On October 31, 2019, the Grant Agreement for the “Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS)” was signed by Mr. Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, the Minister of Finance and Mr. Hideki Tanabe, the Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tajikistan.
Understanding the importance of capacity building of civil servants and other governmental workers in Tajikistan, the Government of Japan has allocated 218, 000, 000 Japanese Yen (about 2 million USD) through JICA to support the said Project, according to JICA Office in Tajikistan.
The goal of the Project is to resolve development challenges in Tajikistan through strengthening capacity of governmental officials.
The objectives of JDS Project are to support human resource development of Tajikistan targeting young government officials and to strengthen the bilateral relations between Tajikistan and Japan. This project is characterized by its elaborated framework which specifies the fields of research and graduate schools focusing on important development issues in Tajikistan. JDS scholars are expected to be leaders of the country, and to be engaged in formulating and implementing social and economic development policies using their gained academic knowledge and skills.
As of August 2019, 59 scholars for the master’s program and 3 scholars for a doctoral program were dispatched to Japan and 14 of them are currently studying at universities in Japan. 45 scholars returned to Tajikistan with their master’s degrees and contribute to the development of Tajikistan after their coming back. Only government officials who belong to designated governmental organizations can apply for this scholarship
JICA intends to continue provision of its assistance in development of human resources for the training of highly qualified personnel of governmental agencies.
JDS Project is implemented by Agency of Civil Service under the President of Tajikistan under financial support of JICA Tajikistan Office.
JICA began its technical cooperation with Tajikistan in 1993 by inviting Tajik officials to gain knowledge and experience on governance and macroeconomics development. As of January 2019, a total number of participants to JICA’s Knowledge Co-Creation Programs, formerly called the Training Programs, has exceeded 2200 people. JICA Office was established in Tajikistan in 2006 , and since then various Grant Financial Assistance and Technical Cooperation projects have been implemented more dynamically, aiming at improving living standard of Tajik people for the sectors such as agriculture and rural development, water supply, health, transport, energy, capacity building as well as SME promotion. JICA’s cumulative investment portfolio in Tajikistan in all sectors comprises 38 projects amounting to more than 389.7 million USD (82 million USD for Technical Cooperation and 307.7 million USD for Grant Assistance), including 14 on-going projects.
