On November 5, 2021, a grant agreement for the “Project for Human Recourses Development Scholarship (JDS)” was signed by Mr. Faiziddin Qahhorzoda, the Minister of Finance of Tajikistan and Mr. Takasaka Muneo, the Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Tajikistan.
JICA Tajikistan Office says that understanding the importance of capacity building of civil servants and other governmental officials in Tajikistan, the Government of Japan has allocated 259, 000, 000 Japanese Yen (equivalent to about 2.5 million U.S. dollars) through JICA to support the above project.
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 strengthen the bilateral relations between Tajikistan and Japan.
This project is reportedly 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 November 2021, 81 scholars for the master’s program and 4 scholars for a doctoral program were dispatched to Japan and 29 of them are currently studying at universities in Japan, according to JICA Tajikistan Office. 52 scholars reportedly 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 executed by the Agency of Civil Service under the President of Tajikistan under financial support from JICA.
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 March 2021, a total number of participants to JICA’s Knowledge Co-Creation Programs, formerly called the Training Programs, has exceeded 2420 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 44 projects amounting to more than 418.5 million USD (94.66 million USD for Technical Cooperation and 324 million USD for Grant Assistance), including 14 ongoing projects.
