The international volunteering arm of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Ghana.
According to JICA, the anniversary would be celebrated with lots of activities with the official opening ceremony to be held on Tuesday, August 25, 2017 at the Osu Presby Hall.
The volunteers would hold an ICT workshop for students and teachers of Bagabaga College of Education and Tamale College of Education in the Northern Region.
They would also organise an ICT quiz for NVTI students at the Kings Technical Vocational School in the Central Region and hold a Science and Mathematics workshop for students in Navrongo.
They would again pay a courtesy call on the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo on Friday, August 25, 2017.
A baseball match between Ghana and Japan would also be held on Saturday, August 26, 2017 and the ICA Volunteers in Ghana will have their annual meeting on August 23 and 24, 2017.
The Exchange of Notes which paved the way for the establishment of JOCV in Ghana was signed on February 17, 1977 between the Governments of Ghana and Japan.
Since August 17, 1977 hundreds of Japanese volunteers have been dispatched to Ghana. Currently, there are 83 Japanese volunteers in Ghana.
JOCVs are usually deployed to sectors including, health, education, agriculture, community development, sports, vocational training, agriculture, social welfare, engineering, etc.
From the inception of the programme to date, 1,308 volunteers and 31 senior volunteers have completed their assignments in Ghana. Majority of them were Science and Mathematics teachers and they were assigned mainly to rural schools where it was difficult to recruit qualified Ghanaian teachers.
The main objective of the programme is to promote technology and knowledge transfer as Japanese volunteers transfer their skills to people or students they work with. They work hand-in-hand with Ghanaians to bridge the developmental needs of the country, especially in the hinterlands.
Currently, there are 82 volunteers including senior volunteers working in Ghana and they are serving in all regions of the country. This is the highest number of Japanese volunteers assigned to a country in any region where JOCV operates across the world.
The Chief Representative of JICA Ghana, Mr. Hoshi Hirofumi reiterated: “Since the first seven JOCVs landed on the soil of Ghana in 1977, the program has continued to expand and respond to calls from partner countries all over the world.
“To date, over 50,000 volunteers, both young and senior ones, have been dispatched to 96 countries and regions in total. I wish to reaffirm our continuous commitment to working closely with government agencies and stakeholders to further promote a friendly relationship between Ghana and Japan as we help tackle some of the developmental challenges facing Ghana.”