A report meeting by JDS 9th batch master’s scholars of JDS (Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship) supported by the government of Japan, who came back from Japan in summer 2019, took place at Dushanbe Hilton Hotel on March 12.
According to JICA Tajikistan Office, seven returned scholars who obtained master’s degrees are staff of Executive Office of the President, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Agency of Melioration and Irrigation under the Government of Tajikistan, Customs Service, National Bank of Tajikistan. They entered master’s courses of universities in Japan in 2017 and studied subjects related to the development of Tajikistan.
At the report meeting, they reportedly presented the overview and outcomes of their research and proposals to their organizations. Their experience in Japan and future career plans were also shared with audience.
Mr. Davlatov, Director from the Agency of the Civil Service under the President of Tajikistan (ACS), as the chair of JDS Operating Committee, expressed his great expectation to the returned scholars as highly qualified specialists and encouraged the scholars to achieve their research goals at the beginning of the meeting.
Mr. Nakagaki, Embassy of Japan in Dushanbe, wished that 9th JDS Fellows would create the country’s future like ex-JDS fellows that contributed to the development of this country.
The objectives of JDS 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 designates 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 engage in formulating and implementing social and economic development policies using their gained academic knowledge and skills. As of February 2018, 45 scholars for the master’s program and 1 scholar for a doctoral program were dispatched to Japan and 13 of them are currently studying at universities in Japan. 33 scholars returned to Tajikistan with their master’s degrees and contribute to the development of Tajikistan after their coming back. The project is executed by ACS with the financial support by the government of Japan. Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) facilitates coordination of the project under the supervision of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Only government officials who belong to designated governmental organizations can apply for this scholarship. Apart from JDS, the government of Japan provides several scholarship and training programs in Tajikistan such as Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho: MEXT) Scholarships and JICA short-term trainings.
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 2018, 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 40 projects amounting to more than 400.4 million USD (83.7 million USD for Technical Cooperation and 316,7 million USD for Grant Assistance), including 15 ongoing projects.
