40th years anniversary JICA Volunteer Program in Thailand - Sharing for the best and Growing Together -

It has been 40 years since July 28th, 1981, when the first volunteer was dispatched to Thailand at Hatyai Technical College as a volunteer in the field of Electronic Instruments. Until now there are 1,077 volunteers (as of July 2021) including both junior and senior volunteers who have been dispatched to Thailand in various fields such as Industrial Human Resource Development, Sustainable Industrial Development of Rural Regions and Assistance for the socially vulnerable.

All volunteers have tried to share the same perspective as Thai people and blend in with the locals. They all try to convey Japanese knowledge and technology and contribute human resource development in various sectors such as Agriculture, Industry, Information Technology, and Environment. Moreover, they also support any initiatives to empower victims of human trafficking and person with disabilities in Thailand with Thai people. There is no doubt that sharings such skills and understanding the same issues as Thai people has helped to build the remarkable development of Thailand and the good friendship and trust between Thailand and Japan.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, all volunteers in Thailand were requested to return to Japan and some have been carrying out their activities via online channels while some have already returned to Thailand to finish their activities. We are trying to adapt ourselves and our activities into this situation to ensure that the program is optimally effective.

As Chief Representative of the JICA Thailand office, I would like to express our respect and gratitude to all the volunteers dispatched so far, and to all the people concerned in Thailand and Japan who have supported the activities of the members, including TICA and their recipient agencies. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of JICA's volunteer program in Thailand, we have set our slogan as "Sharing for the best and growing together" to move forward together to a new era of JICA volunteer program in Thailand. Based on this slogan, we aim for the growth of both Thailand and Japan under our cooperation on this volunteer program.

MORITA Takahiro
Chief Representative, JICA Thailand Office
July 2021

40th years anniversary JICA Volunteer Program in Thailand
- Sharing for the best and Growing Together -

• Greeting from Chief Representative, JICA Office in Thailand (PDF/347KB)