JICA’s NGO Networking Event: Exchange of Information on Activities Between 75 NGOs from Japan and Indonesia

On February 27, 2025, JICA Indonesia Office held an "NGO Networking Event" at the Akmani Hotel in Jakarta with the aim of creating opportunities for exchange between Japanese NGOs based in Indonesia and Indonesian NGOs. 79 people participated in this event, including 4 Japanese NGOs and 71 Indonesian NGOs. Sato Akira, Senior Representative in charge of the NGO Desk at the JICA Indonesia Office, attended the event.

This event was organized by the JICA NGO Desk, a division of the JICA Indonesia Office. The JICA NGO Desk was established with the aim of building and nurturing good relationships between Japanese and Indonesian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and non-profit organizations (NPOs) to promote cooperation between the two countries and serves as JICA Indonesia's "window" for grassroots level cooperation. The purpose of this event was to promote interaction between NGOs from both countries, and to exchange information and promote understanding of each organization’s activities.

At the event, the JICA NGO Desk provided an overview of JICA's grassroots partnership program. Following this presentation, the Japanese NGO "Indonesia Education Promoting Foundation (IEPF)" shared its activities on environmental education in Indonesia, including in Tangerang City, under JICA’s grassroots partnership program (refer to Project Basic Information ① below). Next, Aisyiyah, an Indonesian NGO, presented its activities as well. Aisyiyah has been collaborating with Kopernik Japan as their counterpart under JICA’s grassroots partnership program, which is being implemented in Yogyakarta until July 2024. This collaboration aims to support the livelihood improvement of local female micro-entrepreneurs and includes programs specifically designed to assist female entrepreneurs (refer to Project Basic Information ② below). Additionally, a panel discussion featuring both organizations was held.

"The purpose of this networking event is to create a platform for Japanese and Indonesian NGOs to network and explore possibilities for collaboration. We believe this event will be a valuable opportunity to strengthen relationships between NGOs and promote the creation of mechanisms that will enable them to contribute more to solving issues in many fields," said Sato Akira of the JICA Indonesia Office.

Ms. Fara from the Indonesian NGO "Delterra," who participated in the event, said, "I think this event is a great initiative because events that focus on NGOs are rare. I hope that JICA's continued its effort in this event will expand the possibilities for cooperation for NGO events in Indonesia."

Ms. Lani from Yayasan Pita Kuning, an Indonesian NGO who also participated in the event, said after the event, "This event gave us valuable knowledge and a great opportunity to expand our network. I sincerely hope that such events will continue to be held so that meaningful and sustainable cross-border collaborations can be fostered."

JICA's Grassroots Partnership Program is an international cooperation activity undertaken by Japanese NGOs/CSOs, other private organizations, local governments, or universities with a desire to cooperate internationally, in collaboration with local NGOs, public organizations, universities, etc. as counterparts, for the purpose of contributing to the development or reconstruction of the local economy and society, without regard for their own profits, targeting residents of developing countries.