Message from the Chief Representative

Dear friends:
Welcome to JICA El Salvador Website!
There are only a few days left until the end of 2023.
Therefore, let's remember the activities of JICA El Salvador Office in 2023.

In March 2023, we created the “JICA Country Analysis Paper”. This time we analyzed El Salvador from a development perspective and created it under the "JAPANESE COOPERATION STRATEGY FOR THE REPUBLIC OF EL SALVADOR (April 2022)" created by the Japanese government.
Regarding the "Reactivation of the Economy and Expansion of Employment", which is a priority area of the JAPANESE COOPERATION STRATEGY, JICA proposes that although the eastern region of El Salvador will continue to be a priority region, it will also provide support to the entire country.
Based on the "Action Plan for SICA-JICA Regional Cooperation 2021-2025" created in August 2022, JICA also mentioned promoting Central American integration under six priority areas: "Mobility and logistics", "Environment and climate change”, "Economic autonomy of women", "Sustainable tourism development", "Agricultural and rural development" and "South-South and triangular cooperation".
JICA Country Analysis Paper written in Spanish is available at the following URL.
https://www.jica.go.jp/Resource/elsalvador/ku57pq0000046c70-att/jcap_es.pdf

With the mission of achieving "human security" and "high-quality growth", JICA develops strategies from four perspectives: prosperity, people, peace and planet. We name the strategies as “JICA Global Agenda (JGA)”.
In the JGA for the education sector, JICA has an approach for " Improving learning through the development of textbooks and learning materials" and is conducting a cooperation in mathematics education called ESMATE. In 2022, ESMATE was selected as one of six outstanding examples from around the world which have successfully expanded mathematics in the "Numeracy at scale" study conducted by RTI International in the United States of America. Then, in September 2023, a reporting conference on the results of RTI International's research and analysis was held in San Salvador, explaining the success factors that led to the improvement of students' academic ability. The factors are “Students receive a variety of activity opportunities,” “Textbooks and teacher guides provide clear guidelines for teachers to lead their lessons,” “A variety of teaching tools and methods of expression are used.”, among others.

In November 2023, the government of El Salvador, through its Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, in its capacity as Pro Tempore Presidency of COMITRAN, together with SICA and SIECA, held the launch event of the Regional Master Plan of Mobility and Logistics of Central America 2035, where I participated as a guest panelist in the discussion.

This Master Plan describes the development of mobility and logistics focusing on 11 strategic corridors. Among the projects proposed in the short-term action plan of this Master Plan, JICA considers contributing to the economic development of the Central American region based on the “Road asset management” approach established by the JGA for transportation sector.
The Regional Master Plan for Mobility and Logistics 2035 can be consulted at the following URL.
https://recepcionwebsieca.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/REGIONAL%20MASTER%20PLAN%20%281%29.pdf 　（external link: Approximately 196MB）

Introduction video (English subtitles)
Regional Master Plan on Mobility and Logistics 2035 - YouTube（external link: YouTube）

Furthermore, the JICA Volunteer Program, which had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed its activities in April 2022, and currently 18 JICA Volunteers are using their own experiences to cooperate with Salvadorans. In addition to their specialized activities, they also present Japanese culture, such as Japanese dance, Japanese food, and calligraphy at events, and we strive to promote friendship between the two countries.

Strengthening human resources is important for the development of the country. Currently, 21 Salvadorans are studying in Japanese graduate schools under the JICA program. We encourage these 21 scholarship recipients to continue working hard while studying abroad far from their country.
In 2023, six Salvadoran students who had studied in graduate schools in Japan returned to El Salvador through Project JDS which is only implemented in El Salvador in the Latin American region. In addition, two of the 6 returning Project JDS alumni gave a lecture on what they learned in the master's degree, the history of Japanese development and the digital transformation (DX) of a Japanese company in the JICA Chair held with the University of El Salvador. We thank these JDS alumni.

JICA, with its partners, will take the lead in forging bonds of trust across the world, aspiring for a free, peaceful and prosperous world where people can hope for a better future and explore their diverse potentials.