JICA assigns seven more volunteers in India to boost international cooperation

Japan International Cooperation Agency has assigned seven more JICA volunteers in India to promote international cooperation through the sharing of knowledge and to work as a bridge between the people of the two countries, officials said on Thursday.

With these new volunteers, the JICA Volunteers who are widely known as Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), there count in India has grown to 18 in as many as 10 states -- Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, the agency said in a statement.

JICA is an independent administrative institution under the Government of Japan, and aims to contribute to the promotion of international cooperation.

"JICA has deployed seven more volunteers to India on July 24 to promote international cooperation through the sharing of knowledge and experience and to work as a bridge between the people of India and Japan," it said.

The new JOCVs sent to India include Takuya Sakamoto, a table tennis coach who will be deployed in Odisha; Takahito Nakamura, a Judo coach, in Telangana; and Tatsunori Takehara and Hiroto Yanaka, will be working as community development officers for income generation activities in sericulture in Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh respectively.

Yuki Hamochi and Kaho Ito will teach Japanese language in Delhi and Hikari Nishizawa, a special educator, will be placed in Tamil Nadu for improvement of service to people with special needs, JICA said.

These JOCVs are well trained and skilled in their respective domains, and will help accelerate progress in their areas of work.

"JICA realises that the existing 11 JOCVs has made to catalyze growth in income generation of farmers, improvement in Japanese language skills and enhancement of swimming skills of students. We would want such contribution to be extended to all parts of India by the new JOCVs, strengthening the relationship between India and Japan," the statement said.