With the recent arrival of ten volunteers from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Guyana continues to benefit from the expertise of senior Japanese professionals who will be based here until October this year.

They will work in the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Communities, and Public Infrastructure as well as with the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, Guyana Water Inc., Guyana Energy Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority, among other entities.

According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs release, the volunteer programme, through which experts between the ages of 40 and 69 are able to contribute their services, began dispatching senior professional volunteers with a range of skills to Guyana since 2008. So far, 49 persons have served here with the recent arrivals forming the largest batch to come at the same time. Expressing appreciation for the ongoing service from the Japanese Government, Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vanessa Dickenson, said, “This significant contribution of expertise by the Japanese volunteers will assist in complementing the work of the respective sectors in which they’re based.” According to Ms. Dickenson, Guyana has already benefitted from the presence of Japanese professionals in the areas of environmental education, swimming, agricultural drainage and irrigation, rural engineering and information technology.

Additionally, in 2016, under the auspices of the JICA knowledge co-creation programme, ten Guyanese were trained in environment conservancy, solid waste management and disaster management. The volunteer programme is being implemented under the 2005 Agreement of Technical and International Cooperation signed by the Governments of Guyana and Japan.