札幌から2名が第14回JICA理事長賞を授賞（飯澤理一郎氏、岡田弘氏）

JICAでは、毎年、国際協力事業を通じて開発途上国の人材育成や社会発展に多大な貢献をされた個人・団体に対し、その功績を讃え、表彰しています。第14回を迎える2018年度は、全国で49個人・団体に「JICA理事長賞」を授与いたしました。このうちJICA札幌が管轄する地域からは、飯澤理一郎氏（北海道大学名誉教授／一般社団法人　北海道地域農業研究所所長）、岡田弘氏（北海道大学名誉教授／特定非営利活動法人　環境防災総合政策研究機構北海道支部理事）の2名が授賞しました。

飯澤理一郎氏（北海道大学名誉教授／一般社団法人　北海道地域農業研究所所長）

飯澤氏は、JICA北海道が実施する集団研修「農村振興セミナー」（2003～2011年）、モザンビーク国別研修「農村振興セミナー」（2011年～）及び課題別研修「農民参加による農業農村開発」（2012年～）の立上げに尽力され、それぞれの研修でコースリーダーを務められました。これまで受け入れた研修生の数は、2018年10月までに、アジア・アフリカ・中南米・東欧・大洋州の各国から268名にのぼります。常に前向きな指導を行うことで多くの研修員のやる気を引き出し、彼らの意思を尊重する姿勢に、多くの研修員は同氏に対して尊敬の念を持って帰国し、それぞれの出身国・地域で農業・農村開発に従事しています。
飯澤氏は、研修に北海道の農業経験を取り入れ、小麦による地域開発を行っている江別市や、そばによる地域開発を進めている幌加内町等、地域の取り組み事例を紹介してきました。長年にわたる農業分野での人材育成に加え、研修を通じた道内関係者の国際協力への理解促進にも貢献頂いています。

岡田弘氏（北海道大学名誉教授／特定非営利活動法人　環境防災総合政策研究機構北海道支部理事）

岡田氏は、2000年の有珠山噴火を的確に予想して「有珠山の主治医」と評され、長年にわたり北海道内外の火山防災に尽力されてきました。その豊富な知見をもとに、2009年から10年間にわたり、JICA課題別研修「中南米地域火山防災能力強化」のコースリーダーを務められ、日本、特に北海道・有珠山での噴火経験を中南米各国からの研修員に伝えることで、中南米諸国の火山防災分野の人材育成に貢献頂きました。岡田氏の指導を受けた研修員の数は2018年度までに9か国、延べ90名に上り、今年6月にグアテマラで起きたフエゴ火山噴火時には多くの帰国研修員が現場の最前線で指揮にあたる等、母国の火山防災分野で活躍しています。地元に密着した住民主体の啓発活動や防災関連機関との連携等、過去から学び続ける岡田氏の教えは、中南米各国の防災分野の技術者や研究者に着実に根付いており、帰国研修員からは今も「先生(sensei)」と呼ばれ、慕われています。

　
　
Dr. Riichiro Iizawa and Dr. Hiromu Okada award the 14th JICA President Award. ()]

Every year, JICA commends the accomplishments of individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to human resource development and social development in developing countries through international cooperation projects. In FY2018, 49 individuals and organizations from were awarded the 14th JICA President Award.
Two people from Hokkaido region won the award: Dr. Riichiro Iizawa (Professor Emeritus of Hokkaido University, Director of the　Hokkaido Regional Agricultural Institute) and Dr. Hiromu Okada (Professor Emeritus of Hokkaido University, Director at the Hokkaido Branch of the Crisis & environment Management Policy Institute (CeMI; a specified nonprofit organization)).

Dr. Riichiro Iizawa worked to set up the following seminars and to be the course leader for each of these training courses;
- Seminar on Agricultural and Rural Development (2003-2011) group training course
- Seminar on Agricultural and Rural Development country-specific training course for Mozambique (2011-)
- Integrated Agriculture and Rural Development through the Participation of Local Farmers (2012-) issue-specific training course
Totaled 268 people from countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America, the Middle East, and Oceania accepted to these courses upto October 2018. He constantly provides forward-looking instruction, thereby eliciting the enthusiasm of his many participants. And his approach of respecting their inclinations has resulted in numerous participants with a sense of respect for him, where they then engage in agricultural and rural development in their respective countries and regions.
Dr. Iizawa incorporates agricultural experience of Hokkaido in his training courses. He has introduced case examples of regional initiatives, such as the case of Ebetsu City which is achieved regional development via wheat, Horokanai Town which is promoting regional development via soba. In addition to developing human resources in the agricultural sector over many years, he has also contributed to promoting understanding of international cooperation among officials within the prefecture through his training courses.

Dr. Hiromu Okada is well known as “Mount Usu’s attending physician” for accurately predicting a volcanic eruption of Mt. Usu in 2000 (Mt. Usu is one of the active volcano in Hokkaido). He has worked to prevent volcanic disasters over many years. Based on this wealth of knowledge, he served as the course leader for Volcanic Disaster Prevention and Management for Central and South American Countries, a JICA issue-specific training course, for ten years starting from 2009. He has contributed to human resource development in the field of volcanic disaster prevention for various countries throughout Central and South America by conveying experiences of volcanic eruptions, particularly those from Mt. Usu in Hokkaido. Dr. Okada had instructed 90 participants from nine countries up to 2018. They are still playing active roles in the field of volcanic disaster prevention in their home countries. For example, numerous returned participants took command on the frontlines when the volcanic eruption of Volcán de Fuego occurred in Guatemala in June 2018. The teachings of Dr. Okada, who has continued to learn from the past (on such topics as awareness-raising activities led by residents rooted in local communities and coordination with disaster prevention-related agencies), have solidly taken root among the engineers/researchers in the disaster prevention field in the countries of Central and South America. The returned participants still call him “sensei” and hold him in high regard.