Announcement regarding the “JICA Africa Hometown” Initiative
2025.09.25
At the thematic events of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) held this August, JICA announced the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative. This initiative aimed at designating four municipalities in Japan as “JICA Africa Hometown” for four African countries respectively, with the goal of promoting exchanges between them through various exchange programs.
Originally, under this initiative, it was envisioned that exchange programs would be coordinated and implemented among the Japanese local governments, relevant African countries, and JICA. The specific details were to be determined later.
However, JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative—namely, the term “hometown” and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local Governments as “hometowns”—led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities. JICA sincerely apologizes to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.
JICA takes this situation seriously. After consulting with all parties involved, JICA has decided to withdraw the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative.
Meanwhile, JICA believes that promoting international exchanges including those involving Japanese local governments and countries including Africa, remains important. Following the withdrawal of the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative, JICA intends to continue supporting efforts to promote such international exchanges.
Furthermore, JICA wishes to take this opportunity to reiterate that it has never undertaken initiatives to promote immigration and has no plans to do so in the future.
JICA remains committed to providing thorough explanations to the public regarding its activities. Regarding the foreign nationals’ entry and stay in Japan associated with JICA programs, JICA will continue to maintain its meticulous management system as before.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please directly contact JICA, instead of contacting the relevant Japanese local governments.
JICA Contact: +81-(0)3-5226-6660 to 6663
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