Japan training program opens for Filipinos to help in Mindanao dev’t

Press release from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) opened its training program for Filipinos to support peace and development efforts in Mindanao.

The course seeks to complement on-going initiatives of JICA and the Philippine government towards addressing poverty in Mindanao using broad-based anchor projects under the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP). The BDP, a blueprint developed by JICA and the Bangsamoro Development Authority (BDA) aims to create 550,000 additional jobs by 2022 and increase the Mindanao economy to 7.4% annually upon implementation.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that poverty incidence in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was at 55.8% in 2012, higher than the national average of 25.2% and 31.1% for the whole of Mindanao.

“We want to continue giving opportunities to young Filipinos to address issues and challenges in their society by learning Japanese technology and skills. We invite young Filipino leaders to come and visit Japan, mingle with Japanese people, and learn from Japanese systems,” said JICA Senior Representative Kunihiro Nakasone. 

“Since I handle focal youth development for Bangsamoro, the training in Japan helped mainstream the participation of young people in Mindanao in development programs, and prepare them for accountability to their country,” said Ismael Guiamel, a participant to JICA’s training program on rural development in 2014.This year’s program will focus on Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan to showcase how its development plan promoted self-independence and benefited its agriculture sector. JICA noted the similarities of Hokkaido and Mindanao as the latter is currently working for the regional development of the Bangsamoro under the JICA Comprehensive Capacity Building Plan for the Bangsamoro project.

Capacity building has been a major component of JICA’s development assistance to partner countries like the Philippines. With Japan being the first non-Western country to modernize and industrialize its economy, Japan through JICA has encouraged training participants to visit Japan and study Japan’s development experiences.

In the Philippines, JICA has trained over 39,000 Filipinos in various development sectors since the 1970s.