border interaction at the level of the local community and private citizens. This has raised the Japanese people’s awareness of global issues, such as global warming and infectious diseases. As society changes and its value system diversifies, people are also becoming more interested in international volunteer activities, including those undertaken by NGOs. Utilizing the networks of overseas emigrants and sister-city relationships of friendship and cooperation, Japan’s local governments have been accepting trainees, dispatching experts, and conducting youth exchange activities for the past 30 years. In fiscal year 2000 approximately ¥840 million in Subsidies for Local Authorities were disbursed to all 47 prefectures in Japan and 5 of Japan’s 12 ordinance-designated cities for such activities.

Interest among citizens in international cooperation and willingness to participate in development assistance are increasing, transcending regional and generational differences.

A typical example of public participation in cooperation activities is JICA's dispatch of

# TOPIC 10. THE ACTIVITIES OF SENIOR VOLUNTEERS — PROJECT TO PROMOTE ECO-FRIENDLY AGRICULTURE: THAILAND —

The mountains of northern Thailand are home to approximately 745,000 indigenous people belonging to nine different tribes. To help them achieve greater self-sufficiency, members of the JOCV have been active in 14 northern Thai provinces since 1993, promoting rural community development, livestock husbandry, the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, and the making of handicrafts. In order to take advantage of the experience acquired through these activities and to carry them out in a more organic way, highly experienced and skilled Senior Volunteers were dispatched to the 14 provinces for a two-year assignment beginning in 1998.

In mountainous villages lying at altitudes of over 1,000 meters—where even ordinary Thai citizens rarely visit—volunteers showed local residents how to use natural pesticides (to promote organic farming) and how to preserve the soil so that self-sufficiency could be achieved without damaging the environment. The volunteers also used videos and other audiovisual materials to teach villagers about the environment. These efforts were favorably received by local residents.

This project was selected for the Monitoring Group of Citizens on Japan’s ODA for fiscal year 1999. The monitors recognized the difficulty of promoting agriculture in mountainous areas and positively evaluated the project. For example, one of them noted, “The monitoring was useful and thoughtful because of the advice given by a volunteer on the problems of ODA and Japanese lifestyle.”

The Japanese embassy in Thailand, together with JICA and JBIC, organized a “Press Tour to ODA Site” to give local media representatives an opportunity to visit the project site. After this tour, articles giving high praise to this project appeared in local newspapers. One commented with surprise that assistance from Japan was being provided without expectations of any reward but simply out of goodwill, and another remarked that the project was highly praiseworthy as a major contribution to Thai society by foreign people.