Activities in Bhutan

• Dispatch of Experts
• JOCV
• Senior Volunteer

Beginning 1964, JICA has dispatched a total of 44 Short Term and Long Term Experts to Bhutan in various fields such as Agriculture, Telecommunication, TV broad casting and Local governance.

In July 1988, the first volunteer, a Farm machinery engineer was dispatched to Bhutan based on the “Exchange of Notes" signed between the Royal Government of Bhutan and Government of Japan in April of 1987. Today, eighteen years later, a total of 217 volunteers have been dispatched to contribute to the development of the Kingdom and exchange of friendship, in various fields ranging from Physical Education to Computer technicians and Laboratory Technicians to Architects. Their aim is to put their best foot forward for successful implementation of the program in close harmony with the aspirations of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

During the initial stages of the JOCV program in Bhutan, agriculture and infrastructure mainly in civil engineering were the main fields of assignments. From 1992 onwards, requests expanded in other several technical fields like telecommunications, system engineering, commerce and finance. Even the places for assignments began to spread to all over the country. The trend suddenly moved on towards the Health and Education where JOCV's were requested as Laboratory Technologists and Physical Education Instructors. Currently there have also been several requests for system engineers and at present, around 16 IT related JOCV members continue their service in different departments of the Royal Government and corporations.

Photo: Courtesy of Kazuyoshi NOMACHI

At present, there are 29 JOCV members and 2 senior JOCV serving in the Kingdom. Bhutan has requested JOCV's in several Technical fields. These include system engineers, geologist, geo-tech engineers, architects, plant pathologist, Agriculture product processor, Maintenance engineer (Agriculture machinery), mushroom culturist, rice agronomist, Stock Manager, CAD Designer, Geological Surveyor, Japanese language Teacher, Physical Education Instructors and Laboratory Technologists.

Photo: Courtesy of Kazuyoshi NOMACHI

In order to respond to the growing number and types of requests from developing countries for technical assistance, JICA began in fiscal year 1990 to dispatch "Senior Volunteers". The objective of the Senior Volunteer Program is to actively support work for nation-building and human development in developing countries. The senior volunteers, who are from 40 to 69 years old, are motivated by the volunteer spirit and possess knowledge and an abundance of experience in a wide range of fields below:

• Culture: Japanese Language, Gymnastics, Art, Music, etc.
• Education and Social Work: School Education, Social Welfare, Vocational training, etc.
• Administration and Economics: Management, Commerce and Trade, Development Planning, Finance, Economics. Etc.
• Technology and Industry: Machine Engineering, electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Information, etc.
• Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Agriculture Economics, Agricultural Products, Landscape Gardening, Stock-Breeding, Fisheries, etc.
• Construction, Civil Engineering and Architecture: Construction and Building, Urban Planning, Sewerage Systems, Waterworks, Road Engineering, etc.
• Transportation, Traffic and Communications: Automobile Engineering, Telecommunication, Shipping, Tourism, etc.
• Public Health, Medicine, and Sanitation: Nursing, Physical therapy, Public Health, Clinical Medicine Pharmacology, etc.

Activities are not only aimed at transfer of technology. Through heart to heart communication, they build friendship and intimacy at the grass root level. Senior Volunteers are recruited through the nationwide recruitment campaign in Japan.