After three years, JOCV program returns to Nepal

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has dispatched one new Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) to work in Nepal. Ms. Miki ENOMOTO arrived in Kathmandu and will join JICA Alumni Association of Nepal’s (JAAN) Integrated Community Development Program in Lele, Lalitpur from July 05, 2023.

JICA’s volunteer program in Nepal was on temporary halt since the outbreak of COVID-19 in April 2020. With the arrival of Ms. Miki ENOMOTO, JICA assures that more volunteers will be coming to Nepal in the following months.

“Amongst the 17 goals of SDGs, each JICA volunteer is working in Nepal to achieve one or few of its targets. As per the SDG motto ‘No One Left behind’, our volunteers work at the grassroot level with local people, which is the most significant advantage of this program.

Simultaneously, the programs biggest achievement so far is facilitating the friendship and partnership between Japan and Nepal. By resuming our volunteer program, we hope to contribute more for the development of Nepal”- OKUBO Akimitsu, Chief Representative, JICA Nepal.

JICA volunteer program founded in 1965 allows Japanese volunteers to work with the local people for two years to contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development, making effective use of their abilities and experiences. The volunteers live among the local people of the country to which they are dispatched to and pursue their activities enabling them to ascertain development needs from the viewpoint of those living there as well as promote mutual understanding and friendship between Nepal and Japan.

The first JICA volunteers came to Nepal in September 1970. Since then, their activities have diversified in various sectors and sub-sectors which includes agriculture, health, education, forestry and fisheries, repair operations, socioeconomic development engineering, sanitation, sports, and culture, as well as planning and administration. JICA volunteer program in Nepal is dedicated to the sharing of resources and technology at the grass-root level for Nepal’s nation building endeavor through the ‘Learning by Doing’ approach.

The total number of volunteers dispatched by JICA in Nepal in the last 53 years is 1,436 .