Our country’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has provided various supports to developing countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, Middle and Near East, and Africa from 1960s, collaborating with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). These supports included vocational training programs, construction of vocational training facilities, provision of training equipment, dispatch of technical professionals from Japan, and invitation of those countries’ vocational training policy makers and vocational training instructors to Japan to provide them with vocational training.

 

These vocational training policies and the management of vocational training facilities have been taken over by each developing country and have made significant contributions to human resource development. After exchanging technical cooperation confirmation documents with these countries, Japan provided 5～10 year technical support, and once their abilities to maintain vocational training programs on their own personnel and budget were confirmed, these programs were shifted to each developing country.

 

 However, after several decades have passed since the completion of technical cooperation, achievements of Japan’s supports are beginning to fade, as the training equipment have become decrepit and generation of vocational training instructors has changed. Therefore, in order to support the effective management/maintenance of vocational training facilities, it is necessary to provide vocational training methods, technical training and career counseling of job trainees currently used in Japan,. 

 

In many technical cooperation cases, advanced technologies of Japan do not necessarily match the local labor market’s needs.

 

Many of our NPO members stayed in developing countries in the past, and they have plenty of instructing experiences and skills/techniques which those countries need. However, there have not been so many chances for them to make use of their skills/techniques after retirement from work. Thus, it is necessary to utilize those members’ skills in grassroots technological cooperation to promote international exchanges and building up friendly relationships with developing countries.

 

In order to carry out such projects, it is important to exchange information closely with the personnel of Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Chiba prefecture, in examining which task our NPO should take on and in cooperating with/ receiving financial assistance from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

 

　Also, there are private associations and NPOs which are providing vocational training in developing countries as human resource development projects. In those countries there are a lot of impoverished people with income less than 1 US dollar a day, and in some cases many of them are refugees from civil war. Support/assistance for these poverty groups intend to lead them to acquire skills/knowledge so that they can get employed or run their own business in order to escape poverty. If our NPO members with extensive experience collaborate with such organizations and join the industrial workforce development projects and basic vocational training for stabilization of the living situation, they can contribute to more effective and efficient technology transfer and project management.

 

 　Furthermore, in case we receive requests which are related with our NPO’s tasks, we are planning domestic services such as sending a lecturer when technical trainees from developing countries are invited to Japan by the government, prefectures or other organizations to learn the industrial technologies and social infrastructure of Japan.

 

　On the other hand, in many developing countries, international technological cooperation projects are commissioned from the government to private companies, especially private consulting firms. Some of these projects include vocational training support, but private companies do not have enough technical experts who are familiar with vocational training. Thus, it is also important from the point of view of human resource development, which is a significant part of Japan’s international contribution, to dispatch our NPO members with necessary skills/technics to such private consulting firms operating in developing countries. As the technologies currently need in these countries are fostered thorough the economic growth of Japan, we consider that our NPO members who walked through working life with that growth are best for those commissioned projects.

 

Our NPO members are retired from work, and one of our purposes is to provide elderly people who are still mentally and physically energetic with places for worthwhile lives.

 

Our NPO was registered to District Legal Affairs Bureau of Chiba as of June 6^th, 2014 and officially started operation.