Alumni Association

Newly formed alumni associations of former participants in training courses in Japan need to be certified by JICA to be eligible for official support.

In this regard, please note that the number of alumni associations is normally one per country, although we basically welcome all new alumni associations. In cases where there is an existing youth invitation association or ethnic-Japanese trainee alumni association, please consider forming a link with it.

1. Notify the JICA office or the Japanese Government's diplomatic mission in your country. Then, it will contact the Regional Departments at JICA's Headquarters.
2. Send the following documents to enable JICA to carry out a certification evaluation thorough the JICA office:
   • (1) Plan of Annual Activities
   • (2) Membership Directory: Certification is subject to the participation of a significant number of former participants. Even in the case of a country where there are relatively few former participants, the number of founding members must in principle be at least 25.
   • (3) Association Charter: There is no set format. As long as the purpose of the association and its scope of activities are conducive to the furthering of goodwill between Japan and the country in which the association is to be formed and transparency and fairness are ensured in the organizational structure and management, details are left to the discretion of the association. Please use a suitable locally accepted format.
   • (4) Plan of Annual Funds
     Membership does not have to be limited to former participants. Persons who have visited Japan under a youth invitation program, former students who have studied in Japan, and those who have stayed in Japan under other official programs may also take part, and this is even desirable, unless it turns the former participants into a minority, in which case financial assistance would be difficult to justify.
     
     There is no particular requirement for the legal status of associations. We will certify both incorporated and unincorporated organizations, as long as they represent the wishes of local former participants. Please follow the relevant laws and regulations when choosing the type of entity for the organization.

     A key condition for certification as a JICA alumni association is consensus support by the former participants in the country concerned.

3. If an organization that has filed an application is found to be satisfactory as a result of our evaluation, it will be certified as a JICA alumni association. This will then be followed by a remittance of an assistance grant.