On 24th July, six new JICA Volunteers arrived in Palau. The six volunteers are, Mr. ARAI Yoshiaki for development of baseball at Palau Baseball Federation, Mr. KARIKURA Satoshi for math and PE education at Ngardmau Elementary School, Mr. NATORI Noriaki for the research project of marine resources at Ebiil Society Inc., Ms. SAKAKI Niina for math and PE education at Aimeliik Elementary School, Ms. MIURA Rina for science education at Belau Modekngei School and Ms. ITO Eriko for Japanese language education at Mindszenty High School. They will begin their activities at their assigned offices from 7th of August after two weeks of after-arrival program with Palauan Language Training, various orientations, and courtesy visits to Palauan leadership. Their assignment period is 2 years or 1 year 8 months.
Their arrival is a new milestone of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers Program in Palau as the total number of dispatch reached to 300. Since 1997, the program has been constantly contributing to the development of the society and human resources in Palau through their grassroots activities for more than 25 years in various fields such as education, health, social infrastructure, sports, agriculture, fisheries etc..
Since the resumption of the program after the outbreak of COVID19, JICA Palau Office has been actively promoting the dispatch of JICA volunteers. With the dispatch of the six volunteers, the number of active volunteers now stands at 25. The number is the biggest among the 10 Pacific countries which receive JICA volunteers. Next year, that number is expected to reach more than 30. This means that JICA Palau Office will double the number of volunteers they were dispatching before the outbreak of COVID19, which interrupted the dispatch for a year and a half.
To learn more about this and other JICA Programs, contact the Ministry of State or JICA Palau Office, or visit https://www.jica.go.jp/english or Facebook, JICA Palau Office.