create more employment opportunities to its trainees, and to expose them to Japanese education and policies. Another aim is to put to use Japan’s technology, and offer cultural experiences to the trainees in order to upgrade their countries’ human resource development and infrastructure.
Okinawa International Center (JICA Okinawa) is one of 15 such facilities nationwide.