Government impressed with JOCV programme

Government through the Department of Human Resource Management and Development says it is impressed with Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) programme which is being carried out in the country by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Department of Human Resource Management and Development Secretary, Blessings Chilabade said that volunteers working under JOCV programme have helped in easing workload as well as enhancing skills in government institutions and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the country.

“The volunteers under JOCV have helped a lot in public institutions and NGOs where there is insufficient staff and they have also helped in improving the skills of Malawians as during the period of volunteerism the volunteers work with Malawians who learn a lot of things from them.

“Additionally, for the past 50 years these volunteers have helped us to improve the services in various institutions including in health and education institutions, therefore as government we are quite happy with JOCV programme,” Chilabade said.

He added that JOCV programme has also assisted in bringing in equipment that is used in various ways in the institutions where the volunteers work.

“As these volunteers are coming to do their work in the country they do come with equipment including computers as part of the package and these are equipment which we lack in most of our institutions,” he said.

JOCV Programme has been in operation since 1965 across the 92 developing countries worldwide and volunteers of Japanese national under the program are deployed to serve in the countries where the program was introduced for a maximum period of two years.

In Malawi the JOCV Program was introduced in 1971 and at least 1, 897 volunteers have been dispatched in the country from the time when the program was inaugurated in the country.

Ambassador of Japan to Malawi, Satosh Iwakiri, said that through JOCV programme, the Government of Japan, through JICA, is devoted to help in developing the country.

“The first seven volunteers under JOCV programme were dispatched to Malawi in 1971 and to date; nearly 2000 volunteers have been dispatched in Malawi, through this volunteers programme the Japanese government is looking forward to helping in developing Malawi,” Iwakiri said.

In the country, the volunteers under JOCV work in various fields such as education, health, environment, agriculture, community development, water development, and sports such as Judo and Kendo.